The Braes o’ Glennifer
Tannahill Weavers| Traduzione italiana di Cattia Salto | |
| [THE HILLSIDE OF GLENNIFER] Keen blows the wind over the hillside of Glennifer The old castle’s turrets are covered with snow How changed from the time when I met with my lover Among the broom bushes by Stanley green shaw The wild flowers of summer were spread all so bonny The song thrush sang sweet from the green birch tree But far to the camp they have marched my dear Johnny And now it is winter with nature and me Then every thing around us was blithesome and cheery Then every thing around us was bonnie and braw Now nothing is heard but the wind whistling dreary And nothing is seen by the wide spreading snow The trees are all bare, and the birds mute and sad They shake the cold drift from their wings as they flee And chirp out their plaints, seeming woe for my Johnnie This is winter with them and This is winter with me that call sleety cold blow over along the bleak mountain And shakes the dark firs on the steep rocky hill While down the deep glen bawls the snow-flooded fountain That murmured so sweet to my laddie and me This is now its loud roar, on the wintry wind swelling This is now the cold blast brings the tear to my eye For, oh, if I saw my bonnie Scots lad The dark days of winter will be summer to me | LA COLLINA DI GLENNIFER Lamentoso soffia il vento sulla collina di Glennifer e i torrioni del vecchio castello sono ricoperti di neve com’è mutato dal tempo in cui mi incontravo con il mio amore tra i cespugli di ginestra nel verde boschetto di Stanley. I fiori dell’estate erano tutti sbocciati così belli, il tordo cantava dolcemente sulla verde betulla ma lontano dall’accampamento si sono avvicinati mio caro Johnny e adesso è inverno nella natura e dentro di me. Allora ogni cosa intorno a noi era gioiosa e allegra, allora ogni cosa intorno a noi era bella e giusta, ora si sente solo il vento che soffia triste e non si vede che neve sparsa dappertutto, gli alberi sono tutti spogli e gli uccelli muti e tristi, scuotono l’aria fredda dalle ali mentre fuggono e cinguettano i loro lamenti forieri di guai per il mio Johnny. Questo è l’Inverno per loro e questo è l’inverno per me. Quello richiama nevischio e vento freddo sulla montagna brulla e scuote i cupi abeti sulla ripida collina rocciosa, mentre nella gola profonda crepita la cascata coperta dalla neve che mormorava così dolcemente alla mia ragazza e a me. Questo è ora il suo forte ruggito sul vento invernale che si ingrossa, questi sono ora i colpi del freddo che mi fanno lacrimare gli occhi, i bui giorni dell’inverno saranno la mia estate! |
2) la foresta di Paisley inizialmente fu suddivisa in tre grandi aree chiamate Stanely, Thornly e Fereneze, il lato nord divenne poi Paisley Braes, ovvero Braes of Gleniffer, il lato sud Fereneze Braes. “The lands of Stanely, part of the ridge of Paisley Braes, were granted by King Robert III. to Sir Robert Danyelston in 1392. One of his two daughters and co-heiresses married Sir Robert Maxwell, laird of Calderwood, in the parish of East Kilbride, and these lands, along with others, were allocated to Lady Calderwood. In the middle of the 15th century, the Maxwell family built on the lands a strong baronial residence, a massive piece of masonry, 40 feet high, which became well known by the name of Stanely Castle. The Maxwells continued in possession of the estate for several generations, and John Maxwell, in 1629, with consent of his son John, sold the estate to Jean Hamilton, dowager of Robert, fourth Lord Ross. It has con¬tinued in the Ross-Boyle families till the present time. The roof was taken off in 1714, when the “auld castle’s turrets” and the inside of the building were exposed to the inclemency of the weather. Stanely Castle, so hoary and grey, is now surrounded with a fine sheet of water,—the Reservoir of the Paisley Water Works.” (tratto da qui)
3) la zona è ricca di ruscelli e spettacolari cascate