Two Gaelic Variants of "The Two Sisters"
by Paul G. Brewster
Modern Language Notes, Vol. 56, No. 3 (Mar., 1941), pp. 187-192
TWO GAELIC VARIANTS OF ""THE TWO SISTERS"
Since undertaking, in 1938, a historical-geographical study of "The Two Sisters,"[1] I have acquired, from various sources, an imposing number of texts and tunes of this ballad-English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroic, Icelandic, and American.[2] Besides these, there are in my files also many analogues of the ballad story (some in verse, others in prose) from Greece, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, and other countries.
Of all the variants and analogues in my possession, none are more interesting, in either form or content, than the Gaelic texts here presented. Both were sent me by Miss Annie Johnson (Anna Nic Iain), of the Isle of Barra, the Hebrides, in 1939. Miss Johnson's own text, which I call A, was obtained from her mother last year. The story is still current in Barra, but of the song only fragments remain.[3] Text B is from the manuscript collection of Keith Norman Macdonald.[4]
A. A Bhean Iadaich
A bhean ud thall hug o,
Noch truagh leat mise hug o,
Air sgeir mhara hao ri hui o
Nochd 'gam bhathadh hug o
Air sgeir mhara hug o
Nochd 'gam bhathadh hug o
Miann an duilisg hao ri hui o
Thug do'n traigh mi hug o
Miann an duilisg hug o
Thug do'n traigh mi hug o
'Si bhean iadaich hao ri hui o
Rinn mo thaladh hug o
'Se bhean iadaich hug o
Rinn mo thaladh hug o
'S a dh'fhag mise hao ri hui o
'N cois na traghad hug o
'S a dh'fhag mise hug o
'N cois na traghad hug o
'S i mo phuithar hao ri hui o
Rinn mo bhathadh hug o
Se mo phuithar hug o
Rinn mo bhathadh hug o
Ceil e, ceil e hao ri hui o
Air no mhathair hug o
English translation:
O woman over yonder, hug o,
Art thou not sorry for me
On a sea-rock
Tonight a-drowning,
On a sea-rock
Tonight a-drowning?
It was the desire for dulse
Took me shorewards.
The desire for dulse
Took me shorewards;
The jealous woman
Me enticed.
The jealous woman
Me enticed,
And left me here
At the wave-mouth.
And left me here
At the wave-mouth;[5]
'Twas my sister
Caused my drowning.
'Twas my sister
Caused my drowning;
Hide it, hide it
From my mother.
[need pic]
1: -s f.m: -.r Yr.f:-l1:-I
A bhean ud thall hug o
1:.s Ifm: m.r Ir.f: -I1.s:-
Noch truagh leat mise hug o
1: d r: -.m i1: d' m.m: - m.r: d
Air sgeir mhara hao ri hui o Nochd'gam
1: -.r d: d.l
bhathadh hug o
B. A' Bhean Eudach
Eilidh Chailenn hug o
Cha b' e don-fhios hug o
Thug an traigh mi hao ri ho ro
Ach an t-ailgheas hug o
Thug an traigh mi hug o
Ach an t-ailgheas hug o
Miann an duilisg hao ri ho ro
Thug an traigh mi hug o
Miann an duilisg hug o
Thug an traigh mi hug o
Thug gu sgeir mi hao ri ho ro
Noch dean traghadh hug o
Thug gu sgeir mi hug o
Noch dean traghadh hug o
'S a dh'fhag mise hao ri ho ro
So gam bhathadh hug o
A Bhean ud thall hug o
An cois na traghad hug o
Noch truagh leat fhein hao ri ho ro
Bean ga bhathadh hug o
Cha truagh, cha truagh hug o
'S beag do chas dhiom hug o
Sin do chas uat hug o
Thoir do lamh dhomh hug o
Feuch an dean mi hao ri ho ro
Buille shnamhadh hug o
No sgod dhe d' bhreacan hug o
Ma 's e 's aill leat hug o
Theirig dhachaidh hug o
Innis trath e hug o
Ceil e, ceil e hao ri ho ro
Air mo mhathair hug o
Noch truagh leat fhein
Bean ga bathadh
English translation:
Helen Calin hug o
It was not ill tidings
That took me shorewards,
But inclination,
Took me shorewards
But inclination.
