| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| CHEER NY GREINEY | The Country of the Sun | |
| Myr screeu mee shiaghtyn er dy henney, va’n obbyr fo-halloo feer ghanjeyragh as doccaragh ny keayrtyn. | As I wrote a week ago, the work underground was very dangerous and hard sometimes. | |
| Tra ta mee fakin er y chellveeish nish dy vel ny meaineyderyn ayns Goal Vooar shirrey 100 ’sy chiaghtin cha nel mee mooaraghey shen dauesyn er chor erbee. | When I see on the television now that the miners in Great Britain are asking for £100 a week I am not begrudging that to them at all. | |
| T’ad toilliu shen as ny smoo. | They deserve that and more. | |
| Cha nel mish ny mast’ ocsyn ta gaccan tra ta’n leagh jeh sack dy gheayl goll er ardjaghey. | I am not amongst those who are complaining when the when the price of a sack of coal increases. | |
| Cha beagh monney j’in arryltagh dy yannoo yn staartey oc as er my hon hene cha raghin sheese ayns meain nish son queig keead punt ’sy chiaghtin! | There wouldn’t be many of us willing to do their job and as for me, I woulddn’t go down in a mine now for five hundred pounds a week! | |
| By liooar dou ny shey bleeantyn va mee ec yn obbyr shen. | The six years I was at that work was enough for me. | |
| Va mee gobbragh mysh kiare thousane trie fo eaghtyr y thallooin ayns dorraghys doo, jeh’n lhied nagh nione diuish ta gobbragh er ooir aalin Yee. | I was working about four thousand feet under the surface of the earth in pitch dark, of the like you who work on God’s beautiful earth don’t know. | |
| Va shin thiolley as bleaystey gagh laa as er y fa shen cha nel yn clashtyn aym cha mie as oddagh eh ve agh er lhiam dy vel my scowanyn kiart dy liooar. | We were boring holes and blasting every day and therefore my hearing isn’t as good as it could be, but I think that my lungs are right enough. | |
| Ta mee er n’akin shenn veaineyderyn as ny scowanyn oc slane stroit lesh joan-creggey. | I have seen old miners with their lungs completely destroyed by rock dust. | |
| Dy mennick va shin eignit dy obbraghey rish daa oor yeig ’sy laa ny daa oor yeig ’syn oie as ny keayrtyn shiaght laghyn ’sy chiaghtin. | Often, we had to work for twelve hours a day or twleve hours a night and sometimes seven days a week. | |
| Keayrt dy row va ooilley ny traenyn fo-halloo fo my churrym. | At one time, I was responsible for all the underground trains. | |
| Un oie huitt tunneyder (tunnel) stiagh orrin agh ren shin scapail lesh nyn mioys, bwooise da Jee. | One night a tunnel fell in on us , but we escaped with our lives, thank God. | |
| Keayrt elley va mee gobbragh heese ec bun slogh (shaft) as gheayrt queig millioon galloon d’ushtey neose orrym pene as er tree deiney doo. | Another time, I was working down at the base of a shaft and five million gallons of water poured down on myself and three black men. | |
| Reeshtagh ren shin scapail agh va daa ghooinney doo elley gobbragh faggys dooin as vaih ad ’syn ushtey. | Again, we escaped, but there were other black men working near to us and they drowned in the water. | |
| Kegeesh ny lurg shen hooar shin nyn girp tra va’n ushtey pumpit magh. | A fortnight after that we found their bodies when the water was pumped out. | |
| By liooar shen dooys fo-halloo. | That was enough for me underground. | |
| Hooar mee staartey er yn eaghtyr ayns rheynn elley jeh’n cholught as cheau mee my hraa jerrinagh ’syn Africkey ayns y Thie-sheelee (refinery) raad va shin glenney y coobyr as aa-ghlenney eh reesht lesh electolysis derrey v’eh 99% glen. | I got a job on the surface in another department of the company and I spent my final time in Africa in the refinery where we were cleaning (purifying) the copper and and re-cleaning it again with electolysis until it was 99% pure. | |
| Ta shenn raa ’sy Ghaelg, “Raad ta chionnal erbee ayn yiow shiu Manninagh” as dy jarroo va Manninagh ny ghaa gobbragh marym agh cha ren mee fakin monney jeu edyr. | There’s a old Manx saying, “Where there’s any crowd you’ll find a Manx person” and indeed there were many Manxmen working with me, but I didn’t see many of them at all. | |
| Ta troor jeu nish baghey ayns Mannin as ta mee fakin ad ny keayrtyn as ta shin loayrt ass y ghlare “Cibemba” ry-cheilley. | There are three of them now living in the Isle of Man and I see them sometimes and we talk in the “Cibemba” language to each other. | |
