| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| SKEEALYN ASS ELLAN ARRAN | Tales originating from the Isle of Arran | |
| Shoh diu tooilley skeealyn mychione Shoanie[1] Lespie cheayll mee mygeayrt ny h-ellan. | Here for you are more stories about Johnny Lespie I heard about in the Island. | |
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[1] Shoanie] Manxified spelling of SG {Seonaidh} ‘Johnny’.
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| Va ben-treoghe dy row baghey ny lomarcan ayns thie thooit as dagh chooilley oie ‘’sy gheurey harragh inneenyn aegey gys y thie ecks dy yannoo whaaley. | There was a certain widow living alone in a thatched house and every night in the winter young girls would go to her house to do sewing. | |
| Ansherbee, un oie tra v’ad ooilley cheusthie gobbraghey, ren Shoanie snaue dy feagh gys uinnag yn thie as yn eddryman lane dy phishyryn marish, as eisht ghow eh toshiaght clabberey as sheeaney gollrish “bocain” (buggane). | Anyway, one night when they were all inside working, Johnny crept quietly to the window of the house with the bladder full of peas, and then he started rattling and sounding like a “bocain” (buggane) (monster / evil spirit). | |
| Clashtyn shen haink aggle mooar er yn inneenyn as hie ad dy siyragh ayns corneil. Agh b’lesh daanys[2] jirree yn chenn ven ass e stoyl-drommey as hrog ee yn Vible veih'n skelloo as dooyrt ee, “Ny jean-jee goaill aggie erbee, m’inneenyn; verrym ersooyl eh lesh fockle yn Chiarn.” | Hearing that, the girls became greatly afraid and they went hurriedly in a corner. But, with boldness, the old woman rose out of her chair and she said, “Do not be afraid, my girls, I will send him away with the word of the Lord.” | |
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[2] b’lesh daanys] evidently the intended meaning is ‘with boldness’. See;
[dy daaney] ‘boldly’.
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| Cho leah’s cheayll Shoanie dy jinnagh ee exorsys er, daag eh ayns siyr mooar dys e hie hene as cha ren eh cur drogh urree ny sodjey. | As soon as Johnny heard that she would do an exorcism on him, he left in great haste to his own house and he didn’t upset her any further. | |
| Cha row jishag Hioanie cur credjue da ny bocain (bugganeyn) noadyr as smooinee eh dy by ooilley boghtynid shen. | Johnny’s dad wasn’t believing in the monsters either, and he thought that it was all nonsense. | |
| Ansherbee, oie dy row hie yn jishig magh ass y thie as daa vuggad echey son ushtey y gheddyn agh va Shoanie fuirraghtyn rish faggys da’n chibbyr as ghow eh toshiaght yn eddryman echey y chlabberey, as clashtyn yn feiyr agglagh shen lhig eh da ny buggadyn tuittym dy bieau as roie eh ersooyl as aggle atchimagh ersyn. | Anyway, one night the dad went out of the house with two buckets for water to get water, but Johnny was waiting for him near to the well and he started to rattle his bladder, and hearing that awful noise he dropped the buckets quickly and he ran away and he was terribly afraid. | |
| Cha ’sayms vrish eh e lurgey ny dyn agh ren eh skielley dasyn hene er aght ennagh. | I don’t know if he broke his leg or not but he did himself harm in some way. | |
| Agh haink Shoanie dy valley roish e yishig, dy ve shickyr, as lhig eh er nagh row fys echey er ny v'er haghyrt. | But Johnny came home before his dad, to be sure, and he pretended that he didn’t know about what had happened. | |
| Cha row yn jishag echey cur neu-chredjue[3] da ny bocain[4] arragh ny lurg shen! | His dad wasn’t disbelieving in the monsters any more after that! | |
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[3] Cha row ...
cur neu-chredjue] literally ‘wasn’t giving disbelief’. Perhaps a calque on an Arran Gaelic idiom, ({a’ toirt mì-chreidimh}?). The intended meaning seems to be ‘Wasn’t disbelieving’
[Cha row ... jannoo meechredjue].
[4] ny boacin] SG;{boacin} ‘the goats’ — evidently a typo for {bòcain} ‘evil spirits’,
[bugganeyn].
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| Laa dy row hooar Shoanie cuirrey veih Chiarn Rennell Vontrose dy gholl gys jinnair mooar ’sy chashtal echey ec Traie y Chashtal er yn oyr dy row arraneyn as skeealyn sy Ghaidhlig echey as shen v’ad geearree geaishtagh rish. | One day, Johnny got an invitation from Lord Rennell Montrose (Douglas Beresford Malise Ronald Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose 1852-1925) to go to a big dinner in his castle[5] at Castle Shore (Tràigh a’ Chaisteil / Brodrick) because he had songs and stories in Gaelic and that is what they wanted to listen to. | |
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[5] Brodick Castle came into the ownership of the Montrose family in 1906.
