[From ManxNoteBook vol ii,1886]

Manx Ballad - Ushag veg ruy

USHAG veg ruy ny moanee doo
C'raad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
Chaddil mish riyr er baare y dress,
As ugh my cadley cha treih!

SHAG veg ruy ny moanee doo
C'raad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
Chaddil mish riyr er baare y crouw,*
As ugh my cadiey cha treih!

USHAG veg ruy ny moanee doo
C'raad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
Chaddil mish riyr er baare y thooane,*
As ugh my cadley cha treih!

SHAG veg ruy ny moanee doo
C'raad chaddil oo riyr syn oie?
Chaddil mish riyr eddyr daa guillag,
Myr yinnagh yn oikant eddyr daa lhuishag,
As o my cadley cha kiune!

 

LITTLE red bird of the black turf ground,
Where did you sleep last night ?
I slept last night on the top of the briar,
And oh ! what a wretched sleep!

LITTLE red bird of the black turf ground,
Where did you sleep last night ?
I slept last night on the top of the bush,
And oh! what a wretched sleep!

LITTLE red bird of the black turf ground,
Where did you sleep last night ?
I slept last night on the ridge of the roof,
And oh! what a wretched sleep!

LITTLE red bird of the black turf ground,
Where did you sleep last night ?
I slept last night between two leaves
As a babe t'wixt two blankets quite at ease,
And oh ! what a peaceful sleep!

* CROUW, " a bunch growing on one stem or stalk." (Cregeen.)
THOOANE, " a rib or lath on the roof of a house, under the scraws." (Cregeen)
+OIKAN, " The gradations from infancy to manhood are marked by a copious variety of terms: Oikan, Lhanoo, Paitchey, Poinnar, Stuggyr, Scollag, Dooiney." (Rev. W. Gill)
Oikan is the first stage of all.

  

This quaint Ballad has been sung by Manx nurses as a lullaby to the same tune as that of "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush," for many generations. The first and third lines in the first three venes are repeated three times, except in the last verse, when the first line only is repeated. The " Ushag Veg Ruy" is another name for the " Ushag Reaisht," whose misadventure we recorded in No. 5, at P. 37.

 

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