John Larrysson's Column: Story Chapter 13 Part 6 The Days of Auld Lang Syne

The Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

文章日期：2023年5月3日

two little girls sleeping on the bed (canva text to image)

The Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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"You're my good girls," he said. "And now it's bedtime. Run along, while I get my fiddle." (A fiddle is a violin.)

AULD LANG SYNE

When Laura and Mary had said their prayers and were tucked comfortably in bed, their father was sitting in the firelight with his fiddle. Their mother had blown out the little fire in the lamp because she did not need its light. On the other side of the fireplace she was moving gently backwards and forwards in her rocking chair. Her knitting needles moved in the firelight above the sock she was knitting.

[audio 1]

The long winter evenings of firelight and music had come again. Her father's fiddle made music while her father was singing:

"Oh, Susi—an—na, don't you cry for me,

I'm going to Cal—i—for—ni—a,

The gold dust for to see." （youtu.be/unSEqk913fs）

Then her father began to play again the song about Old Grimes¹. He did not sing the words he had sung when her mother was making cheese. These words were different. Her father's strong, sweet voice was softly singing:

"Shall auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Shall auld acquaintance be forgot,

And the days of auld lang syne?

And the days of auld lang syne, my friend,

And the days of auld lang syne,

Shall auld acquaintance be forgot,

And the days of auld lang syne?"

When the fiddle had stopped making music Laura asked softly, "What are 'days of auld lang syne', father?"

[audio 2]

"It means 'the days we remember from a long time ago',² Laura," Her father said. "Go to sleep, now."

But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to her father's fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the big forest. She looked at her father sitting on the bench by the fireplace, the firelight shining on his brown hair and beard and shining on the honey-brown coloured fiddle. She looked at her mother, gently rocking and knitting.

She thought to herself, "This is now."

She was glad that the comfortable house with her father, her mother, the firelight and music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

[audio 3]

Footnote:

1. Chapter 10 Part 8 Old Grimes

2. The word 'auld' is literally Old English (ald/eald) for the word old. The phrase 'auld lang syne' is literally old long since. This ancient pronunciation has survived longer in some parts of the UK than others. These days it is old-fashioned Scots English. The meaning is as Laura's father translated.

Little House in the Big Woods

Chapter 1 - Part 1: Introduction

Chapter 1 - Part 2: Wolves in the Night

Chapter 1 - Part 3: Venison

Chapter 1 - Part 4: Smoked Meat

Chapter 1 - Part 5: Food for Winter

Chapter 1 - Part 6: Butchering Time

Chapter 1 - Part 7: After Butchering Time

Chapter 1 - Part 8: Winter

Chapter 1 - Part 9: Winter Night

Chapter 1 - Part 10: About the Author & Where to Find the Book

Chapter 2 - Part 1: Winter Days and Winter Nights