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The tribe of Dana
The wind blows across the plains of Armorican Brittany*
I throw one last glance at my wife, my son and my domain
Akim*, the blacksmith's son has come to pick me up
The druids have decided to lead the fight in the valley
There, where all our ancestors, giant Celt warriors
After great battles have established themselves as masters
Now is the time to defend our land
Against an army of Cimmerians* ready to cross irons*
The whole tribe gathered around the great menhirs*
To invoke the gods so that they may bless us
After this prayer with my brothers, without showing zeal
The chieftains gave us all a few gulps of mead*
For valor, so that there'll be no fault
To stand tall and proud when we'll be in the battle
Since it's the first time for me going into combat
And I hope to be worthy of the tribe of Dana*
(Chorus)
In the valley (oh oh) of Dana (la li la la)
In the valley (oh oh), I could hear the echoes
In the valley (oh oh) of Dana (la li la la)
In the valley (oh oh), of war chants by the tombs
After a few druids and magic incantations
The whole tribe, with glaive* in hand, ran towards the enemy
The struggle was terrible and I only saw shadows
Slicing the enemy that always came back in droves
My brothers fell one after the other before my eyes
Under the weight of the weapons of all these barbarians
Spears, axes and swords in the Garden of Eden
That made blood flow on the plain's green grass
Like those days of sorrow, where men drag themselves
To the edge of reign, of evil, and hatred
Ought we to have continued this fight already lost?
But such was the pride of the whole tribe
The struggle continued thus until sundown
Of extreme ferocity along with relentlessness
We had to defend the land where our ancestors lie buried
And for all the laws of the tribe of Dana
(Chorus)
On the far side of the valley rang the sound of a horn
Of an enemy chieftain recalling his entire horde
Had he understood that we'd fight even in hell
And to the tribe of Dana these lands belonged?
The warriors were heading back, I didn't understand
All the way they had come to get there
When my gaze settled all around me
I was the only one of my tribe left standing; that's why
My fingers spread as I dropped my weapons
And along my cheeks began to flow tears
I never understood why the gods spared me
From this dark day in our history I recounted
The wind still blows upon Armorican Brittany
And I've rejoined my wife, my son, and my domain
I've rebuilt everything with my own hands to come to this
I've become the king of the tribe of Dana
(Chorus)
Vespers✕
Comments
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About translator
*References:
- Armorican Brittany: Armorica was a region in the north-west of modern France during the Roman Empire (1st century BC to the 5th century AD). Brittany is a peninsula and historical country covering the western part of what was known as Armorica, the traditional homeland of the Breton people and one of the six Celtic nations. Originally, Bretons designated groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwall and Devon, mostly during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. They migrated in waves to Armorica. The region was subsequently named after them, as were the inhabitants of Armorica as a whole.
- Akim: The ancient Scottish name Akim was first used by the Strathclyde-Briton people of the Scottish/English Borderlands.
- Cimmerians: The Cimmerians were an ancient Eastern Iranic people, tribes of nomadic horsemen originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe (roughly north of the Black Sea).
- Iron: A weapon made of iron, such as a sword.
- Menhir: Standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found individually as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones.
- Mead: Honey wine. The legend of the 'magic potion', a drink that would greatly help warriors in their battles (originates from old stories around Europe and mentioned in the popular comic/movies Astérix) is rumored to have been either mead, or some herbal and vegetable soup mixture.
- Dana: Possibly the Tuatha Dé Danann ("the folk of the goddess Danu"), a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland. The Tuath Dé Danann are often depicted as kings, queens, druids, bards, warriors, heroes, healers and craftsmen who have supernatural powers.
- Glaive: A type of pole weapon with a single edged blade on the end.