A poem; Tayf

[Osweo]

Dear Nederlander Comrades! I humbly request your opinion on a rhyme I recently read:

Tayf je was er wee helsch m'aen, Tayf je was er drief,
Tayf je gee em t'oom hye huys een stoel er leeck af beefe.

It's short enough, so I'm not too embarrassed to ask for a translation! I have some idea what it's about, from the book I found it in, but would like a 'second opinion' to confirm what that book says. Is it a well known poem? Is it old in style and content? If you don't mind, I'll tell you where I read it and why afterwards, when all shall become clearer.

[Heimmacht]

It is VERY old, it more along the lines of. Tayf you were a Hellish man, lol .

[Osweo]

It is VERY old, it more along the lines of. Tayf you were a Hellish man, lol .

Hehe, dank u zeer! up

Can I push you just a tiny little bit to translate the rest?!?
I put some of it in an online translater, http://www.worldlingo.com/en/product...ranslator.html
but it seems to archaic to come up with any results for 'drief'.

Did he go to someone's house and steal a leg of beef?

The mystery will be revealed soon... I'm sure you can't wait.

[Heimmacht]

Perhaps it was misspelled and it should have been 'Dief' that means thief. I like this poem puzzle , I think with beefe they mean 'Beven' as in shiver. But I can't really make a good sentence of it.

[Osweo]

Perhaps it was misspelled and it should have been 'Dief' that means thief. I like this poem puzzle , I think with beefe they mean 'Beven' as in shiver. But I can't really make a good sentence of it.

Interesting!

Okay, here's the denouement:

Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief,
Taffy came to my house and stole a leg of beef,
I went to Taffy's house, Taffy wasn't home,
Taffy came to my house and stole a marrowbone.
(Alternative ending - I went to Taffy's house, Taffy was in bed,
I took the marrowbone and broke Taffy's head. )

This was a common children's rhyme that used to annoy Welshmen! It's therefore not so well known now at all, except to students of history. It's supposed to be derived from the time when Welshmen came over the border to steal cattle, and we'd return the visit for revenge, but the Welsh would be hiding in the hillls that they know so well.

'Taffy' refers to the common Welsh name Dafydd, from David, and the name of their patron saint.

I just read in a book from the 1930s 'In Search Of Wales' by H.V.Morton (quite entertaining a read) that a certain C.H.Bellenden Ker tried to overturn the slander of the poem by saying it was a mere distortion of a 'Low Dutch' rhyme, which I've posted.

I was very suspicious, as the traditional theory seems more straightforward, so I thought I'd ask about this rhyme, wondering if it had simply been made up to 'prove' an argument.

"this rhyme is an ancient lampoon on the greed and selfishness of the priests. The word Taffy is a corruption of the word "Tayf", which was the term for the high black caps worn by the Dutch priests at all outdoor functions."

What do you think? Seems far-fetched to me!

[Heimmacht]

Hmm, I do not know of a Dutch word thats alike Tayf. But the words in the Poem made me read other words then the words that were meant in your translation.

This was a fun thread though!

[Osweo]

Hmm, I do not know of a Dutch word thats alike Tayf.

You've got me wondering if it's not rather a Low German thing, and I would have been better off posting it in their subforum? The English terms for these things are irritatingly confusing.

[Heimmacht]

I wouldnt know, I do not recognise it as such. Perhaps it is a combination of 2 words. :s

[Ulf]

PA Deitsch version:

http://www.pgs.org/audio/Der_Taffy_w...Welschmann.wma

EDIT: you will probably have to download it to listen.