I am taking a short respite from working on my next novel—a sequel to another novel I have not talked about in this blog—to pursue yet another project. (I think I write to entertain myself.)

This endeavor is to “translate” some of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, by Francis James Child, commonly known as the Child Ballads. The problem with this contraction is that it is misleading. Do not expose young children to these ballads! They are comparable to Game of Thrones. Every murder ballad you have ever heard shares common ground with this collection. Well, at least from the first two volumes of this five-volume work. I am only near the end of the second volume, but I feel the tone of the ballads is getting lighter.

Incidentally, this ballad collection is poetic, not musical. Many of the ballads have been set to music, but Child did not concern himself with melodies.

Next, you might ask, why would I translate something written in English into English? It is the Scottish side of the equation that is the problem. The ballads are in 17^th/18^th century Scottish dialect, which is a barrier to understanding and appreciating them by modern audiences. Words like “mickle,” “aboon,” and “bree” abound.

The practice I follow is what I think of as a creative puzzle. The challenge is to take verses written in dialect, make them understandable, and yet retain the feel and rhyme of the ballads.

So far, I have exercised my method on two of them, two in which—surprise, surprise—no one dies. One is Tam Lin, which I did specifically for Halloween, and the other is King John and the Bishop. 

Tam Lin is probably the best known of the Child Ballads, and I will use some of its verses to explain what it is that I am doing.

Janet has kilted her green kirtle

A little aboon her knee,

And she has broded her yellow hair

A little aboon her bree,

And she’s awa to Carterhaugh,

As fast as she can hie.

Every phrase introduces a little challenge.

           Fortunately, I stumbled across a dictionary for Scottish dialect, which helped me in half the cases, not all.

“Kilted” is to tuck up one’s skirt.

“Kirtle” is a dress.

“Aboon” is above.

“broded” I did not find in the dictionary, but will assume from the context it means “braided.” “Braid” in Scottish dialect means “broad.”

“Bree” is eyebrow.

“Awa” is away.

“Hie” is hasten.

Originally, I jumped to the conclusion that “Carterhaugh” would be Carter Hall. It is not. It is Carter Wood. The word “haugh” can also imply a stream with low banks.

In the rhyming scheme, it is the second, fourth, and sixth lines that are paired. However, “bree” and “hie” are words we no longer recognize.

My solutions to these problems are below.

Janet has tucked her forest green skirt

A little above her knee,

And has braided her bright yellow hair,

In hope of Tam Lin to see.

And she’s away to Carterhaugh

As fast as she can flee.

Obviously, I have taken some liberties, but I think I have not modernized it, and it retains the sense of the original.