The winds they were roaring, The rains they were pouring, When, lonely, the white man, a wonder to see! Both hungry and weary, Desponding and dreary, He came, and he sat in the shade of our tree. No mother is by him, With milk to supply him; He wanders an outcast, how sad must he be! Even corn, could he find it, He has no wife to grind it — Let us pity the white man, no mother has he!
Confirmed with The Book of Scottish Song, 1843, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, including the following note: [Written by John Struthers to the tune of the "Flowers of the Forest." This is a versification of the evening song sung by the negro women, who gave food and shelter to poor Mungo Park when about to perish. "The air," says Park, "was plaintive, and the words literally translated were these: 'The winds roared, and the rains fell, the poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk, he has no wife to grind his corn: let us pity the white man, no mother has he.'"]
Note: a variation of this literal translation was set to music by Harriet Abrams as "The White Man".
Authorship:
- by John Struthers , "African Song" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Unknown Language by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
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 English, a translation by Mungo Park (1771 - 1806) , no title, appears in Travels in the interior districts of Africa [an adaptation] ; composed by Harriet Abrams.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-10-06
Line count: 12
Word count: 86