Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)

Subject: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 20 May 03 - 10:37 AM

MAILI BHEAG ÒG

Nach truagh leat mi 's mi 'm prìosan,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg?
Do chàirdean a' cur binn orm,
Mo chuid de'n t-saoghal thu;
A bhean na mala mìne,
'S nam pògan mar na fìoguis,
Is tu nach fhàgadh shìos mi,
Le mìrun do bheòil.

Di-Dòmhnaich anns a' ghleann dhuinn,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg,
Nuair thòisich mi ri cainnt riut,
Mo chuid de'n t-saoghal mh+r,
Nuair dh'fhosgail mi mo shùilean,
'S a sheall mi air mo chùlthaobh,
Bha marcaich' nan eich chrùdhaich,
Tighinn dlùth air mo thòir.

Is mise bh'air mo bhuaireadh,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg,
Nuair thàinig sluagh mu'n cuairt dhuinn,
Mo ribhinn ghlan ùr;
Is truagh nach anns an uair sin
A thuit mo làmh o m'ghualainn,
Mu'n d'amais mi do bhualadh,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg.

Gur bòidhche leam a dh'fhàs thu,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg,
Na 'n lilidh anns an fhàsach,
Mo cheud ghràdh 's mo rùn;
Mar aiteal caoin na gréine
Am maduinn chiùin ag éirigh,
B'e sud do dhreach 'us d'eugais,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg.

Is truagh a rinn do chàirdean,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg,
Nuair thoirmisg iad do ghràdh dhomh,
Mo chuid dhe'n t-saoghal thu;
Nan tugadh iad do làmh dhomh
Cha bhithinn anns an àm seo
Fo bhinn air son mo ghràidh dhuit,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg.

Ged bheirte mi bho'n bhàs mi,
Mo Mhaili bheag òg,
Chan iarrainn tuilleadh dàlach,
Mo cheud ghràdh 's mo rùn;
B'annsa 'n saoghal-s' fhàgail,
'S gum faicinn d'aodann ghràdhach;
Gun chuimhn' bhi air an là sin,
'S na dh'fhàg mi thu ciùrt'.

Sources Alltan Dubh (includes audio) and A' Chòisir-Chiùl, The Saint Columba Collection of Gaelic Songs London & Glasgow: Bayley & Ferguson, n.d.

See also Mary Jane Lamond

She gives the following translation of verses 1-4 and background info., which says me some work:

Do you not pity here in prison, my little young Molly? Your friends are condemning me, you my whole world. O woman of the smooth eyebrows and kisses as sweet as figs, you would not degrade me with malice from your mouth.

It was on Sunday as we rode through the glen that I began conversing with you, all that I have on earth. When I opened my eyes and looked over my shoulder, the riders on shoed horses were drawing near in my pursuit.

I became confounded, my little young Molly, when we were surrounded by a host, my innocent, young girl. It's a pity that my arm did not then fall from my shoulder before I happened to strike you with a blow, my little young Molly.

You have grown to be lovelier than the wild meadow's lily, my first love and darling. In your hue and form, you were like a soft ray of sunshine on a still morning, my little young Molly.

The story goes that Maili bheag òg was the daughter of a Perthshire laird. She and a young officer eloped on a Saturday night and were pursued by her father and his house guards. The couple was overtaken on Sunday in a remote glen. During the ensuing skirmish, the officer accidentally killed his sweetheart with a sword blow. Waiting in prison for his execution, he made this song for her. The air of this setting is from the late Malcolm Angus MacLeod (Calum Thormaid Chaluim) of Skir Dhu, Victoria County, Cape Breton.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 20 May 03 - 10:48 AM

another way I heard the story was that the woman's family disapproved of the alliance, they were courting in the glen and when the man saw they'd been followed he though Molly has snitched on him. In his anger he struck her before he realised what he was doing.