| Yn chied keayrt hie mee fo-halloo ayns caaidje va mee fo currym Freddie Clague, Manninagh ruggit as troggit ayns Doolish. | The first time I went underground in a cage I was responsible to Freddie Clague, a Manxman born and raised in Douglas. | |
| Cha dod ny Boeryn toiggal yn fockle “yessir” va shin jannoo ymmyd jeh! | The boers couldn’t understand the word “yessir” we were using! | |
| Un ole v’eh orrym dy gholl stiagh ayns shamyr vooar fo-halloo raad va ny greienyn mooarey pumpal ushtey magh ass y veain as va’n ard ’er ayns shid ny Vanninagh voish Doolish enmyssit Hotchkiss, mooinjer dauesyn as thie-aaght oc er Shooylaghan Ghoolish. | One night I had to go into a large underground chamber where the big machines were pumping water out of the mine and the chief man there was a Manxman from Douglas called Hotchkiss, a relative of those who have a hotel on Douglas Promenade. | |
| V'eh feer cheh ’sy voayl shen as dooyrt eh rhym dy beagh eh yindyssagh dy ennaghtyn paart dy “cooth” voish Ellan Vannin. | It was very hot in that place and he said to me that it would be wonderful to feel some of the “cooth” (‘cold’ in Anglo-Manx dialect) from the Isle of Man. | |
| Cha row monney “cooth” fo-halloo ’sy veain edyr! | There wasn’t much “cooth” underground in the mine, at all! | |
| Va ny deiney doo credjal dy bollagh ayns scanjoonyn as spyrrydyn as va ram buill fo-halloo raad nagh ragh ad er cor erbee, eer dy beagh ad ceaut magh ass nyn staataghyn son gobbal dy gholl stiagh ayndoo. | The black men thoroughly believed in apparitions (ghosts) and spirits and there were many places underground where they wouldn’t go at all, even if they were to be thrown out of their jobs for refusing to go into them. | |
| Ny keayrtyn v’eh orrym d’aagail ad my yei as goll roym my lomarcan as adsyn foaddey aile dy reayll ersooyl ny drogh spyrrydyn. | Sometimes I had to leave them behind me and go alone with them lighting a fire to keep away the evil spirits. | |
| Tra harrin er ash yiarrin roo dy vaik mee ram scanjoonyn as yinnagh ad roie gollrish yn jouyll hene dy chosney ersooyl voish y voayl neuluckee shen. | When I would come back I would say to them that I saw a lot of ghosts and they would run like the devil himself to get away from that unlucky place. | |
| Ta shin lhaih mooarane ayns ny pabyryn naight ny laghyn shoh mychione “Apartheid” myr screeu mee. | We read a great deal in the newspapers these days about “Aparheid”, as I wrote. | |
| (Cha nod sleih ayns Goal gra y fockle dy kiart – t’ad gra “apart-hide” agh ta’n fockley-magh kiart “apart-hate”. | (People in Britain can’t say the word correctly — they say “apart-hide” but the correct pronunciation is “apart-hate”. | |
| Screeu ommidan ennagh keayrt dy row dy vel shoh er yn oyr dy vel ny kynneeyn cur feoh er y cheilley as adsyn scarrit!). | Some fool once wrote that this is the reason that the races hate each other, with them being separated!) | |
| Raad va mish gobbraghey cha row “apartheid” ayn agh cha row ny kynneeyn goll mygeayrt monney ry-cheilley agh son yn traa v’ad gobbraghey. | Where I was working there wasn’t “apartheid” but the races didn’t go around much together, except for the time they were working together. | |
| Ta ny deiney doo feer voyrnagh ass y chynney ocsyn as ta ram j’eu smooinaghtyn nagh vel ny kynneeyn baney feeu son veg. | The black men are very proud of their language and there are a lot of them thinking that the white races aren’t worth anything. | |
| Cha nel adsyn shirrey co-phoosey marish feallagh baney er chor erbee, chamoo ta’n feallagh baney laccal y lhied. | They aren’t asking for inter-marriage with white ones (folk) at all, neither do the white ones want such a thing. | |
| Tra t’ou smooinaghtyn er, cha nel shin fakin ny foillanyn as ny troghanyn troggal nyn idd ’syn un voayl ayns Mannin. | When you think about it, we don't see the seagulls and the rooks building their nests in the same place in the Isle of Man. | |
| Hie yn chied dooinney bane gys Yn Sambia mysh jeih blein as kiare feed er dy henney as ec y traa shen va ny deiney doo slane barbaragh as dewil as kuse j'eu creck yn sleih oc hene da ny Arabee myr sleabyn. | The first white man went to Zambia about ninety years ago and at that time the black men were completely barbaric and cruel and a few of them were selling their own people to the Arabs as slaves. | |
