One very dark night, when the goblins' light
Was as long and as white as a feather,
A fairy spirit bade me stray
Amongst the gorse and heather.
The pixies' glee enamoured me,
They were as merry as merry could be.
They held in each hand a gold rope of sand,
To every blue-bell that grew in the dell
They tied a strand,
Then the fairies and pixies and goblins and elves
Danced to the music of the bells
By themselves, merry, merry little selves.
Notes
Percy Green included this song in his History of Nursery Rhymes (published in London in 1899).
Comments
Monique Palomares translates the nursery rhymes to English and French for Mama Lisa's World. Sometimes, in the process of her work, she'll email me with interesting observations. I thought some of you might be interested in this comment she sent me from when she was translating One Very Dark Night, When the Goblins' Light… into Spanish:
Spanish has very few words for goblins, elves etc. They have "elfo" for elf, "hada" for fairy and "duendes"/"duendecillos" for "little people" - which doesn't make many!
I wonder if that speaks to the type of creatures that are at least not in the Spanish fantasy world. If anyone knows more about the creatures that are in the folklore of Spain and would like to share more with us about this topic, feel free to email me. We'd love to learn more about this topic! -Mama Lisa