Bunting (early 19th c. Irish collection) had a tune called "Molly Bheag Ó" which is described as also belonging to a Scottish song about an officer who accidentally kills his lover. That tune is rather like the tune of "Will ye go to Flanders, my Molly O", I think.

compare with this Irish song Maire Ní Mhaoileoin

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: Felipa
Date: 18 Jan 22 - 02:25 PM

https://digital.nls.uk/early-gaelic-book-collections/archive/78566153
Co'-chruinneachadh dh' Óranan Taoghta - A Collection of the Most Popular Gaelic Songs, Glasgow: Duncan MacVean, 1836 - book page 16, transcription page 20

"This beautiful song was composed by an Irish youth who
fell in love with a nobleman's daughter in tlie Highlands. Hav-
ing received the lady's consent, lie eloped with her. Her two
brothers pursued them on horseback, and found them on a Sun.
day moruing in a glen, where tbey had passed the night ;— the
struggle commenced between the young gentlemen and the
unfortunate lover ; wl»o had the nnexpressible anguish of kill-
ing his sweetheart in the contest, with, his own sword. He was
then taken prisoner, and carried to .iail, where he composed this
heart-melting song a few days before his execution. — The se-
cond stanza, which was not in the copy formerly printed, is now
given; and the song is now printed correctly, for the first time."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: Felipa
Date: 18 Jan 22 - 03:48 PM

Additional verses from Co'-chruinneachadh dh'Óranan Taoghta, also found in The Harp of Caledonia - A Collection of Popular Gaelic Songs - Clarsach na hAlba no Órana Tagtha Gaidhealach Glasgow: John Cameron, n.d. (1890?) (also found at https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/1081/1114/108111143.23.pdf)
These two verses are placed before the verse which begins "Is truagh a rinn do chàirdean," (and by the way, in this case "do chàirdean" is better translated as "your relations", as in kinfolk, rather than "your friends")

MO MHAILI BHEAG ÓG, cont.

'S mise a thug an gaol
Do mo Mhali bhig òig,
Nach dealaich rium san t-saoghal,
Mo nighean bhòideach thu.
Tha d'fhalt air dhreach nan teudan.
Do ghruaidhean mar an caoran;
Do shùilean, flathail, aobhach,
'S do bheul labhaird ciuin. [labhairt]

Shiubhlain leat an saoghal,
Mo Mhali bheag òg
Cho fad a's cùl na greine,
A gheug a's aille gnùis :
Ruithinn agus leumainn,
Mar fiadh air bharr na'n sleibhtean,   [corrected to make sense]
Air ghaol 's gu'm bithinn reidh 's tu,
Mo Mhali bheag og.

my rough translation:

Wasn't it I who loved my little young Molly
Don't part with me in the world
You are my lovely girl
Your hair is like strings [of a harp]
Your cheeks like berries
Your eyes noble and pleasant
And you mouth of quiet speech

I would travel the world with you
my little young Maili
As far as the back of the sun
oh beauty of form and face
I would run and I would leap
Like a deer on the mountains
We would be content in love
My little young Molly

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: Felipa
Date: 18 Jan 22 - 04:32 PM

In the first post on this discussion, the first 4 verses are translated but not the last two. I've just done a rough translation:

Is truagh do rinn ...

It's a pity what your kin did.
My little young Molly,
When they forbid your love for me
You are my share of this world [a popular endearment]
If they had let me have your hand
I would not be at this time
Under sentence [of death] because of my love for you;
My little young Molly

Ged bheirte mi bho'n bhàs ....

Although I be delivered from the dead
My little young Molly
I would ask no more grace
My first love and my intended
It would be better to leave this word
And not to see your loving face
Without remembering that day
---------------------------------------------------------
Mo Mhaili Bheag Óg sung by Alasdair Codona with Daimh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo_4tYUmyBU

-----------------------------------------------------------
a just slightly different version of the lyrics, collected in Canada by MacEdward Leach (1897-1967)
https://www.mun.ca/folklore/leach/songs/CB/1-01.htm

Nach truagh leat mi am prìosan mo Mhàili bheag òg.
Do chàirdean 'gad ionndrain, mo chuid de'n t-saoghal mhòr
Bean na dosan mine, 's nan gruaidhean dearga lionta i
'S tu nach fhàgadh sios mi fo mhì-ruin do bheòil.

Di-dòmhnuich anns a' ghleann le mo Mhàili bheag òg
Nuair thòisich mi ri cainnt ruit, mo chuid de'n t-saoghal mhòr
Nuair dh'fhosgail mi mo shùilean 's a sheall mi air mo chùlaibh
Bha marcaiche 'n eich chruidheach tighinn dlùth air mo thòr.

Gur mise bh' air mo bhuaireadh, mo Mhàili bheag òg
Nuair chruinnich sluagh mun cuairt dhuinn mo ribhinn ghlan ùr
Nach truagh nach b'ann 's an uair sin a thuit ma làmh bho'm ghualainn
Mu'n d'amais mi do bhualadh mo Mhàili bheag òg.