The desire for dulse
Took me to the shore.
The desire for dulse
Took me shorewards,
Led me to the rock
Which will not ebb,
Led me to the rock
Which will not ebb,
And left me here
And me drowning.[6]
0 woman yonder
Beside the strand,
Are you not sorry
For a drowning woman?
Not sorry, not sorry,
Little pity have you for me.
Stretch forth thy foot,
Give me thy hand
That I may try
To swim a stroke
Or a corner of thy plaid
If thou prefer it.
Hasten home,
Tell it early;
Hide it, hide it
From my mother.
Are you not sorry
For a woman drowned?
The curious " interlocking " of the stanzas, recalling the stichomythia in Greek bucolic poetry and early English drama,[7] is explained by the fact that this ballad was long a favorite " waulkino song." [8] Miss Johnson writes of the form:
The interlocking of the stanzas is common to nearly all (in fact, I might say to all) the Hebridean Waulking Songs. I think the reason for it is quite understandable. They were sung as an accompaniment to labour, and as a large number of women took part, the time and rhythm must be strict; not a beat must be lost, and the singing of the last two lines of a stanza as the first two of the next gave the singer time and a clue to the following lines.[9]
It is interesting to note that Dr. Johnson first learned of the process of waulking during his trip through the Hebrides, and, remembering the catholicity of his interests, we may consider it not altogether unlikely that he witnessed the process in operation and heard, among other songs accompanying the work, the one here presented. As to that, however, we have no confirmation. Boswell tells us only that
Last night Lady Rasay shewed him the operation of wawking cloth, that is, thickening it in the same manner as is done by a mill. Here it is performed by women, who kneel upon the ground, and rub it with both their hands, singing an Erse song all the time.[10]
As will be noted, there is a marked contrast between the story of A and that of B. Both variants are obviously incomplete, and the parts lacking in the one are not always the same as those which have been lost from the other. Too, the events narrated do not always follow the same order in the two texts.
A.
appeal to onlooker for sympathy
reason for having gone to shore
disclosure of jealous woman's trick
identification of jealous woman as
sister
injunction not to tell mother
B
reason for having gone to shore
appeal to onlooker for sympathy
reproach by drowning woman
appeals to onlooker for aid
injunction not to tell mother
Is the " woman over younder " the murderess (i. e. the, sister)? It would seem improbable that this is the case in A, since the sister is later referred to as " the jealous woman." ilowever, the stanzas may be disordered. Possibly the first part of the ballad narrates the antecedent action and this is followed by a direct appeal to the sister.
The conclusion of B, with its threefold appeal for assistance, agrees rather closely with English versions, and there seems to be little room for doubt that the "woman yonder"[10] and the elder sister are one and the same, despite the fact that no mention is
made of the latter.
Among all the texts I have examined there is only one other in which there is any indication of an illicit relationship between the lover and one of the sisters:
GE D 4 He brought the second sheath and knife,
But the youngest was to be his wife.[11]
However, the fact that it is the second sister, who is not mentioned again, lessens the significance of the relationship. The injunction " Hide it, hide it From my mother," too, differs from the usual Anglo-Scottish ending:
GE C 26 0 yonder sits my father, the king,
And yonder sits my mother, the queen.
E2 21 And sune the harp sang loud and clear.
" Fareweel, my father and mither dear."
A Swedish text contains a triplicate dying message to father, mother, and lover:
GS A 12. Helsa dA hem. till min fader god;
Jag dricker mitt br6llop i klaran flod.
13. Och helsa hem till min moder;
Jag dricker mitt br6llop i floden.
