Edward Lear: The Owl And The Pussy-cat - To Be Translated Into Manx

[pimpoapo]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for a translation of the Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear on behalf of my friend who is making a collection of this poem in as many languages as he can, just for fun. He's 97-year-old and this hobby gives him a great pleasure.

 

I

 

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

 

II

 

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!

How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?'

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

 

III

 

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

 

 

He started about a year ago and we managed to get it in more than 30 languages so far. Because we are running out of resources I decided to ask help from communities who dedicated to different languages.

It doesn't need to be a professional translation.

 

Here's a website that I started to set up to share all the translations that we've got so far. Some of them was made by poets but most of them just by friends or people who we run into in different places (waiters of the local restaurant, nurses from hospital, etc). They did the best they could and they just did it for fun and because they wanted to add their own language to this collection.

 

http://www.bompa.org

 

Here is the list of the languages that we've got so far:

 

Afrikaans, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Irish Gaelic, Korean, Kyrgyz, Latin, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Norvegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog (Pilipino), Turkish,Welsh

 

We've got a Thai version but just only the first verse, so we're looking for the remaining two.

 

There are an Arabic, a Hindi and two different Hebrew version which are handwritten. We are looking for someone who would be able to type them in.

 

If you could translate it into any language that is not on the list that would be a great help for us.

For exchange I always mention who did the translation at the end of the poem and if you wish it can be linked to your website or email address.

 

Thanks again for anyone who will help us.

 

 

 

-=Pimpoapo=-

[Albert Tatlock]

We have a different, steam racket inspired, version of the rhyme over here:

 

The Owl and the Pussy-cat were late to sail

In a rickety steam packet boat,

And believe me honey, they needed plenty of money,

As breakfast cost a ten pound note.

The Owl looked up on the steam packet website,

And the price made him pick up his guitar,

'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,

Have you seen the price for a car?

A car,

A car,

I'd advise you to stay where you are!'

[Jimcalagon]

You may, or may not be, interested to hear this bit of trivia related to 'The Owl And The PussyCat'...

 

Edward Lear at one point lived in Prescot, on the outskirts of Liverpool and travelled into the city regularly along what is now called East Prescot Road through what is now the suburb of Knotty Ash. 'Knotty Ash' was named after a famously gnarled old tree which stood next to the road (near where the "Knotty Ash" pub stands today).

 

The original name for this area was 'Little Bongs' (if you look in an A-Z of Liverpool, this name is still shown). I believe that 'Bong' was an old word for pond and there were supposedly a number of small ponds in the area, long since drained and built over, possibly on the site of Alder Hey Hospital.

 

And so, the story goes, that Lear remembered the well-known tree in Little Bongs years later when writing the 'The Owl And The PussyCat' and from this came 'the land where the Bong Tree grows'.

[Mr. Sausages]

Some more insights into the mind of Edward Lear:

 

http://www.moleman.freeserve.co.uk/el.htm

[pimpoapo]

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks to responding in my topic...

 

Albert Tatlock

I think is a well made re-make of the original, but I'm not sure I will use it on the site... Maybe if I will find more I'll put them together and post them on the site in a different folder... We'll see, never know...

 

Jimcalagon

It's a very interesting story... I haven't heard before... Thanks for sharing it...

[manxblue]

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks to responding in my topic...

 

Albert Tatlock

I think is a well made re-make of the original, but I'm not sure I will use it on the site... Maybe if I will find more I'll put them together and post them on the site in a different folder... We'll see, never know...

 

Jimcalagon

It's a very interesting story... I haven't heard before... Thanks for sharing it...

 

Try Phil Gawne MHK, I am pretty sure you will be able to get in touch with him by phoning government offices or via a web-site. He is a great exponent of the Manx language and Im sure he will be able to translate or put you in touch with someone who can help.

[Freggyragh]

Just saw this thread, so just did a quick translation for you - haven't bothered to try and make it scan, but it is a fairly literal translation.

 

I

 

Hie yn Hullad as y Kayt-pussagh magh er y cheayn,

Ayns baatey aalin cho glass as pishyr glass hene,

Hug ad lhieu mill, as argid dy liooar

Fillit seose ayns notey queig punt.

Yeeagh y hullad seose er ny rollageyn erskyn,

As ghow eh arrane rish gitar beg,

‘Y Phussagh y ghraih! Y phussagh my vyrneen,

S’aalin y pussagh t’ou uss,

T’ou uss,

T’ou uss!

S’aalin y pussagh t’ou uss!’

 

II

 

Dooyrt y Pussagh rish y Hullad, ‘She skianagh jesh uss!

S’millish yn aght t’ou goaill arrane!

Bare dooin ve poosit, s’roud shinyn er haghney:

Agh cre neemayd jannoo son fainey?’

Hiaull ad ersooyl, son blein as laa,

Dys y çheer raad ta’n billey-Bong gaase,

As ayns shen, ayns keyll, va muc veg ny shassoo,

Lesh fainey ayns kione e stronney,

E stronney,

E stronney,

Lesh fainey ayns kione e stronney.

 

 

III

 

‘Y vuc veen, b’vie lhiat creck, son skillin,

Y fainey ayd?’ Dooyrt y vuc veg, ‘B’vie.’

As myr shen ghow ad eh ersooyl, as hie ad er poosey yn laa er-giyn,

Ec y kellagh-frangagh ta cummal er y chronk.

Dee ad myneill, as slissagyn cuinnsey,

Va eeit oc lesh spein runseebal*;

As laue greimmit ec laue, er oirr y geinnagh,

Rink ad fo’n rehollys,

Rehollys,

Rehollys,

Rink ad fo’n rehollys.

 

 

*Of course there's no translation for 'runcible' so that appears in Manx phonetical spelling.

[pimpoapo]

Hi Freggyragh,

 

Thank you very much for your help. I'll update the collection site shortly, so your translation will be available there as well. I'm sure my friend will be extremely happy to have a Manx version of this poem in his collection.

 

Could you tell me the translation for the title "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is this? - "Hullad as y Kayt-pussagh"

 

Thanks again for your great work!

 

-=Pimpoapo=-

[Declan]

*Of course there's no translation for 'runcible' so that appears in Manx phonetical spelling.

 

I was wondering what the Manx for that would turn out to be. Well done any way!

[Freggyragh]

Hi Pimpoapo, sorry, forgot about the title - " Yn Hullad as Yn Kayt-Pussagh" looks better to me.

Declan - yeah, I fell for that one - I had to google 'runcible spoon' to find out it is just a nonsense word.

[pimpoapo]

Hi everyone,

 

We changed the address for the collection website to the following:

 

http://www.bompa.org

 

Have a nice day and thank you for your help,

 

-=Pimpoapo=-

[pimpoapo]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm back with a new request. The last six month the http://www.bompa.org has been gone through many changes. One of them is, I started to share the audio versions of the translations.

So I would like to ask someone to help me with the Manx recording if it's possible. You can send me a PM with a link to your record or send it to my email address that can be found on the site.

Thanks in advance, I'm looking forward to listen the Manx translation in your language sooner or later,

 

-=Pimpoapo=-