'S nach bòidheach leam a dh' fhàs i mo Mhaili bheag òg
Mar lilidh anns an fhàsach mo cheud ghràdh 's mo rùn
Mar aiteal caoin na grèine 's a mhaduinn's i 'g èiridh
B'e sud do dhreach's èugais mo Mhàili bheag òg.

'S truagh a rinn do chàirdean mo Mhàili bheag òg
Nuair chronaich iad do ghràdh dhomh, mo cheud saoghal thu
Nan tugadh iad do làmh dhomh cha bhithinn air an am seo
Fo bhinn airson mo ghràdh dhut mo Mhàili bheag òg.

Shiubhlainn leat an saoghal, mo Mhàili bheag òg
Cho fad ri cùl na grèine mo cheud ghràdh 's mo rùn
Ruithinn agus leumainn mar fhiadh air bhàrr nan sléibhtean
Air gaol gum bithinn rèidh ruit mo Mhàili bheag òg.

Cha tèid mi do'n bhuaile 's mo Mhàili bheag òg
Far am bithear leis na cuachan a' seinn sin le ceòl
Ged bhitheadh iad 'g a m' bhualadh cha chàraich is cha ghluais mi
'S tha mise nochd 'nam thruaghan Mhàili bheag òg.

'S ged bheireadh iad o'n bhàs mi, mo Mhàili bheag òg
Chan iarrainn tuilleadh tàladh mo cheud ghràdh 's mo rùn
Ach cead an saoghal seo fhàgail gu faicinn d'agahidh bhàighail
'S gun cuimhn' bhi air an là sin a dh'fhàg mi fo cheo.

English

Do you not pity me in prison, my little young Molly?
Your friends miss you, you're all the world to me
Woman of the silken hair, and the full red cheeks
You would not leave me down-hearted by speaking malice

On Sunday in the glen with my little young Molly
When I spoke to you, and you are all the world to me
When I opened my eyes and looked behind me
The rider of the shod horse was close in search of me

It was I who was troubled my little young Molly
When a crowd gathered round us, my pure young maid
It's a pity it was not then that my hand dropped from my shoulder
Before I happened to strike you my little young Molly.

Beautiful to me did she grow, my little young Molly
Like a lily in the wasteland, my first love and my choice
Like the pleasant ray of sunshine, as it rises on a peaceful morning
That was your image and reputation, my little young Molly.

Your friends did a regrettable thing my little young Molly
When they forbade your love for me, my whole world you were
Had they given me your hand, I would not be at this time
Under judgement for my love for you my little young Molly.

I would travel the world with you my little young Molly
As far as the sunset, my first love and my choice
I would run and leap like a deer on the mountain top
For the sake of being free with you my little young Molly.

I will not go to the fold, my little young Molly
Where they are with the milking pails singing musically
Though they would strike me I would not move or go
And I am tonight in a pitiful state, my little young Molly.

Though they would save me from death my little young Molly
I would need no other solace my first love and my choice
But to let me leave this world to see your endearing face
With no memory of that day that left me under a cloud.
Notes

A popular love song in both Scotland and Cape Breton, Mo Mhàili Bheag Òg was supposedly composed in the late 18th century by a soldier imprisoned for the unintentional murder of his sweetheart. According to tradition, the young soldier fell in love and eloped with the daughter of a nobleman who then sent his men in pursuit of the couple. They were eventually located in a remote glen where the soldier fought with his pursuers leading him to accidentally strike his sweetheart with his sword.

This song is found in print in many Gaelic song collections. Scottish folklorist Margaret Bennett has noted that the tune of the version recorded by Leach was not commonly heard in Scotland.

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: RunrigFan
Date: 18 Jan 22 - 06:05 PM

MAILI BHEAG ÒG

https://largsgaelic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Maili-bheag-og.pdf

Mary Jane Lamond

http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/lamond/momhaili.htm

https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/7858/78582432.23.pdf

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Aug 23 - 11:56 AM

Griogair Labhruidh sings even more lyrics, I think.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mo Mhaili Bheag Og (Scot. Gaelic)
From: Felipa
Date: 16 Aug 23 - 05:19 PM

typo in the first message: "which says me some work" should read "which saves me some work"