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| Ansherbee hie eh roish gys y chashtal as tra v’eh ny hoie ec y voayrd vooar marish deiney-ooasle as y lheid as adsyn er nyn goamragh gollrish ostrichyn, honnick eh ram speinyn as aallyn as skynnyn kiongoyrt rish, as, myr v’eh ginsh da carrey ny s’anmey, cha row fys echey cre’n spein lhisagh eh ymmyd y yannoo jeh. | Anyway, he went to the castle and when he was seated at the big table with noblemen and the like and they were clothed like ostriches, he saw many spoons and forks and knives before him, and as he was telling a fiend later, he didn’t know which spoon he should make use of. | |
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| Ansherbee, dooyrt eh, “Cheau mee sooill er Chiarn Rennell keayrt ny ghaa, as tra hroggagh eh spein gys e veeall, hrog mee yn spein aym neesht gys my veeal!” | Anyway, he said, “I glanced at Lord Ronald many times, and when he would raise a spoon to his mouth, I would raise my spoon also to my mouth!” | |
| V’eh ersooyl oie dy row dy chur shilley er e charrey va baghey ayns boayl enmyssit Sheadjagh (Shedog), mysh hoght meeilaghyn voish Banlickan. | He was away one night to visit his friend who was living in a place called Sheadjagh (Shedog), about eight miles from Banlickan. | |
| Lurg da roshtyn yn thie, honnick eh carrey elley ass Kilpheddyr, mysh shey meeilaghyn my yiass voish Sheadjagh. | After he reached the house, he saw another friend from Kilpheddyr, about six miles south from Sheadjagh. | |
| Ansherbee, v’ad ooilley mooar ry cheilley as va dram ny tree goll mygeayrt fud ny h-oie. | Anyway, they were all great to each other and there was a dram or three going around throughout the night. | |
| Agh va ben-thie gaase feer woirit nagh voddagh Shoanie as y fer elley troailt dy valley as dooyrt ee dy bare dauesyn stappal giu yn ushtey-vea. | But the landlady was becoming very worried that Johnny and the other one wouldn’t be able to travel home and she said that it would be better for them to stop drinking the whisky. | |
| Agh dooyrt fer yn thie dy beagh ad mie dy liooar as vrie eh jeh Shoanie c’red v’eh coontey jeh shen, as dooyrt eh, “My-ta, dy beigns ayns my hie hene, yiarrin dy beagh shin ny share as bine beg elley ayn dooin!” | But the landlord said that they would be okay and he asked Johnny what he reckoned of that, and he said, “Well, if I were in my own house, I’d say that we would be better if there were another little drop for us!” | |
| As fy yerrey shoh skeeal elley hooar mee veih Jimmy Kelso. | And finally, here is another story I got from Kimmy Kelso. | |
| Mysh Keead bleeaney er dy henney va reihys cadjin feiy ny cheerey as ec y traa shen va deiney goll mygeayrt Arran as buill elley jannoo canvaasagh er son ny sheshaghtyn Conservative as Liberal, as un laa haink lheid ny deiney lesh shilley er dooinney ayns Shiskyn. | About a Hundred years ago there was a general election throughout the land, and at that time there were men going around Arran and other places doing canvassing for the Conservative and Liberal parties, and one day such men came to visit a man in Shiskyn. | |
| She Currie va’n ennym er as she da’n cheshaght Chonservative va ny deiney shoh gobbraghey as hug ad feyshtyn gys Mnr Currie as dooyrt ad: | Currie was his name, and these men were working for the Conservative party, and they put questions to Mnr Currie and they said: | |
| “Conservative?” | “Conservative?” | |
| “Cha nee,” dooyrt eh, “she Liberal t’aynyms.”[6] | “No,” he said, “I am a Liberal”. | |
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[6] she Liberal t’aynyms] a calque on Scottish Gaelic {s’ e Liberal a th’ annam}, ‘I am a Liberal’ (emphatic) . In Manx,
[She Liberal (ta) mee].
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| “Dy jarroo,” dooyrt ad, “as cre’n fa shen?” | “Indeed,” they said, “and why is that?” | |
| “She Liberal va my yishag as she Liberal va my yishag-vooar.” | “My dad was a Liberal and my granddad was a Liberal.” | |
| As Lurg da feyshtyn elley dooyrt ad, “Vel shiu poost?” | And after other questions they said, “Are you married?” | |
| “Cha nel” dooyrt eh. | “No” he said. | |
| “As cre'n fa shen?” dooyrt ad. | “And why is that?” they said. | |
| “She shenn guilley mish,” dooyrt eh, “as she shenn guilley my yishag as she shenn guilley my yishag-vooar!” | “I’m a bachelor,” he said, “and my dad was a bachelor and my granddad was a bachelor!” | |
| SHORUS Y CREAYRIE. | SHORUS Y CREAYRIE. | |