{"id":7085,"date":"2007-03-01T00:04:21","date_gmt":"2007-03-01T04:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7085"},"modified":"2008-04-10T08:59:32","modified_gmt":"2008-04-10T12:59:32","slug":"the-great-silkie-of-sule-skerry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7085","title":{"rendered":"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden\/php\/images\/Great_Silkie.jpg\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"audio\">\n<div class=\"alignright caption\"> <a href=\"?page_id=6069\">How do I download this Mp3?<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"audio_link\"> Mp3: <a href=\"http:\/\/ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden\/php\/music\/Great_Silkie.mp3\">The Great Silkie<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"about\">This is Child Ballad No.113<br \/>\n&#8220;The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry&#8221; is one of numerous tales of<br \/>\nthe Silkies, or seafolk, known to the inhabitants of the Orkney<br \/>\nIslands and the Hebrides.  These enchanted creatures dwell in the<br \/>\ndepth of the sea, occasionally doffing their seal skins to pass<br \/>\non land as mortal men.  Legend has it that they then accept human<br \/>\npartners, and some families on the islands actually trace their<br \/>\nancestry to such marriages.  In more complete versions of the<br \/>\nballad, the Silkie&#8217;s forecast of the death of himself and his son<br \/>\neventually come to pass.<br \/>\nThanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mudcat.org\/\">Mudcat Cafe<\/a> for that information<\/div>\n<div class=\"lyrics-header\">Lyrics:<\/div>\n<div class=\"lyrics\">\n[G] An earthly [F] nurse sits and [G] sings,<br \/>\nAnd aye, she [C] sings by [D] lily [G] wean,<br \/>\nAnd [C] little ken [D] I my bairn&#8217;s [G] father,<br \/>\nFar [F] less the land where he [G] dwells in.<\/p>\n<p>For he came on night to her bed feet,<br \/>\nAnd a grumbly guest, I&#8217;m sure was he,<br \/>\nSaying &#8220;Here am I, thy bairn&#8217;s father,<br \/>\nAlthough I be not comely.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am a man upon the land,<br \/>\nI am a silkie on the sea,<br \/>\nAnd when I&#8217;m far and far frae land,<br \/>\nMy home it is in Sule Skerrie.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And he had ta&#8217;en a purse of gold<br \/>\nAnd he had placed it upon her knee,<br \/>\nSaying, &#8220;Give to me my little young son,<br \/>\nAnd take thee up thy nurse&#8217;s fee.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And it shall come to pass on a summer&#8217;s day,<br \/>\nWhen the sun shines bright on every stane,<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll come and fetch my little young son,<br \/>\nAnd teach him how to swim the faem.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And ye shall marry a gunner good,<br \/>\nAnd a right fine gunner I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll be,<br \/>\nAnd the very first shot that e&#8217;er he shoots<br \/>\nWill kill both my young son and me.&#8221;<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do I download this Mp3? Mp3: The Great Silkie This is Child Ballad No.113 &#8220;The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry&#8221; is one of numerous tales of the Silkies, or seafolk, known to the inhabitants of the Orkney Islands and the Hebrides. These enchanted creatures dwell in the depth of the sea, occasionally doffing their &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7085\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irishbritish","category-love","category-seafaring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8697,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7085\/revisions\/8697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}