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Micilín Muc
Full version:
Chuaigh Micilín Muc
ar an aonach lá
ar an aonach lá
ar an aonach lá
Chuaigh Micilín Muc
ar an aonach lá
Haigh! Hó! Micilín Muc!
(Micilín Muc went to the market one day, to the market one day…)
Cheannaigh sé hata le
cur ar a cheann
cur ar a cheann,
cur ar a cheann.
Cheannaigh sé hata le
cur ar a cheann,
Haigh! Hó! Micilín Muc!
(He bought a hat to put on his head, put on his head….)
Tháinig sé abhaile
le port na habhann,
le port na habhann,
le port na habhann,
Tháinig sé abhaile
le port na habhann
Haigh! Hó! Micilín Muc!
(He came home, along the river, along the river…)
Sciorr a chos is
thit sé isteach,
thit sé isteach,
thit sé isteach.
Sciorr a chos is
thit sé isteach.
Haigh! Hó! Micilín Muc!
(His foot skidded(i.e. he slipped) and he fell in, he fell in …)
Beir ar a chluas is
tarraing é amach
tarraing é amach
tarraing é amach
Beir ar a chluas is
tarraing é amach
Haigh! Hó! Micilín Muc!
(Grab him by the ear and pull him out, pull him out…)
Dilín Ó Deamhas
As we mention in the book notes, Dilín Ó Deamhas was a well-known cartoon on RTÉ during the 1980s. More info from here https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0304/684233-seachtain-na-gaeilge-dilin-o-deamhas/ quote below:
Irish-language programme for children with a story about Nóra and her pet fish.
The 1980s children’s programme ‘Dilín Ó Deamhas’ took its name from the traditional Irish song sung in the opening titles. In this extract, Cathal Póirtéir consoles his co-presenter Máire Ní Bhric for not being able to fly like him. She can after all tell stories, like this one about Nóra and the pet fish who want to swim.
Gerald Victory created a composition based on the traditional song. Jan Mitchell created the collage-effect artwork for the cartoon – note the famous butterfly in the original and in ours! The band The Speks produced another version – see https://www.thespeks.com/nursery-rhymes/dilin-o-deamhas.php for more. They say:
“Dilín ó Deamhas is a traditional Irish nursery rhyme for kids. Our elders sang an English version of this sing-along song to us when we were children. It was called “She Didn’t Dance”. We have combined parts of both the Irish and English versions into one song with a Celtic theme…
Sit on a couch and hold your baby facing you in your lap. Gently bounce her on your knee and sing along to “She didn’t dance at all…” While singing “Throw her uppity up…” lift her up to your face and bring her back to your lap three times. On the third time gently lower her to the floor in time for “she will come down nearby…”
A rough translation of the verse in our book is:
We’ll throw her up and up,
We’ll throw the child up
Throw her up and up and up
And she’ll come down tomorrow.
Seán Ó Loinn
One of two Waterford songs in the book, this translates as:
Seán Ó Loinn lives over there in the valley
He and his family have nice house
He doesn’t care for hard work
But he lives happily
Oró, you are my darling
Stay there Séan love
Oró, you are my darling
Stay there happily
More info here https://storoidhreachta.com/2020/03/23/sean-o-loinn/
Thanks to Aodán Ó Ceallaigh for this song.
A Nóra Bheag
This is the second of two Waterford songs in the book, thanks again to Aodán.
Little Nóra, where were you last night
My Mammy said to me
At the back of the house at the water well
Learning dancing steps
And iomba Nóra, Nóra, Nóra
And iomba you are my sweetheart
And ioma Nóra you are my love
I’m so in love with you
iomba (‘umba’ – a non-lexical musical vocable)
Hup hup amach
This is a well-known children’s rhyme with lots of regional variants. This is a version that we half-adapted and sing with our children at home. Nicholas Williams’ wonderful collection of rhymes, Cniogaide Cnagaide, has some of them. The music came to us somewhat naturally!
Rough translation:
Hup hup, go out, oh you clumsy-footed pony
We’ll be in An Daingean (Dingle) this time tomorrow
Mamaí will put your shoe on, Daidi the nail,
And we’ll be in An Daingean this time tomorrow.
Huisín
This is definitely the most unusual of all of the songs in the book. I first came across the lullaby on itma.ie – Irish Traditional Music Archive — Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann – William Campbell sings it at the Dublin Oireachtas of 1908 (here: https://www.itma.ie/digital-library/sound/husheen-william-campbell)). I haven’t heard any other recordings of it but have seen variations of it written in Cniogaide Cnagaide (Williams) among other collections.
Rough translation
Oh who is this lying down
So soundly at the door of my heart
From east or west come the shadow of night
Lithely and quietly
Husheen, Hush-oh, Hush is la-la lo-o-o…
There are two sections to this:
1. Background to Wishing Trees
2. Vocabulary
1. Information about Wishing Trees can be found on the last page of the book. Here is a translation:
Wishing trees or fairy trees can be found in many places in Ireland.
