Archie Fisher - The Norway Maid (Scottish Folk Song)
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- A traditional song from Orkney and Shetland usually titled "The Grey Selkie of Sule Skerry" or "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry". Several Orcadian versions begin with the line "in Norway land there lived a maid", obviously leading to the title Fisher went with here. Selkies are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human form by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature in many tales passed down from the old days, especially ones of Celtic or Norse origin. Sule Skerry is a remote island north of Scotland and west of the Orkneys.
A synopsis of the story is as follows: a woman, nursing a baby, laments that she does not know the child's father or where he lives. A man rises up to tell her that he is the father, and that he is a selkie - a shapeshifter that takes the form of a man on the land and a seal in the sea - and that he lives on a remote rocky island called Sule Skerry. He gives her a purse full of gold, takes his son, and predicts that she will marry a gunner who will shoot both him and their son.
This version is from Archie Fisher's second album, "Orfeo", released in 1970. Fisher was born in 1939 and is still around.
Painting by Norwegian artist Hans Dahl (1849-1937), "Kvinne, mann og barn i oselver" / "Woman, man and child in rough weather".
THE GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRY
Traditional
In Norway land there lived a maid,
"Hush, ba, loo lillie" this maid began,
"I know not where my baby's father is,
Or by land or sea does he travel in."
It happened on a certain day,
When this fair lady fell fast asleep,
That in cam' a good grey silkie,
And set him down at her bed feet.
Saying "Awak', awak' my pretty fair maid,
For oh, how sound as thou dost sleep,
An' I'll tell thee where thy baby's father is,
He's sittin' close at thy bed feet."
"I pray come tell to me thy name,
Oh, tell me where does thy dwelling be?"
"My name is good Hill Marliner,
And I earn my livin' oot o' the sea.
"I am a man upon the land'
I am a silkie in the sea,
An' when I'm far from every strand,
My dwelling it is Sule Skerry."
"Alas, alas this woeful fate,
This weary fate that's been laid on me,
That a man should come from the Wast o' Hoy,
To the Norway lands to have a bairn with me."
"My dear I'll wed thee with a ring,
With a ring, my dear, will I wed wi' thee."
"Thoo may go to thee weddings wi' whom too wilt,
For I'm sure thoo will never wed wi' me."
"Thoo will nurse my little wee son
For seven long years upon thy knee;
An' at the end o' seven long years
I'll come back and pay the nurse's fee."
She's nursed her little wee son
For seven long years upon her knee;
An' at the end o' seven long years
He came back wi' gold and white monie.
He says "My dear, I'll wed thee wi' a ring,
Wi' a ring, my dear, I'll wed wi' thee."
"Thoo may go to thee weddings wi' whom thoo wilt
For I'm sure thoo never will wed wi' me."
"But I'll put a gold chain around his neck,
An' a gey good gold chain it'll be,
That if ever he comes to the Norway lands,
Thoo may hae a gey good guess on he.
"An' thoo will get a gunner good,
An' a gey good gunner it will be,
An' he'll gae out on a May morning
An' shoot your son an' the grey silkie."
Oh, she has got a gunner good,
An' a gey good gunner it was he.
An' he gaed oot on a May morning
An' he shot the son an' the grey silkie.
"Alas, alas, this woeful fate,
This weary fate that's been laid on me."
An' aince or twice she sobbed and sighed,
An' her tender heart did brak in three.
I only understand like 60% of what he's saying, but it's really beautiful.
Aye, there are a fair few Scots words in there ^^ like in «I’m sure we’ll never mair atwee», apparently meaning something like «I’m sure we’ll never be separated» according to a forum post I read yesterday 🤓
@@Vingul You do strike me as the type of fella who'd spend his time reading obscure forum posts about the Scottish language. ("🤓" is right lol).
@@nord_anon4406 Haha... I *had* to do some research in order to write the description ;) though I can’t be sure anyone reads those, lol.
@@VingulAll jokes aside you're a true scholar, and I appreciate the effort you put into it.
@@nord_anon4406 🙏
Lovely tune mate
There's even mention of a "May morning" in it ;) 3:50
Cheers man.
@@Vingul Uncanny!
Even little things like how he pronounces 7 like somewhere in between German and English shows how much of it is a common language but spoken differently, a lot of which is affected by the landscape, weather, temperature, marine environment, wind conditions etc.
Nicely spotted re: «sieven» / sieben. In the same sentence he also says «lang», which is the German as well as Scandi word for «long». And then «bairn» for «child», which in Norwegian is «barn». Not to mention all the English words that are quite similar in Norwegian is well. There’s father, which in NOR is «far» but also «fader», and in Ye Olde Norse days we still had the soft «th» sound just like in modern English; faðer.
And, not to go far into the subject matter itself - but then the Orkneys and Shetland were both Norwegian territories for longer than they’ve been Scottish, I think.
What a sad song; it brought a tear to my eye 😢. (That Norwegian chick really got the shaft, didn't she?)