14. Och helsa hem till min fiisteman:
Min brudsalng jag baddar ph hvitan sand.[12]
The comb, like the harp, the rune, the " sleep thorn," the " hand of glory," and certain herbals, is a potent sleep-producer,[13] and has, besides, other magic properties.[14] In view of the frequent occurrence in balladry of combing as a mere convention, however, it may be that we have here simply a natural sleep induced by the combing, and not a magic slumber. On the other hand, the latter interpretation is appropriate to the situation and may well be the correct one, particularly so because of the apparent antiquity of the text and because of the fact that there appears to have been no contamination of it by other versions.
PAUL G. BREWSTER
University of Missouri
_______________________
Footnotes:
1 This is being written as a doctoral dissertation, under the direction of Professor Stith Thompson, of Indiana University.
2 I have now approximately 350 texts and 125 tunes.
3. Miss Johnson writes: " The story here tells of two sisters who were in love with the same man. One of the sisters, the younger, was his favourite, but the older sister was determined that he should be hers. The younger sister expected a child, and when the older one discovered her secret, she enticed her down to the shore to gather dulse, as she had a craving (due
to her condition) for this delicacy. While at the shore, as they were both sitting on a little rock, dry at ebbtide, the older one began to comb her sister's hair, and the younger one, overcome by a drowsiness, fell asleep with her head on her sister's lap. Then the sister wove her hair into a plait with the seaweed on the rock and left her there. When she awoke, she was surrounded by the incoming tide, and bound to the rock by the hair of her head."
4. I have been unable to obtain from Miss Johnson any information regarding this collection except that it is in manuscript. Presumably it is still in the possession of the collector.
5 Lit. beside the shore.
6 So in the translation sent me by Miss Johnson. The agus construction is not here present.
7 E. g. Gorboduc, Tancred and Gismunda, The Spanish Tragedy, and Damon and Pythias.
8 Waulking was not, however, peculiar to the Hebrides. It was practiced also in Scotland proper, in Ireland, and in many of the more northern counties of England-Cumberland, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Cheshire, and others.
9 From a letter of April 20, 1939.
10 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Dr. Johnson (ed. Birkbeck Eill), v, 178.
11. Use of the figure of sheath and knife to symbolize sexual relations is well enough known to need no comment here. See, for other occurrences of it in balladry, "Leesome Brand" (Child, No. 15), A 36-37 and B 12-13 and "Sheath and Knife" (Child, No. 16), A 8 The erotic symbolism of Child D is commented upon also in the late Phillips Barry's " The Psychopathology of Ballad-Singing " (BFSSNE, No. 11 [1936], 17-18), with the reminder that traces of it occur in other Scottish texts as well.
12 See also GS G 17-19. A truncated form appears in a text from Swedish Finland, GSF B 12-13 (father and lover):
HiElsa da hem till min fader god:
jag dricker mitt brollop i klara flod.
Och hiilsa da hem till min filsteman:
Min brudsang jag biiddar ph viter sand.
These messages resemble those to the mother in the Slavic folksong " to Morava mutna tece " ("Why does the Morava flow so turbidly? "), which, however, is not an analogue:
Why does the Morava flow so turhidly every evening? Are they watering the pasha's horses? Or is the pasha's army passing? They are not watering the pasha's horses, nor is the pasha's army passing. Two sisters, Emina and Fatima, were bathing. Fatima drowned, but Emina crossed the river in safety. The dead head spoke: " Emina, my dear sister, do not tell our dear mother that I was drowned, but tell her that I was married. The fine sands are my wedding-guests, the crabs my best men, and the little fish my sisters-in-law. The black earth is my bed, a stone my pillow, and the clear sky my coverlet." (Text No. 11182 of the Parry Collection of Southslavic Folk Texts, Harvard University. This translation I owe to the kindness of Mr. Albert B. Lord.)
13. The motif of the combing is D1364.9 in Aarne-Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (comb causes magic sleep). Cf. also Type 709 and Bolte-Polivka, Anmerktngen zu den Kinder- u. Hausmirchen der Briider Grimm, I, 463.
14. E. g., in "Willie's Lady" (Child, No. 6), where the "kaims of care" are used by the wicked mother-in-law to prevent the birth of a child.