| Cha row fys oc er y wheeyl as v’ad feer neuynsit. | They didn’t know about the wheel and they were really uneducated. | |
| Keayrt dy row va dooinney ennagh ayns Lambarene ’sy Chongo Belge lesh shilley er Dr. Albert Schweitzer. | One time there was some man in Lambarene in the Belgian Congo visiting Dr. Albert Schweitzer. | |
| Dooyrt y joarree, “Ta shiu dty ghooinney Chreestee, ta shiu credjal ayns Jee as er y fa shen cre’n fa nagh vel shiu credjal dy vel ny deiney doo ooilley nyn mraaraghyn diu hene — ta un Jee as ayr jeh ooilley.” | The stranger said, “You are a Christian man, you believe in God and therefore why don’t you believe that the black men are all your brothers (to yourselves) — there is one God and father of all.” | |
| Dreggyr Schweitzer, ard-sushtallagh as fer-lhee, huc ooilley e vioys da’n feallagh doo,[1] “Ta shiu dy jarroo kiart as ta’n dooinney doo my vraar gyn ourys, agh — he is my younger brother by many centuries”. | Schweitzer, a chief evangelist and doctor, answered, to them all his life for the black ones (folk), “You are indeed correct and the black man is my brother without doubt, but — he is my younger brother by many centuries”. | |
|
[1] huc ooilley e vioys da’n feallagh doo] ‘to them all his life for the black ones (folk)’ there seems to be either a typo, error, or missing word in this phrase.
| ||
| Er lhiam dy vel shen ansoor feer chooie as dy row yn irriney echey. | I think that that is a very suitable answer and that he knew the truth. | |
| Ayns Yn Africkey Yiass hene (yn phoblaght) ta’n apartheid feer eajee. | In South Africa itself (the republic) apartheid is really despicable. | |
| Ta mee er n’akin binkyn ayns ny pairkyn ayns Johannesburg as ny focklyn BLANKES ALEEN - WHITES ONLY scruit orroo as harrish dorrys Offish Yn Phost hee shiu er ny screeu NATURELLE - NATIVES. | I have seen benches in the parks in Johannesburg with the words BLANKES ALEEN - WHITES ONLY written on them and over the doory of the Post Offuce you’ll see written NATURELLE - NATIVES. | |
| Ta ny Boeryn credjal dy vel yn feallagh doo sluight jeh Ham, mac Noah, eshyn ren fakin e ayr rooisht, “As honnick Ham ayr Chanaan nearey e ayrey as dinsh eh shoh da e ghaa vraar v’er cheumooie jeh’n chabbane, as ghooisht Noah lurg y feeyn | The Boers believe that the black ones (folk) are the seed of Ham, son of Noah, he who saw his father naked, “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without and Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. | |
| as dooyrt eh, Cursit vees Canaan, sharvaant dy harvaantyn vees eh da e vraaraghyn.” | And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” | |
| Ta’n agglish Hollanagh ’syn Africkey Yiass credjal shoh as t’ee gynsaghey shoh ’sy cheeill as ta ny Boeryn gra, “Nagh vel eh scruit ayns goo Yee dy vel Mec Ham dy ve nyn harvaantyn dooin?” | The Dutch church in South Africa believe this and it teaches this in the church and the Boers say, “Isn’t it written in the Word of God that the Sons of Ham are to be servants for us?” | |
| Ta shen y bun jeh “apartheid”. | That is the basis of “apartheid”. | |
| Ta ram reddyn olk er ve jeant ’sy theihll shoh ayns ennym craueeaght, s’olk lhiam gra. | There are many evil things that have been done in this world in the name of religion, I hate to say. | |
| Cha nel ny Boeryn coontey monney jeh ny Sostynee er y fa dy ren ny Sostynee nyn gooid share dy stroie chengey ny mayrey oc as dy reayll ad fo-chosh tra va pooar ec ny Sostynee harrish ooilley Yn Africkey. | The Boers don’t think much of the English because the English did their best to destroy their language and to keep them oppressed when the English had power over all of Africa. | |
| Va’n cloan oc custhit ’sy scoill son loayrt Afrikaans as va ny cheid “campyn concentration” currit er bun liorish Goal Vooar ’sy Chaggey Boeragh. | Their children were beaten in school for speaking Afrikaans and the first “concentration camps” were established by Great Britain in the Boer War. | |
