A somnambulist from Portree
Was fast asleep in a tree
Until an owl pecked his nose
And ripped holes in his clothes
Screeching Out of my house now with thee!
and now as the limerick begs it a translation into Scottish, at my request, from John MacDonald at the zenspeug blog -
a sleeperie stravaiger frae Portree
wis doverin ower in a tree
syne a hoolet dabbit his taes
an wrocht cloots o's claes
skirlin: oot o ma hoose wi ye!
______
gw/jm
2010
*in John's version nose changed to toes for flowing rhyme
°the Hieronymus Bosch image is from Wikipedia Free Pictures
14 comments:
I wish I woke up to such sensible thoughts... :)
lets try this Gwilym:
a sleeperie stravaiger frae Portree
wis doverin ower in a tree
syne a hoolet dabbit his taes
an wrocht cloots o's claes
skirlin:oot o ma hoose wi ye!
I changed nose to toes to get the flowing rhyme - good limerick
john
Aye, John!
Just the job, I'll now put it up right up there under 'Skye News'!
Diolch,
gwilym
Love this but will not attempt to read the Scots version!
OK Pat, I can see that, but maybe you could try a broad Yorkshire dialect for me?
gwilym
I don't think I've read a Scots limerick before (although I did read A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle).
Dominic,
I'll tip ma bonnet to ye. Aye!
I just love the thought of a somnabulist from Portree...
Plus, magnificent translation to sleeperie stravaiger
Titus, you're right, it's a wonderful translation from John MacDonald.
Ahh! A scottish limerick is a first for me...
I liked the english version (because I could not decipher the scottish one:-()
I absoultely liked the sleepwalker!
Thanks ET. I love all JM's words. And for an owl, a hoolet, that says it all.
I think the Scottish version is very onomatopaeic, although I've no idea what is happening.
Ha!That's cool, and I love the translation best!
PS Isn't sonambulist a fine word?
PG I haven't any idea what's happening myself, I was asleep when I wrote it.
TFE, somnambuilst is one of those amazing words like lugubrious. You could make a definitive list of such words. We could all send you a word or two. Lugubrious would be mine. I reckon it was Christy Brown's favourite word. He's a fabourite poet of mine.
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