Cairistiona

DESCRIPTION: Scots Gaelic. The singer calls to Cairistiona, "Will you answer my cry?" After courting her, he went across the sea for years, and returns to find her dead.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Kennedy-Fraser/MacLeod-SongsOfTheHebrides)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love separation return death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Hebr))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 5, "Cairistiona (Christina)" (1 text+English translation, 1 tune)
Kennedy-Fraser/MacLeod-SongsOfTheHebrides II, pp. 182-184, "Caristiona" (1 text+English translation, 1 tune)
NOTES [61 words]: Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland somehow fails to note the connection between his piece and that in Kennedy-Fraser/MacLeod-SongsOfTheHebrides (the minor difference in names seems small excuse; the tunes are rather different, but both irregular, which probably hastened the process of change), but they share lyrics and plot; I do not doubt they are the same. - RBW
File: K005

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