The Lhondoo And The Ushag-Reaisht

One time Lhondoo, the Blackbird, was living in the mountains and
Ushag-reaisht, the Bird of the Waste, as Manx ones call the Golden
Plover, was living in the lowlands, and neither of them was able
to leave his own haunts. One day, however, the two birds met on the
borders between mountain and plain, and they made it up between them
that they would change places for a while. The Bird of the Waste
should stay in the mountains till the Lhondoo should return.

The Lhondoo found himself better off in his new home than in the old
one, and he did not go back. So the poor Bird of the Waste was left
in the mountains and any day you may hear him cry in a mournful voice:


'Lhondoo, vel oo cheet, vel oo cheet?
S'foddey my reayllagh oo!'
Black Thrush, are you coming, are you coming?
The time is long and you are not here!


But the Lhondoo answers:


'Cha jig dy braa, cha jig dy braa!'
Will never come, will never come!


Then the poor Ushag-reaisht wails:


'T'eh feer feayr, t'eh feer feayr!'
It's very cold, it's very cold.


Then the Blackbird goes his ways.