| Ta ny deiney doo cur ammys mooar da ny Boeryn ga nagh vel graih oc orroo as t’ad cur graih da ny Sostynee er y fa nagh vel ad creoi orroo agh cha nel ad cur ammys erbee daue! | The black men pay great respect to the Boers although they have no love for them and they do love the English because they aren’t hard on them, but they don’t pay them any respect at all! | |
| S’quaagh eh nagh vel? | It’s strange, isn’t it? | |
| Dooyrt fer doo rhym keayrt dy row ’sy ghlare echey hene “We like you because you are nice to us but we don't respect you.” | A black man said to me once in his own language, “We like you because you are nice to us but we don’t respect you.” | |
| Va shinyn ny keayrtyn feer chreoi orroo fo-halloo son v’ad jannoo reddyn feer ghanjeyragh gyn yss daue hene. | We were sometimes very hard on them underground because they were doing very dangerous things without themselves knowing. | |
| T’ad gollrish paitchyn oney. | They are like innocent children. | |
| Cha nel ny Sostynee ’syn Africkey Yiass coontey monney jeh ny Boeryn edyr, as ta sheshaght-folliaghtagh oc enmyssit “Mec Hostyn”, sorch dy heshaght quasi-vasoonagh as tree keimyn ayn. | The English in South Africa don’t think much of the Boers at all, and they have a secret society called “The Sons of England”, a sort of quasi-masonic society with three degrees (levels) in it. | |
| She voish yn sheshaght shen dy daink yn eie hym dy chur er bun “Mec Vannin”, red ren mee tra haink mee er ash dy valley ’sy vlein 1962. | It is from that society that the idea came to me to establish “Mec Vannin”, something I did when I came back home in the year 1962. | |
| Agh cha nel tree keimyn ayns Mec Vannin as er lhiam nagh vel “ritual” oc foast! | But there aren’t three degrees (levels) in Mec Vannin and I don’t think they have a “ritual” yet! | |
| Veagh eh yindyssagh dy akin nyn garrey veen Lewis y Crellin lhiggey stiagh sleih da’n cheshaght gynsaghey daue greim laue as focklyn folliaghtagh as y lhied. | It would be wonderful to see our dear friend Lewis Crellin letting people into the society teaching them a hand grip and secret words and such. | |
| Oddin screeu lioar mychione my laghyn ’syn Africkey, laghyn maynrey nagh jeanym dy bragh jarrood as foddee dy jeanym shen laa ennagh. | I could write a book about my days in Africa, happy days that I won’t ever forget and maybe I will do that some day. | |
| Tra hie mee da’n cheer shen cha row eh dy mie er enn da sleih ’sy cheer ain hene as tra dinsh mee da my chaarjyn dy row mee son goll gys Kitwe dy obbraghey dooyrt ad, “C’raad ayns niurin ta shen?” | When I went to that country I was well known to people in our own country and when I told my friends that I was able to go to Kiwe to work they said, “Where in Hell is that?” | |
| Nish ta shin clashtyn mychione yn Africkey bunnys dagh ooilley laa er y chellveeish. | Now we hear about Africa almost every day on the television. | |
| Ta skeeal liauyr foast ry-heet ass “Yn Mooar-Rheynn Ghoo” foastagh as er lhiam pene dy jean ny Communee geddyn greim mooar er yn sleih ayns shen. | There’s a long story still to come out of “The Black Continent” yet and I myself think that the Communists will get a great hold on the people there. | |
| Bee ny Boeryn ayns shen derrey laa nyn maaish er y fa nagh vel boayl erbee elley oc dy gholl huggey. | The Boers will be there until the day they die because they don’t have another place to go to. | |
| Ta armee mooar lajer oc as as armee-aer as lhuingys caggee trean as cha bee ad ceaut magh agh erreish da caggey mooar, foddee caggey mooar eddyr ashoonagh. | They have a large, strong army and an airforce and a heroic navy and they won’t be thrown out except after a big war, maybe a big international war. | |
| T'ad credjal dy vel ad baghey sy cheer hug Jee daue gollrish ny Hewnyn, as cha jean ad livrey seose y cheer shid derrey vees yn dooinney jerrinagh ny lhie marroo er y veldt as e ven as cloan nyn lhie marishyn. | They believe that they live in the country God gave to them, like the Jews, and they won’t give up that country until the last man will be lying dead on the veldt and his wife and children lying with him. | |
| Cre’n erree hig orroo ayns Cheer Ny Greiney -- quoi ec ta fys? | What fate will befall them in The Country of The Sun — who knows? | |
| BREAGAGH | BREAGAGH | |
| 1977 | 1977 | |