Skeealyn Vannin, Disk 3 Track 10: Speaker: Charles Watterson
https://www.youtube.com/embed/jskJdKdNa80Date(s): 1948
Creator(s): Irish Folklore Commission
Transcript: Extracts from T. E. Brown ‘Captain Tom and Captain Hugh’
You’re wantin’ to hear about them two,
Captain Tom and Captain Hugh,
Very well! Very well!
But it isn’t much of a story to tell;
But - however - lek you know who you’ve got -
Middlin’ willin’ whether or not.
Now these two Captains they were all allowin’
Was the two best that was sailin’ out of Castletown;
And the both of them went to school together,
And never no relations either
But up the Claddagh agate o’ buck-kyones,
And ticklin’ troutses under the stones,
Or down at the Race, or out at the Mull,
Or over plaguin’ Lukish’s bull,
Or any fun that was goin’, ye see,
Where the one was, the other would be;
And stickin’ mortal close, and backin’
One another up, whatever was actin’ -
Backin’ one another still,
And reared though very respectable,
Lek accordin’ to their station;
And goin’ a teachin’ navigation,
At Masthar Cowin that was general known
As the grandest masther that was goin’,
A one-armed man - aw, I’ll be bound
You had to look slippy if you went to Cowin;
That was the man that could trim a scholar;
Only a wink, and the hook in your collar,
And wouldn’ listen to no excuse,
And workin’ the kiddhag like the deuce.
So these two boys got on though, Aw,!
Got on, I tell ye, and passin’ by
Ouldher men, and very much lek’d,
And studdier till you’d expect.
So from one thing to another they got
To be masters of smacks, the two of them -
Masther Corteen’s - you’ll have heard of him -
No? Raley ! Well, that’s the way,
And every dog must have his day.
So when they got married, they wouldn’ be beat,
But it was two sisthers they were schamin’ to get,
Aye, and got them too, by the name of Sayle,
And a nice pick of money to their tail;
And right enough too, aw, not felt on the farm -
Aw, a little money’ll do no harm,
But, mind, you have it on the land, d’ ye hear,
Aw, that’s your sort now, very nice,
And the bigger the loaf, the bigger the slice;
But still there’s some that take the huff,
And grab an’ never have enough:
But what with the lean, and what with the fat,
Maybe a hundherd pound or that;
And a little inthress in the will,
Aye - bless ye ! very comfible.
Good wives they were, let alone the tin,
And chrizzenin’ for chrizzenin’,
And as handsome a breed as ever you’d see,
And very nice and orderly.
Now the sisthers was livin’ next door to each other,
And civil to all, but cautious rather;
And were n’ allowin’ their childher to be runnin’
Out on the street, and cussin’, and swearin’,
And raggin’ their clothes. And Ned Ballachrink,
That’s the uncle, that was mostly always in dhrink,
Wasn’ allowed to come nigh them,
As if his very look would desthroy them.
But the childher’ might have been his own,
He was that fond of them; and you’ll never know
What the lek is feelin’; but either sister -
No matter - let her see the uncle comin’
An’ up the stair with the childher straight;
An’ longin’ shockin’, an’ not a sight
To be seen of the one of them: and maybe he’d hear
A lil’ noise like the birds make under the thatch,
Or in the bushes of a moonlight night-
You’ll have heard these thrushes -
And the Ballachrink, he’d look and he’d listen,
And them knowin’ parfec’ what was he missin’,
But he darn’ say a word, for if he did,
Aw- some chickens they’d got on the laff, they said;
And no lie for all, just a way to spake -
Aw, exlen women, and no mistake.
Language: Manx
Collection: Sound Archive
Level: WHOLE
ID number: SA 0579/3/10