I agree totally that the Campbell words in English are most likely the original of the two versions extant and that the Irish text is the translation. Nonetheless there is much to be admired in the work of the anonymous translator who has produced a song of similar quality to Campbell's, worthy of the same praise given to the English languge text above. Extrinsic factors, including some of the roots of the "wishful thinking" to which Malcolm Douglas refers, causes a different judgement of the intrinsic value of the Irish version.

The difference is in their contexts. The romantic, Celtic twilight atmosphere of the Campbell words and the conscious composition of them are totally acceptable in English and in the context of similar songs of that time. In the case of the Irish words, the similar atmosphere and the conscious nature of the work is felt to be artificial in contrast with songs which were more in keeping with the traditions of the literature of that language. Further wishful thinking causes people to think (recte wish) that all of this literature came from the "folk" rather than from the conscious work of an author (however good or bad she/he might be).

In my opinion, the anonymous translator has performed his/her task brilliantly, given that the text is not prose and not merely metrical but must be able to be sung. Possibly the greatest review the Irish translator could receive is this: if (hypothetically) his/her's were the original, Campbell would be due the same review.

In saying that, I must make clear that I do not consider the second verse given from the Calthorpe book to be the work of the same translator (nor indeed a translation at all). It has a looser rhyming scheme and is derivative of other lullaby texts rather than of an imaginative composition such as Campbell's.

Malcolm might however join me in lamenting the probable loss of the words Cáit Ní Dhubhthaigh heard to the same air on a fair-day in Letterkenny. He should be assured that I would be willing to dismiss it as drivel, if it were such, no matter what language it was in.

On the subject of Seosamh Mac Cathmhaoil, didn't Herbert Hughes also go under an Irish pen-name during some of those years - something more elaborate like Pádraig Mac Aodha O Néill? And Campbell's brother supplied illustrations under the guise Seaghan Mac Cathmhaoil.