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Lou Fantàume Pelegrin  
(The Ghost Pellegrin)
or Lo Fantome Pellegrin
Nissart lyrics by Eugène Emanuel. Traditional from County of Nice.
A popular tradition in Nice says that this ghost story might have been inspired to Eugène Emanuel by an event occurred in Pégomas.
| 1st verse |
Quora la nuèch es negra e longa
E s’àude au luen, e s’àude au luen soufflà lo vent,
Se un crit, un plour que si prolonga,
Lo cuor vou glaça d’espavent ;
Non v’arrestés en la montagna,
De maïon cercas lo camin,
Qu’es la terrour de la montagna, (twice)
Es lo fantome, lo fantome Pellegrin (1) ! (twice) | | When the night is dark and long
And is heard far off, and is heard far off blowing the wind,
If [because of] a scream, a tear that persists,
The heart is terror-stricken;
Don’t stop in the mountain,
Of home look for the lane,
Because it’s the terror of the mountain, (twice)
It’s the ghost, the ghost Pellegrin! (twice) |
2nd verse |
Lo veires fà de cambarota
Soubre lu pin, soubre lu pin de la foré,
Dei roc s’en faire de pelota
E lu v’abrivà per darrié !
D’autri fes, quora lo tron peta,
Su li nebla, au gros dou bousin,
Scriéu emb’au fuec de li saèta : (twice)
« Siéu lo fantome, lo fantome Pellegrin ! » (twice) | | You will see him doing capers
On the pines, on the pines of the forest,
Of the rocks making balls
And hurling them to you from behind!
Some other times, when the thunder rumbles,
On the clouds, in the worst of the racket,
He writes with the fire of lightning: (twice)
“I’m the ghost, the ghost Pellegrin!” (twice) |
3rd verse |
Berta, la nobla domaïsela
Dou buon signour, dou buon signour de Casternou,
Filha ben sagia e touplen bella,
Per l’avé vist, mouré d’un còu !
Despi, su l’arida montagna,
Plu de maïon, ni gran, ni vin ;
Ma courre un’ombra en li baragna, (twice)
Es lo fantome, lo fantome Pellegrin ! (twice) | | Berthe, the young noblewoman
Of the good lord, of the good lord from Chateauneuf[-de-Contes],
Wise daughter and very good-looking,
For having seen him, died outright!
Since [that time], on the arid mountain,
No more house, nor wheat, nor wine;
But a shade runs in the bushes, (twice)
It’s the ghost, the ghost Pellegrin! (twice) |
4th verse |
Se l’average si deguola,
Se la gragnola, la gragnola pista tout,
O se la mula fa la fuola
E dei plantun mangia lu brout,
S’ai enfan li ven la magagna
E se la frema fa de trin,
Es la terrour de la montagna, (twice)
Es lo fantome, lo fantome Pellegrin ! (twice) | | If the herd tumbles down,
If the hail, the hail crushes everything,
Or if the mule is messing
And of the seedlings eats the young shoots,
If to children is coming the defect (2)
And if the woman makes a scene,
It’s the terror of the mountain, (twice)
It’s the ghost, the ghost Pellegrin! (twice) |
1. Sometimes written peregrin, from “peregrination”.
2. The gathering Nissa vielha gives here la cagagna, the diarrhoea or, more direct, “the runs”.
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© 2001-2024 Jean-Gabriel Maurandi.
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