Cecil Frances Alexander, the author of the poem, was the wife of the Anglican Bishop of Derry. She also wrote the famous hymns "All Things Bright and Beautiful", "There is a Green Hill Far Away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's City".
She based the poem on a local legend that she had heard being spoke of by Ulster-Scots around County Londonderry.
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| Cecil Frances Alexander |
Film synopsis:
A poor Ulster-Scots farming couple are saving up for the chance to emigrate to America until their landlord hikes up their rent and all the money is gone. When a travelling pedlar with a sack full of merchandise calls looking shelter for the night the couple have ideas on how to recoup their losses....
click on Closed Captions button on the video setting within YouTube for English subtitles.
Presented below is the original poem on which the film was based:
The Legend Of Stumpie's Brae
By Cecil Frances Alexander
Heard ye nae tell o' Stumpies Brae?
Sit doon, sit doon, young freen,
I'll mak yer flesh tae creep the day,
An' yer hair tae stan' on enn.
Young man it's hard to strive wi' sin,
An' the hardest strife o' a'
Is where the greed o' gain creeps in,
An' drives God's grace awa'.
Oh, it's quick tae do, but it's lang tae rue,
When the punishment comes at last.
And we would give the world tae undo,
The deed that's done an' past.
Over yon strip of meadow land,
An' o'er the burnie bright,
Dinna ye mark the fir-trees stand,
Around yon gables white?
I mind it weel in my younger days,
The story yet was rife:
There dwelt within that lonely place,
A farmer an' his wife.
They sat the-gither all alone,
Ane blessed Autumn night.
When the trees without, and hedge,
and stone,
Were white in the sweet moonlight.
The boys an' girls were gone doon all
A wee till the blacksmith's wake;
There pass'd ane onby the window small,
An' guv the door a shake.
The man he up an' open'd the door -
When he had spoken a bit.
A pedlar man stepped into the floor,
Doon he tumbled the pack he bore,
Right heavy pack was it.
"Gude save us aa," says the wife,
wi' a smile,
"But yours is a thrivin' trade."
"Aye, aye, I've wandered mony a mile,
An' plenty have I made."
The man sat on by the dull fire flame,
When the pedlar went to rest;
Close till his ear the Devil came,
An' slipp'd intil his breast.
He look'd at his wife by the dim fire light,
And she was as bad as he -
"Could we no murder thon man the night?"
"Aye, could we, ready," quo' she.
He took the pickaxe without a word,
Whence it stood ahint the door;
As he pass'd in, the sleeper stirr'd,
That never waken'd more.
"He's deid!" says the auld man, comin' back -
"What o' the corp, my dear?"
"We'll bury him snug in his ain bit pack,
Niver ye mind for the loss of the sack,
I've ta'en oot a' the gear."
"The pack's owre short by twa guid span."
"What'll we do?" quo' he.
"Och, you're a doited, unthoughtfu' man;
We'll cut him aff at the knee."
They shortened the corp an' they pack'd
him tight,
Wi' his legs in a pickle hay;
Over the burn in the sweet moonlight,
They carried him till this brae.
They shovell'd a hole right speedily,
They laid him on his back -
"A right pair are ye," quo' the PEDLAR,
quo' he,
Sitting bolt upright in the pack.
"Ye think ye've laid me snugly here,
An' none shall know my station.
But I'll haunt ye far, an' I'll haunt ye near,
Father an' son, wi' terror an' fear
Til the nineteenth generation."
The twa were sittin' the verra next night,
When the dog began to cower.
And they knew by the pale blue fire light,
That the Evil One had power.
It had stricken nine, jist nine o' the clock,
The hour when the man lay dead;
There came to the outer door a knock,
And a heavy, heavy tread.
The old man's head swam round an' round,
The woman's blood 'gan freeze,
For it was not a natural sound,
But like some ane stumpin' o'er the ground
An the banes o' his twa bare knees.
And through the door, like a sough of air,
And stump, stump, round the twa.
Wi' his bloody head, and his knee banes bare
They'd maist ha'e died of awe!
The wife's black locks e'er morn grew white,
They say, as the mountain snaws,
The man was as straight as a staff that night,
But he stooped when the morning rose.
Still, year an' day, as the clock struck nine,
The hour when they did the sin,
The wee bit dog began to whine,
An' the gaist came clatterin' in.
Ae night there was a fearfu' flood -
Three days the skies had pour'd;
And white wi' foam, an' black wi' mud
The burn in fury roar'd.
Quo' she, "Gude man, ye need na' turn,
Sae pale in the dim fire light.
The Stumpie canna cross the burn,
He'll no' be here the night.
For it's o'er the bank, an' it's o'er the linn,
And it's up to the meadow ridge -"
"Aye," quo' the Stumpie, hirplin' in.
And he gie'd the wife a slap on the chin,
"But I cam' roun' by the bridge."
And stump, stump, stump to his plays again,
And o'er the stools and chairs;
Ye'd surely hae thought ten women an' men,
Were dancing there in pairs.
They sold their gear, and o'er the sea,
To a foreign land they went,
O'er the sea - but wha can flee,
His appointed punishment?
The ship swam o'er the water clear,
Wi' the help o' the eastern breeze,
But the verra first sound in guilty fear,
O'er the wide, smooth deck, that fell on
their ear,
Was the tappin' o' them twa knees.
In the woods of wild America,
Their weary feet they set;
But the Stumpie was there the first, they say,
And he haunted them on to their dying day,
And he follows their children yet.
I haud ye, niver the voice of blood
Call'd from the earth in vain;
And never has crime won worldly good,
But it brought its after-pain.
This is the story of Stumpie's Brae,
An' the murderers' fearfu' fate.
Young man, yer face is turned that way,
Ye'll be gangin' the night that gate.
Ye'll ken it weel, through the few fir trees,
The house where they wont to dwell,
Gin ye meet ane there, as daylight flees,
Stumpin' aboot on the banes o' his knees
It'll jist be Stumpie himsel'.
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