FETSE.-Wat bedoelt gy? dat ik my de ooren van het hoofd zal laten eten? ik heb in den zomer genoeg aan twee uitgehongerde Woudlieden welke ik by my heb in de hoojing. ABE.-Geeft gy ze dan 'savonds ook niets. FETSE.-Ja, dan krygen ze ongeveer een geheele kruiwagen vol karnemelk, en dat eten ze ook zuikerzoet op. Ik weet niet waar ze het bergen in hunne kleine darmen. Ze zyn zeker inwendig verschillend van een Fries. ABE.-Och kom reis! het zyn immers ook menschen als wy. In English. ABE.-How dear are (what is the price of) the mowers, Fetse? I was not in the town yesterday. FETSE.-I wot not; about a dollar a man and a bit (crumb) over. FETSE. Yes, there stood whole heaps. It seemed as if there were enough of them; but it is not my sort. ABE.-Hast thou then your mowers regular (fast) by the year? Do they keep themselves (have they their own cost) your mowers? FETSE.-What meanest thou? That I should let my ears be eaten off my head? I had enough in summer, with two starved wood-countrymen, that I had with me at the hay-time. I wot ABE. Did you not then give them anything in the afternoon? FETSE.-Yes! Then they must have (crave) about a whole bucketfull of porridge (soup and barley); and that must be as sweet as sugar. not where they bury it in their small paunches. (certainly) be of a different sort in their insides from a Fries. ABE.-Come now! They are still men like ourselves (as we). They must ywiss § 48. The province, however, of Friesland is not the only district where Frisian is spoken at the present moment. It is spoken in East Friesland, in the fenny tract called Saterland. Saterland Dialect of the East Frisian.* 1. Ihk kahn nit sette, kahn nit stoende, 2. Well stand der var, well kloppet an, Det is din allerljowste, din Schatz, stoend nu ap, und let mi der in. * Firmenich, p. 233. 3. Ihk stoende nit ap, lete di dir nit in, 4. Wo lange schell ihk der buten stoende ? The same in the Platt-deutsch of Vechta.* 1. Ik kann nit sitten, kann nit stahn, 2. Well steit dar vär, well kloppet an Schatz, stah nu up, un laat mi der in. 3. Ik stah nich up, sate di der nich in, 4. Wo lange schall ick dar butan stahn? In English. 1. I can not sit, can not stand, After my all-dearest will I gang, There will I before the window stand, Till that the elders after bed gang. 2. Who stands there before? who knocks on? Who me so late upwaken can ? That is thy all-dearest, thy Treasure, stand now up and let me there in. * Firmenich, p. 235. 3. I stand not up, let thee not in, Till that my elders after bed are, Gang thou now forth in the green wood, 4. How long shall I there without stand? I see the morning-red on-come, The morning-red, two bright stars, With thee, all-dearest, sleep I willingly. It is spoken in Wangeroog. § 49. It is spoken in Heligoland. The Contented Heligolander.* 1. Letj' Famel, kumm ens juart tu mi! Ick ben verleeft, hohl väll üph Di, Ick bed, du mi dien Hunn, 2. Skuld Di met mi tofreden wees Es ick met Di ook ben, Wiar ook ühs Klohr van Boy en Frees, Wann wi tofreden sen. 3. Dann ess ühs Hemmelrick nigg fier, Haa wi keen Wien dann drink wi Bier 4. Wann wi met acker koyern gung Wi gung ühs aya Way, Di Tidt wardt üs dann gar nigg lung, So flöggt üs ball di Day. In English. Little woman, come *** (?) to me ! Thou beest the best up land, I am in love, hold well up thee (think much of thee), *Firmenich, p. 9. 2. Should'st thou with me contented be As I with thee eke be, Be eke (even) our clothes of woollen and frieze, 3. Than is our Heaven not far, Our happiness (luck) had we in heart, 4. When we with one-another loving gang, We gang our own way, The time (tide) is (to) us then at all not long, § 50. It is spoken in the (comparatively) large islands Föhr, Amröm, and Sylt; the Sylt sub-dialect being made almost classical by the poems of J. P. Hansen. Dialect of Sylt. THE OLD BACHELOR. 1. Knap wejr ick üt min Jungens Skuur, Knap Diüüsent weken ual, Da kam dat Frün al ön min Sen; En Brid fuar mi wejr Nummer Jen; Ark In da löp ik hür en dejn, 2. Val feng ick uk dat Ja fan Jen; Jü seed "Min Seen, fortüne jest wat; 3. Sok Wurder hed ik ek hol' jerd; Man wat wejr jir tö dön? Ütfan tö See will 'k mi da üw, En fjuurtein Jaar fan Hüs afflüw, Tö beek is toamol nù di Tid, En ik ha jit nün Brid. * Firmenich, p. 5. In English. 1. Scarce was I out of my youth's shoes, Then came courting in my mind, 2. Well got I eke a Yes from one, 3. Such words had I not willingly heard, But what was here to do? Go out to sea will I, And fourteen years from house stay away. And I have yet no bride. § 51. Finally, it is spoken along the west coast of the Duchy of Sleswick, and in the small islands. The men and women who speak it call themselves Friese, and draw a clear distinction between themselves on one side, and the Danes and the Germans on the other. They amount to about 30,000. North Frisian of the Mainland.* Dat hew ick de denn nö aw Fraisk verthelt, for dat dö hahl ihsen Stedsonninger Fraisk hiere wäist. De ülle Dankwert schall sehde, dat bei Oxlef dat beest Fräisk snaket word. Dat mei vilicht to sin Tid richtig ween wese, as dat Fräislöin nog so grott wos dat Oxlef sowatt ma öin tai. Dat es nö örs, den dat Tjösk namont her altn's Owerhöind, en so kan dat Fräisk äi rin bliwe. Ick tonk me, dat dat beest Fräisk nö to Tids bei'e Böttendik, bei Daagebüll, oder vilicht a'we Hallige snaket ward. Von Fairinger en'e Seltinger wall ick gaar ài snake, de kon hum je gaar äi verstönne wenn hum me jem snake wall. In English. This is what I have told you about the Frisian, at that time when all the Stedesonnig people here were Frisian. The old Dankwert shall have said the best Frisian was spoken at Oxlef. That may, perhaps, have been * From Allen's Danske Sprogs Historie i Hertugdommet Slesvig, vol. ii., p. 751. E |