Ca' the yowes to the knowes | Hark! the mavis | Hark! the mavis' evening sang

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Hark! the mavis' evening sang

Language: Scottish (Scots)

Our translations: FRE

Hark! the mavis' evening sang
Sounding Clouden's woods amang,
Then a-faulding let us gang,
My bonnie dearie.
  Ca' the yowes to the knowes,
      Ca' them where the heather grows,
  Ca' them where the burnie rows,
      My bonnie dearie.
 
We'll gae down by Clouden side,
Through the hazels, spreading wide
O'er the waves that sweetly glide
To the moon sae clearly.
    Ca' the yowes etc.

Yonder Clouden's silent towers,
Where at moonshine midnight hours
O'er the dewy bending flowers
Fairies dance sae cheery.
    Ca' the yowes etc.

Ghaist nor bogle shalt thou fear;
Thou'rt to Love and Heaven sae dear,
Nocht of ill may come thee near, 
My bonnie dearie.
    Ca' the yowes etc.

Fair and lovely as thou art,
Thou hast stown my very heart;
I can die -- but canna part,
My bonnie dearie.
    Ca' the yowes etc.

While waters wimple to the sea;
While day blinks in the lift sae hie;
Till clay-cauld death shall blin' my e'e,
Ye shall be my dearie.
     Ca' the yowes etc.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• J. Haydn • M. Johnson

J. Haydn sets stanzas 1, 4-5
M. Johnson sets stanzas 1-2, 5

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GLOSSARY
mavis' = thrush
faulding = to shut sheep in the fold
knowes = Small round hillocks
bogle = hobgoblin
stown = stolen

Text Authorship:

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), title 1: "Hark! the mavis", title 2: "Ca' the yowes to the knowes" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "The maid that tends the goats", Hob. XXXIa:221bis, JHW XXXII/3 no. 211, stanzas 1,4-5 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Maurice Johnson , "Ca' the yowes", stanzas 1-2,5, arrangement [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by Benjamin Britten, John Linton Gardner, Roger Quilter, Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Go to the text. [ view differences ] FRE

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Konrad Wilhelm Adolf Laun (1808 - 1881) , no title, appears in Lieder und Balladen von Robert Burns ; composed by Ernst II, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, as S. Herzog.
- Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 33
Word count: 175