[From A Book of Manx Songs (for WW1 troops),1914]

KIRREE FO NIAGHTEY.

THE snow's on the mountains, the snow's in the gill;
My sheep they have wandered all over the hill;
Uprise then, my shepherds, with haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried deep under the snow.

The dogs in the haggard are barking aloud
At the moon, as she struggles from under the cloud;
Uprise then, my shepherds, with haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried deep under the snow.

Take staves and take lanterns, put on your carranes,
We'll hunt in the mountains, we'll hunt in the plains,
Uprise then, my shepherds, with haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried deep under the snow.

Then up rose those shepherds, with haste they did go
Where the sheep lay all buried deep under the snow;
They sought them with sorrow, they sought them with dread.
And they found them at last-but the sheep were all dead.