La, Huru

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La, Huru is an Old English song by J.R.R. Tolkien, to be sung to the tune of Are You the O'Reilly Who Keeps This Hotel?, written around 1924.[1] It is published as the 17th song in Songs for the Philologists in 1936.

The manuscript of the poem was rendered in pen and ink, together with another Tolkien's poem Syx Mynet, on one leaf. The manuscript is kept in the Tolkien-Gordon Collection at the Library of the University of Leeds.[1]

The song[edit | edit source]

La, Huru

Eala hu is wynsum þeos woruld to-niht,
And medu and myrgu, þeos deore gedriht;
Her is blæd, her is bliss, her hroþor and hyht;
Nis her nænig pæca, ne prattas, ne pliht.
        La huru, la huru, la leofa, la hu! (four times)

Her is medu and beorþegu, ealu and win,
And hunig and hTlu and heahlufu min.
Ic drince, ic drence, ic scence þe þin;
We hebbað up hornas nu tyn siðum tyn.
        La huru, etc.

Ic wlaffige', ic woffige', ic wede swa þu.
Þu druncnast, þu drymest, þu dysigast nu,
þu spreawlast, þu spellest swa snottrast swa snellast
La! hwa wisse ær swelcne gebeor swa bistu
        La huru, etc.

References