Two versions given by Mrs Costello
Jim Carroll

Driving the Calves to the Pasture sung by Mrs Bridget Forde, Sylane, Tuam

TRANSLATION.
1 As I walked through this wood last Wednesday,
A young maiden met mein the waste-land,
Searching for the calves I was, such was my errand,
And one of them I would not find till morning.

2. A little quicken tree there is, at the end of this wood,
And we will be together till the day comes.
It's up we will be, with the bright peep of the morning,
And you will find the calves in the waste-land.

3. I give my malediction to the herds of this wood,
It was they that left me here a wandering.
My father and my mother sorrowful at home,
And I without a chance of coming to them.

4. So now, my darling, since you are going from me,
And that it is not you who are destined for me,
Here is a little kiss from the top of my fingers,
And five hundred farewells to my treasure.

5. I am a young maid born with a fortune,
But alas ! I am not fated to enjoy it. In this town, while yet young,
I was brought into disgrace,
And all through the son of O'Malley.

6. To have been hanged I would very much prefer,
Or to have been burned in a bone fire,
Than to give the satisfaction to any mother's son,
That I'd rear for one year his offspring.

7. My girl was put standing before the congregation,
And into her hand was put the Bible
She had to undertake to make due reparation,
Else from the place she'd have been banished.

8. Oh, Shane O'Malley, come you home with me;
Oh, come to me and have no shyness;
And never again will you go across the sea,
When you see your own baby and its mother.

For a variant of this song see " Irish Popular Songs," p. 51, by Edward Walsh.
Petrie has two airs of this name, Nos. 1529 and 1530, taken down by him in Clare in 1864.

The following version of the words were written down for me by Mr. Michael Diskin, 1ST. T., Milltown, from Simon Steed ; but I was unable to get the air :—


TRANSLATION.

1 As I walked out one morning in the spring,
And rambled through the wood quite carelessly,
Whom should I meet but a comely young maid,
Whose mouth was finely formed and a-smiling.

I (myself) asked her whereto did she belong,
Or what blessed country did she come from.
And searching for the calves 'twas there I sent my girl,
But one of them she didn't find till morning.

3. There's a little quicken tree at the angle of the wood,
And you'll come along with me there till day dawns.
The sweet song of the birds will lull us there to sleep,
And the foliage of the trees will be a shade for us.

4. We have the kind consent of the keepers of the wood
To get from them the grass until the morning.
With the bright peep of dawn we'll be up and on our way,
And we'll drive the calves out in the pasture.

5. Now the old rake is secure in his wood,
And my opinion is that he's revengeful;
But searching for the calves 'twas there I sent my girl,
And one of them she didn't find till morning.

6. The old rake is now secure in his wood,
And for a year he has pursued my girl,
But if justice can be had in the place in which we are,        
From his bones I will exact reparation.

7. My malediction I give to the herds of the wood        
Who left me to suffer cold and hardship.
My daddy and my mammy grieving sore at home,
And I without a chance of coming near them.

8. Ah! bright love of my bosom, do not be dismayed,
You've done only what your mother did before you ;
And since it was your own will, return home, my treasure.
See, I salute you from the top of my five fingers. |

9. Were I only now as I was a year ago,
That is just a year from the present time,
I would sit down and rest on the stock of your bed,
And would drink a bottle of wine with you, my girl.