Dinogad's Coat

 Dinogad's Coat


Specked, specked, Dinogad's coat, 
I fashioned it of pelts of stoat.
Twit, twit, a twittering,
I sang, and so eight slaves would sing. 
When your daddy went off to hunt,
 Spear on his shoulder, 
club in his hand,
 He'd call the hounds, so swift of foot:
 "Giff, Gaff-seek 'im, seek 'im, fetch, fetch.
 He'd strike fish from a coracle As a lion strikes a small animal. 
When to the mountain your daddy would go,
 He'd bring back a stag, a boar, a roe,
 A speckled mountain grouse,
A fish from Derwennydd Falls,
 Of those daddy reached with his lance,
 Whether a boar or a fox or a lynx, 
None could escape unless it had wings.



This Briton cradle song, composed around the year 650, may be the earliest recorded poem by a woman.

Here, set to music - 


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