| Gaelic Storm – Dé Luain, Dé Máirt, Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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There once lived a poor man called Donall (W.B. Yeats calls him "Lusmore"), at the foot of the Galtee Mountains in Tipperary, and he was born with a great hump on his back. One evening he was passing the fort of Knockgrafton and he heard the sweetest singing and music he had ever heard coming from inside the fort. He listened and heard the words: "dé Luain, dé Máirt, dé Luain, dé Máirt, dé Luain, dé Máirt," over and over again. He knew that dancing to this monotonous music would be difficult, so when "dé Luain, dé Máirt" had been said three times, he cupped his hands and shouted, "Agus dé Céadaoin !" The faeries inside the fort took up the song with the new words, and were delighted with it. They could now finish their dance as the music had lines of four beats and it was much more interesting: "dé Luain, dé Máirt, dé Luain, dé Máirt, dé Luain, dé Máirt, is dé Céadaoin. dé Luain, dé Máirt, dé Luain, dé Máirt, dé Luain, dé Máirt, is dé Céadaoin." They took Donall into the fort and said: "Donal! Donal!" Doubt not, nor deplore, For the hump which you bore on your back is no more; Look down on the floor, and view it, Donal " It happened as the faeries said, and Donall soon fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke he was outside the fort and he made his way home. He was now a fine tall man with a new stylish outfit into the bargain ! Not long afterwards, another man by the name of Jack Madden, wanted to get rid of his hump, and he too went to the fort. When he heard the song he thought he'd add, "agus Déardaoin agus dé hAoine" thinking that if one day was good that two would be better, and that if Donall had one new suit of clothes given him, he should have two. He didn't know much about music, though, and the faeries were so angry with him that they said: "Jack Madden ! Jack Madden ! Your words came so bad in The tune we felt glad in; this castle you're had in, That your life we may sadden; here's two humps for Jack Madden !" Then twenty of the strongest faeries lifted Donal's hump onto the back of Jack Madden and they kicked him out of the fort. He got no new suit either, and didn't live long with all the weight he had to carry ! |
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