A Shetland Anthology :  Eels II   |  On the Death of my Mother ...
JAMES STOUT ANGUS
(1830 - 1923)


James Stout Angus was born in 1830 and lived to the ripe old age of 93. His rich resources of dialect speech cen be seen in his collection  Echoes from Klingrahool and also in his  Glossary of the Shetland Dialect, which he published when he was 84 years old. The richness of the dialect can be seen in his poem  Eels, first published as a verse contribution in  The Shetland Times on, of all things, the theory of spontaneous generation of eels from the hairs of pigs and horses. From this unlikely source sprang a remarkable poem  -  probably the first truly original poem written in what we know as Shetland dialect.

Eels II

Da Lammas spates, lack flyooget aets
Abön a flakki laavin,
Fell frae da lift wi a heavy drift,
Da sarn as an hit'd been kaavin.

Da burns aa rase abön da braes
Fir stanks an stripes wir tömed in,
Till every lyoag whaar an eel could oag
A neesik micht a swömed in.

Da hedderkowes apo da knowes
Lay drooket an disjasket,
Da tatti shaas an bulwand taas
Wir wuppled laek a gasket.

Da grittest faels wir taen laek spaels
An hurled ta da ocean -
O, whaar could wirmi eels fin rest
Wi siccan a dire commotion.

An dis sam gref, da dead soo's bef,
Brook oot at da nedder nyook,
An ran lack a pipe till dey wir no a sipe
At could a covered a fluke.

And aa da eels cam, head-ower-heels,
Oot wi da force o watter -
A foon fan hadds among da clods,
An brugs an moory gutter.

An doon, doon, doon, grey, green, an broon,
Dey wirmed an dey wumbled,
Some smaa an lang laek a styilk o tang
An some laek a baa gyaan heddikraa
Till i da sea dey bumbled.


A Shetland Anthology:  Eels II  |  On the Death of my Mother ...

Top of this page


Shetland Publishing Company
United Kingdom
9 Bruce Crescent
Lerwick
Shetland, ZE1 0PB
Scotland
Tel +44 (1595) 693774
     New Zealand
62 Beresford Street
Bayswater
Auckland 1309
New Zealand
Tel/Fax +64 (9) 446-0909
Email ShetlandBooks@mackenzie-bowie.com


Website designed and hosted by BaySights.com
Copyright © 1999-2003 Shetland Publishing Company and BaySights.com. All rights reserved.