Historically, these were places that were believed to be door-ways to the fairy world.
The trees were considered good places to make wishes for future health and happiness.
Trees that were thought to be fairy trees were usually hawthorn trees, but they could also be oak or ash and they were often located near a holy well.
More recently, some of these trees have been covered with the physical embodiments of people’s wishes. Over time, however, these physical wishes can be harmful to the trees if they are made from material that won’t biodegrade.
The inhabitants of my story bring wishes to tie on this wishing tree. Like wishes, which can be fleeting, the best kind for the trees are those which will disappear over time and become part of the environment.
Some famous wishing trees sites in Ireland include:
The Hill of Tara, County Meath
St. Brigid’s Well, County Kildare
Tarbert Fairy Fort, County Kerry
Ballyvourney, County Cork
Dungiven Priory, County Derry
Fore Abbey, County Westmeath
2. Stór focal (vocabulary)
page 1
ar chnocainín – on a little hill
(cnoc = hill)
léi féin = by herself
page 4
crann = tree
guíonna = wishes
page 5
daoine = people
ábalta = able
(in ann = able)
guíonna a fhágáil = leave wishes
ann = there
page 8
bhí cónaí ar = lived
go leor ainmhithe = lots of animals
mór(a) = large
page 10
beag(a) = small
page 12
áit shábháilte = a safe place / haven
(literally: a safe place was in the tree but in Irish, we can use “in” to define something so: “the tree was a safe place”)
dóibh siúd = for those
a bhíonn ag eitilt = who fly (literally “who do be flying”)
sa lá = in the day (you can also just say “lá”)
page 13
san oíche = at night (you can also just say “oíche“)
page 15
áit shábháilte = a safe place / haven
do chách = for everyone
(you can also say “do gach duine”)
page 17
ach = but
céard faoin = what about the
faoin gcrann féin = about the tree (it)self
(note: we refer to the tree as female in this book despite “crann” being a masculine noun; there is no genderless ‘it’ form in Irish)
nach raibh = didn’t
guí ar bith = any wish/any wishes at all
aici = have/has (for a female)
page 19
nach raibh = didn’t
mianta = desires
ar bith = at all
page 21
go cinnte = for sure/surely
mianta a croí = her heart’s desires
teas na gréine = the heat of the sun
page 23
séideáin ghaoithe = gusts of wind
page 25
ceathanna báistí = showers of rain (i.e. rainshowers!)
page 28
cairde = friends
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Véarsa 1
tá an ghrian ag éirí tá na héin ag canadh thar an bhfarraige mhín go séimh is go binn. |
the sun is rising the birds are singing over the smooth sea gently and sweetly |
dúlamán
duileasc
ag dealramh ar charraig |
type of edible seaweed – ‘channel wrack’ dulse – edible seaweed found on north atlantic coasts shining or glistening on a rock |
Véarsa 2
na báid is na hiascair
ina suí ar dtús,
amach leo ón gcé ag seoladh faoi luas.
tá na heangacha scaoilte le breacadh lae
faoileáin
deilfeanna
á leanúint
go réidh |
the boats and fishers up first (‘ina suí’ off they go from the quay (‘cé’)
sailing at speed.
the nets are released at dawn (at the breaking seagulls (listen to the
dolphins
following them
steadily
|
Véarsa 3
mochóirí na maidine
amuigh
le lag trá ag breathnú amach
an solas sa bhá
lorg a gcos
sa ghaineamh fliuch
mall agus moch |
early risers (from moch = early)
out/outside
at low tide (lag = weak)
looking out
the light in the bay
footprints / imprints of in the wet sand
late and early (note,
|
Véarsa 4
tá na rónta á ngoradh féin
faoi theas na gréine
ag glacadh néal codlata tar éis a mbéile
sleamhnóidh siad
ar ball
ar ais san fharraige
éist leo
ag scréachaíl go maorga mairgneach! |
the seals are warming themselves (from ‘gor’ – heat, warmth)
under the heat of the sun
taking a nap
after their dinner (meal)
they will slide
after a while; soon; shortly
back into the sea
listen to them squealing grandly, dignified (maorga), but wailingly too (mairgneach)
|
Véarsa 5
gainéid ag eitilt anall is anonn ag faire ag fanacht ag fiach le fonn a sciatháin fillte siar
a gcoirp ar tinneall a rian ar an uisce ag tumadh go grinneall. |
gannets flying back and forth watching waiting hunting with desire their wings tucked back bodies set, or tense their mark diving down to the bottom (grinneall – seabed) |
Véarsa 6
tá an oíche ag titim an ghrian ag dul faoi na héin is na héisc
ag dul a luí
gliomaigh portáin nach iad atá diamhair
amach leo san oíche go beo is go bríomhar |
the night is falling the sun ( setting; going ‘under’ the birds and the fish going to bed/sleep
lobsters crabs aren’t they mysterious or enigmatic out they go at night full of life and energy |
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