Irish Language/Words and Music/Peata Beag

About the Song
Peata Beag (Little Pet) is a traditional song collected by Dublin artist and antiquary George Petrie. According to Petrie:

"The following playful melody, with its words, was obtained in the course of the summer of 1853 from the blind county of Clare peasant, Teige MacMahon[.] The words, though of no high poetic merit, are not without interest, from their natural simplicity, and as an illustration of the thoughts of Irish peasant life."

The dialect would originally have been Clare Irish, closest to Munster of the surviving modern dialects.

Petrie gives two verses (verses 1 and 3 below). The second verse appears in P. W. Joyce's "Irish Music and Song" (1901). The last verse appears in the most popular recording, by Dervish, and most other modern recordings. It was not recorded in either Petrie or Joyce and Dervish credits the song as "traditional".

The title given in early English sources is usually Petrie's "I wish the shepherd's pet were mine." Other translations include "I wish I had the shepherd's lamb." Modern editions and recordings call it "Peata Beag".

Verse 1
Is trua gan peata an mhaoir agam Is trua gan peata an mhaoir agam Is trua gan peata an mhaoir agam Is na caoire beaga bána

Chorus
Is ó gairim, gairim thú, Is grá mo chróí gan cheilg thú, Is ó gairim, gairim thú, Is tú peata beag do mháthar

Verse 2
Is trua gan maoilín bán agam Is trua gan maoilín bán agam Is trua gan maoilín bán agam Is fáilte ó mo ghrá geal

Verse 3
Is trua gan bólacht bainne agam Is trua gan bólacht bainne agam Is trua gan bólacht bainne agam Is Cáitín ó a máthair

Verse 4
Is trua gan gabhairín bhuí agam Is trua gan gabhairín bhuí agam Is trua gan gabhairín bhuí agam Is thabharfainn do mo stór í