William Auld

William Auld (6 November 1924 tae 11 September 2006) wis a Scots makar, scriever, owersetter an magazine editor wha skrievit whyles i Scots (an gey guid Scots forbye), bit wha makkit his nem as a makar o warldwide wirth be his wark in Esperanto. A buik-leet o the Warld Esperanto Associe (Esperanto-katalogo, UEA, Rotterdam, 2001) shaws at Auld's skrievins i this leid haes bin published or prentit i Scotland, Cheenae, Hungarie, Holland, Italie, Germanie, the Canarie Islans an ither steids whaur a wheen o the thoosans o Esperanto spickers in the warld are tae be foond. His nem wis pit forrit 3 times fur the Nobel Prize fur Leeteratur, i 1999, 2004 an 2006, makin him the ainlie scriever tae be proponed fur warks in Esperanto. His magnum opus La infana raso (The Infant Race, Scots: A Bairnlie Ilk) is a lang poem o 25 chaipters or cantos, whilk – in Auld’s ain wirds - “explores the role of the human race in time and in the cosmos”. It is foondit fecklie on The Cantos be the American makar File:Ezra Pound. Frae 1947, Auld scrievit monie warks in Esperanto. He wis the vice-preses o the [1] (Warld Esperanto Associe) frae 1977 tae 1980, preses o the Academie o Esperanto (1979-1983), an honorarie preses o the Esperanto PEN Centre. - I the bygaun, detractors o baith Scots (Lallans) an Esperanto aften thriep at thir twa leids are "artifeeshul". Howanever, the New Zealan leid talesman Steven Roger Fischer richtlie minds us i his buik A History of Reading (Reaktion Beuks, Lunnon, 2004) at naitional leids - sic as Inglish, German an Italian - are nae mair nor artificial distillations of local dialects. In the towmond 2001, William Auld praisentit his muckle klekkin o Esperanto leeteratur tae the File:Naitional Leebrarie o Scotlan, whaur it is noo hoosit. Asides his oreeginal wark, Auld wis a bi-ordinar owersetter frae an intil Inglis, Esperanto, French an Scots. Here is his Scots owersettin o a poem i French be the Belgian makar Émile Verhaeren:

THE FERRYMAN CHIEL

This lang while the ferryman chiel

hae warslet ‘s oar agin the tide-race,

an emerant seg in ‘s mou.

Ochone, the lass wha cried him

ootwre the gurly swaws, ootby,

aye faurer, owre the muckle swaws,

hae vainishit in drow.

Aland the carse, like een,

the nocks on tours an winnocks

gawk at ‘s dour warslan,

wi ‘s middle fauldit owre

an buirdly thows.

In 1988 Eldonejo Kardo (“Thistle Publishers”, Glasgow ) prentit a sma buik in Esperanto aboot the Scots leid. Its teetle wis La Skota lingvo – hodiaŭ kaj hieraŭ (“The Scots Leid – the day an yestreen”). This wis eikit an reprentit i 2007 be the Scots Esperanto Associe i Mitherwell. Auld’s maist kenspeckle wark La infana raso his bin owerset intil Inglish (“The Infant Race”), Scots (“A Bairnlie Ilk”) an Gaelic (“An Cinneadh Leanabail”), published on the warldwide wab be the Akademio Literatura de Esperanto (Academy o Esperanto Literature/Academie o Esperanto Leeteratur)[2]. Aa three versions are prentit thegither in ane vollum William Auld – Master Poet o Esperanto”, be Girvan McKay (Garbhan MacAoidh), Polyglot Publishers, Tullamore, Ireland, an Lulu Enterprises, N. Carolina, USA. Here are a curn o lines frae the seevent chaipter:-

langsyne Ah wis sae blithe tae leuk

doon ow’r the Mars-lik Persin bens

(ah, whence the ecstatic joy that lens

sic inspiration tae life’s beuk?)

- e’en Galileo Galilei

haed tae renunce it an gainsay

bit the thrawn licht o trowth aye burns

eppur si muove: still it turns!

soor saftness o the gloamin-fa

a nicht club there in Kermanshah

it passed – whit like? – like meltin sna –

Ah didna syne tak tent o’t, ah!

youthfu Ah nivver raelie wis

- or ower late Ah fund in truth

- ma kin o life noo as it is

has nocht ava tae dae wi youth.

In the laist chaipter or canto o the poem Auld leets his Testament:-

(An sae, ma luve

here’s ma puir Will

ma Testament

fur guid or ill

howp an torment:

an it’s ma thocht

man’s crueltie

wull come tae nocht

an cease tae be;

that raison’s reing

wull come fur man

bit monie a tear

be shed till than.)