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by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832)

Farewell, merry maidens, to dance, song,...
Language: English 
Farewell, merry maidens, to dance, song, and laugh,
For the brave lads of Westra are bound to the haaf;
And we must have labour, and hunger, and pain,
Ere we dance with the maids of Dunrossness again.

For now, in our trim boats of Noroway deal,
We must dance on the waves, with the porpus and seal;
The breeze it shall pipe, so it pipe not too high,
And the gull be our songstress whene'er she flits by.

Sing on, my brave bird, while we follow, like thee,
By bank, shoal, and quicksand, the swarms of the sea;
And when twenty-score fishes are straining my line,
Sing louder, brave bird, for their spoils shall be thine.

We'll sing while we bait, and we'll sing while we haul,
For the deeps of the haaf have enough for us all:
There is torsk for the gentle, and skate for the carle,
And there's wealth for bold Magnus, the son of the earl.

Huzza! my brave comrades, give way for the haaf,
We shall sooner come back to the dance and the laugh;
For life without mirth is a lamp without oil;
Then mirth and long life to the bold Magnus Troil!

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Prose Works of Sir Walter Scott, Volume III. Containing The Abbot. Kenilworth. The Pirate. The Fortunes of Nigel. Quentin Durward, Paris, published by A. and W. Galignani, 1827, from The Pirate, chapter XXII, page 417.


Text Authorship:

  • by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), no title, appears in The Pirate, from Chapter XXII [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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Auguste-Jean-Baptiste Defauconpret (1767 - 1843) , no title, appears in Le Pirate [an adaptation] ; composed by Charles-Léon Hess.
      • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2019-11-18
Line count: 20
Word count: 199

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