Molly Halfpenny
| TYPE | 3 - Complex Melody |
| TOPIC | Praise |
| TUNE STRUCTURE | A8 B8 |
| VERSE STRUCTURE | 3v 8l |
| TIME SIGNATURE |
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| TONAL CENTRE | A |
| INCIPIT | GEEDEAGEDDGA |
| GENRE | Amhrán Mór |
| TEXT SOURCE | Bunting Notebooks. Special Collections, QUB Library. MS 4.6 160 |
| TUNE SOURCE | A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (Dublin: John and William Neal, 1724), p.5 |
| FIRST LINE | S í Molly an chúil chraobhaigh 'mhearuigh is do bhuareadh mé |
| NOTATED INCIPIT | |
| The tune has been attributed to William Connellan (Bunting 1840) and to Carolan (Hardiman 1831; Bunting ms), although Carolan’s biographer, Donal O’Sullivan, doubts the second attribution (1958: II, 113). Nicholas Carolan’s edition of the Celebrated Irish Tunes prints the text of the praise poem, ‘Máire Iní Mhic Ailpín’, which is followed here (1986; 2010 revised ed, p.87). ‘Halfpenny’ is an anglicised version of the name ‘Ó hAilpín’. | |
Máire Iní Mhic AilpínS í Molly an chúil chraobhaigh ‘mhearuigh is do bhuareadh mé,Is a samhail ní léir dham sa tír so;Is gur a seomra na séud a chomhnuidheas an spéirbheannLe air cailleadh na céudta míle.Lámh an oineadh is an réiteadh, croidhe geall na féile,A sgapa dá ma léithe an saoghal so;‘S go bhfuil deallra ua an ngréin ans an maighre gann chlaon,Is ceodh mealla air gach taobh dá n-imídhean sí.Is deise is is breághtha gach siolla dho mo ghrádhsaNá rós a ngairdín pléidhsiúir;A com atá mar a’ tshíoda bhán,An maighre mhná ‘s í ‘bhuaireadh mé.Ba bhinne liom a’ lá bheidhinn aig cómhrádh le mo ghrádhNá ag ceartughadh dánta as Gaoidheilge.Seach a bhfuil mé a’ rádh, ‘s é mo chreach is mo chrádhMar a chonairc mé le dhá bheiliaghain déug thú.Dá ma liom an saoighal do allach is do mhaoin,Is do do shamhail do mhnaoi do bhéurfuinn,Gur gille a dá chíoch ná an sneachta air a’ gcroibhIs iad a ceapadh as ceart-lár a cléibhe.An alladh gheall mhín ab fhearrghar taithneamh is gnaoiAr halluidh míne gléidhgeall;‘S é mo léunsa nach mbím ‘mo londubh ar a’ gcraoibh,Is ise ‘bheith fúdham mar a’ gcéirseadh.QUB Bunting MS 6/160 (Suggested in Nicholas Carolan, p.87)
Miss Molly MacAlpin/ Halfpenny. It is Molly of the curling hair that has destroyed and saddened me, And I do not know her equal in this land; And it is in a room of jewels the beauty lives By whom hundreds of thousands have died. A hand of honour and reconciliation, a heart of generosity, Who would give away, if she owned it, this earth; And the shining of the sun is in this faultless maiden, And a mist of honey is on every side of wherever she goes. Nicer and finer is every point of my love Than a rose in a pleasure garden; Her waist is like the white silk, That stately maid who has tormented me. Sweeter to me is the day when I would be conversing with my love Than to be polishing poems in Irish. In spite of all I am saying, it is my sorrow and my torment The way that I have seen you for twelve years now. If I were to own the whole world of cattle and wealth, It is to a woman who would be like you that I would give them, Whose two breasts would be brighter than the snow on the branch And they fashioned in the true centre of her bosom. The bright gentle swan, best of charm and appearance In fine shining-bright halls; It is my sorrow that I am not a blackbird on a branch, And she to be a thrush below me.(Translation courtesy of Nicholas Carolan.)