'S ioma h-oidhche fhliuch is thioram,
Side na seachd sian
Gheibheadh Griogal dhomhsa creagan,
Ris an gabhainn dion
Òbhan! Òbhan! Òbhaniri! Òbhaniriò
Òbhan! Òbhan! Òbhaniri! 'S mór mo mhulad 's mór.
Dhìrich mi dh 'an t-seòmar mhullaich,
'S theirinn mi 'n tigh-làir,
'S cha d 'fhuair mise Griogal cridhe
'Na shuidhe mu 'n chlàr.
Eudail mhóir, a shluagh an Domhain,
Dhòirt iad t'fhuil o 'n dé.
'S chuir iad do cheann air stob daraich
Tacan beag bho d' chré.
B 'annsa bhi le Griogal cridhe
Teàrnadh chruidh le gleann,
Na le Baran mór na Dalach,
Sìoda geal mu m' cheann.
Cha n 'eil ùbhlan idir agam,
'S ùbhlan uil' aig càch,
'S ann tha m ùbhlan-s' cùbhr' ri caineal
'S cùl an cinn ri làr.
'Nuair a bhios mnàthan òg a'bhaile,
'Nochd nan cadal sèimh,
'S ann bhios mis' air bruaich do lice,
'Bualadh mo dhà làimh.
abc | midi | pdf
Source: F Tolme, 1911,One Hundred And Five Songs of Occupation from the Western Isles of Scotland
Notes:
Transcription Note: The quality of printing on the facsimile I own is not high, and it is frequently difficult to distinguish certain characters, such as 'l' and 'ì'. The reader is warned to take care. I have incorporated various corrections to my first attempt that Malcolm Douglas kindly provided - DMcG
Frances Tolmie wrote:
"Memory From Earliest Days In Duirinish and Minginish", Skye, 1908 - F.T.
TRANSLATION:
1. Many a night of rain, or fair, or tempest raging wild,
Gregor would find for me a rock, and shelter from the storm.
(Cho: Obhan, etc. Great is my grief, and great!)
2. I climbed to the room above and searched the room below,
but did not find Grigor, beloved, sitting at the board.
3. Most loved of all the men in the world, they shed thy blood since yesterday;
on oaken stake they set thy head, near where thy body lay.
4. Far rather would I be with Gregor; herding down the glen
than with the great Baron of Dull, and white silk round my head.
5. No apples be now mine, such as the others have,
yet fragrant are mine as cinnamon, their heads low on the ground.
6. When other women lie tonight, in peaceful slumber still,
beside thy grave there I shall lie, smiting my two hands.
The above lullaby is well known throughout the Hebrides, though the incidents mentioned in it occurred on the mainland. The subject is the mourning of a young lady, a daughter of Campbell of Glenlyon, for the death of her husband, Grigor Roym an outlawed MacGregor, who was executed at Kenmore, on Loch Tay, by command of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenurchy, in 1570. See Celtic Review, App 15, 1909. In Lyra Celtica (p 191) there is a metrical translation into English of this song. There is also a version in Gaelic, with a melody, in Binneas nam Bard (Bardic Melody), p 48. My Gealic verses and air have already appeared in the Gesto Coll. (app p 25). Cf the air with that of "Cumha Dhairmad" in this collection. A version is also given in the Rev. Maclean Sinclair's Gaelic Bards, published in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and yet another in the Macdonald Collection (1911).
Roud:
Laws:
Child: