Sheila Nee Iyer

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets Sheila Nee Iyer. She tells him to leave off flattering and go away. He claims he would never prove false. "O had I the wealth of the Orient ... I would robe you in splendour"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1788 (broadside, British Library chapbook "Hush the Mouse Off the Hob ...); 1965 (IRPTunney03)
LONG DESCRIPTION: From the chapbooks cited below as BROADSIDES. The singer, out for a walk, meets Sheela na Guire "on a rosy green bower in rural attire." He is smitten but is afraid to approach her for fear of suffering Actaeon's fate (changed to a stag by Artemis and killed by his own hounds). He takes the risk and asks who or what she is, and she gives him her name. He fears rejection but tells her she outshines "fair Helen, sweet Venus, or fam'd Queen Demira." She is not fooled by his "admirable fine speeches": referring to ore "with fire refined," she says, "true love is the pleasure of a virtuous mind. Your love's like the dross that remains behind." She challenges him to improve his line. He risks "Priamus's" fate (Priapus's rejection by Hestia?) and tells her he will die without her and may he die like Hercules, frantic in the fire, if he is ever false to her. She is convinced and accepts him but warns that "the snowy white fleece if once stained, its purity can never be regained." They kiss. He doesn't need further riches: "No state nor ambition nor title require I've more than them all in my Sheela na Guira."
KEYWORDS: courting rejection money
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 117, "Sheila Nee Iyer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3108
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "Sheila Nee Eyre" (on IRPTunney03)
BROADSIDES:
BritishLibrary, UIN BLL01002569577, "Hush the Mouse off the Hob, to which are added 2. The Lake of Kilarney 3. Sheela Na Guira 4. The Elegy of Sir J. Colthurst," W. Jones (Dublin), 1790?. Citation at https://tinyurl.com/yad3mk7w
BritishLibrary, UIN BLLO01000608378, "The Carlow Lass, to which is added, Patrick's Day, Sheela Na Guira," W. Groggin (Limerick), 1790. Citation at https://tinyurl.com/y99y9vqm
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Eileen McMahon" (aisling format)
cf. "Granuaile" (aisling format) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sheela na Guira
Sile Ni Ghadhra
NOTES [559 words]: As in "Lough Erne Shore" and "The Colleen Rue," there is no resolution for the Tunney-StoneFiddle version.
"Sheila Nee Iyer, is surely a brilliant parody of the hedge schoolmaster aisling." (source: For Want of Education:The origins of the Hedge Schoolmaster songs by Julie Henigan - 19.8.99 originally published in Ulster Folklife No 40 (1994): pp 27-38, reproduced at the Musical Traditions site).
Tunney-StoneFiddle, in a chapter titled "Gael meets Greek," writes "In the whole corpus of traditional song couched in the borrowed Bearla [English], there are none to compare with the high-minded effusions of our hedge-school-master poets. These songs are readily recognisable by the plenitude of classical allusions they contain and by the adaptation of the Gaelic assonantal rhyme, used extensively by the Gaelic Aisling poets of the eighteenth century." The songs in that chapter, illustrating his point, are "Lough Erne Shore," "Sheila Nee Iyer," "Colleen Rue" and "The Flower of Gortade"; the most extreme example among those is "Sheila Nee Iyer."
For discussion of aislings, see the notes to "Eileen McMahon" and "Granuaile." For a list of songs in the Index meeting the definition of the Aisling, see "Granuaile."
Tunney's "Sheila Nee Iyer" boils the 96-line chapbook version down to 20 lines, sharing 8 lines with the chapbooks and filling the gaps with lines in the spirit of hedge schoolmaster writing. In the shared lines Tunney sometimes has the classical reference right where the chapbook version is mangled. Here are the shared lines, with spelling preserved:
Chapbooks -
16. And in great confusion I asked her name
17. Were she Arora/Aurora, or fam'd Queen Demira
18. She answered I'm neither I am Sheela na Guira
75. May the sufferings of Assifal/Ashcal fall to my share
76. Or I the torment of Tantalus/Tartulu's bear
79. If e'er I prove false to you Sheela na Guira
93. Despising the wealth of the African shore
94. No Sion Peruval nor Mexican oar/ore
Tunney -
03. And in great confusion I did ask her name
04. Are you Flora or Aurora or the famed Queen of Tyre
05. She answered I'm neither I'm Sheila Nee Iyer
11. May sufferings of Sisyphus fall to my share
12. And may I the torments of Tantalus bear
15. If ever I prove false to you Sheila Nee Iyer
16. O had I the wealth of the Orient store
17. All the gems of Peru or the Mexican ore
Did Tunney correct the reference or was his source from a text that had bypassed the chapbooks?
Thanks to Steve Roud for the broadside texts and John Moulden for leads for this note. John Moulden has a poossible earlier chapbook: "Hush the mouse off the Hob. To which are added The Lake of Killarney, Sheela na Guira, The Police Guards Dublin by W Jones [c 1780?] [The catalogue notes ñ 'Only four verses of Sheela na Guira.'] Dublin City Library Gilbert Collection Songs 768/2/7a 17."
Steve Roud has the chapbooks in his Broadside index. "Hush the Mouse ..." is Roud #V31451 with a British Library reference 11622.df.34.(22); "The Carlow Lass ..." has British Library reference 11622.df.34(19). - BS
Ben, or his source, suggest that the reference to "Priamus's fate" is to Priapus's rejection by Hestia. I wonder if it isn't just a reference to Priam (Priamos) King of Troy, who suffered years of war, and the loss of almost all his children, before the city was sacked and he was killed. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: TSF117

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