The song Si Beag, Si Mor (literally, "Little Fairy Mount, Big Fairy Mound", a prounced somewhat like "she beg she more", or "she veg she more") is reputed to be the first composition of the blind Irish harpist O'Carolan. It was written at the suggestion of one of his patrons, the MacDermott family of Alderford (in Leitrim). On the family lands there were two hillocks, thought to be inhabited by rival groups of fairies. O'Carolan's task was to write a song about a battle between the two groups:
Imreas mór tháinig eidir na ríoghna,
Mar fhíoch a d'fhás ón dá chnoc sí,
Mar dúirt an tSídh Mhór go mb'fhearr féin,
Faoi dhó go mór nán tSídh Bheag.
"Ní raibh tú ariamh chomh uasal linn,
I gcéim dár ordaíodh i dtuaith nái gcill.
Beir uainn do chaint, níl suairceas ann,
Coinnigh do chos is do lámh uainn!"
An tráth chruinnigh na sluaite bhí an bualadh teann,
Ar feadh na machaireacha anonn 's anall;
'S ni/l aon ariamh dár ghluais ón mbinn
Nár chaill a cheann san ár sin.
"Parlaidh! Parlaidh! agus fáiltím daoibh,
Sin agaibh an namhaid ó Charn Chlann Aoidh,
O bhinn áth Chluain na sluaite daoibh,
'S a cháirde grádhach, bí páirteach!"
A rough translation is:
A great contention arose between the queens, as the feud that grew
from the two hills, when Sheemore said that she was better, twice
as good by far as Sheebeg.
"You were never as noble as us, in degree conferred in tribe or
church; take your talk away from us, there's no wit in it, remove
your foot and hand from us!"
At the hour the hosts assembled, the fighting was stiff through the
length of the meadow this way and that. There's no one ever who ran
out of the mountain that didn't lose his head in that battle.
"Parley! Parley! And welcome to you! There's your enemy from Carn
Chlann Aodha and the hosts on you from Ath Chluain Mountain! O loving
friends, be agreeable!"
This text and translation comes from a website about Turlough O'Carolan.
The address is
http://plainfield.bypass.com/~arte/carolan.html
Another website, by David Walker offers a AU sound file of Si Beag, Si Mor (938k), played on the tinwhistle.
