William Auld

**William Auld** (6 November 1924 tae 11 September 2006) wis a Scots makar, scriever, owersetter an magazine editor wha skrievit whyles i Scots (an gey guid Scots forbye), bit wha makkit his nem as a makar o warldwide wirth be his wark in Esperanto. A buik-leet o the Warld Esperanto Associe (*Esperanto-katalogo*, UEA, Rotterdam, 2001) shaws at Auld's skrievins i this leid haes bin published or prentit i Scotland, Cheenae, Hungarie, Holland, Italie, Germanie, the Canarie Islans an ither steids whaur a wheen o the thoosans o Esperanto spickers in the warld are tae be foond.  His nem wis pit forrit 3 times fur the Nobel Prize fur Leeteratur, i 1999, 2004 an 2006, makin him the ainlie scriever tae be proponed fur warks in Esperanto.  His magnum opus *La infana raso* (The Infant Race, Scots: A Bairnlie Ilk) is a lang poem o 25 chaipters or cantos, whilk – in Auld’s ain wirds - “explores the role of the human race in time and in the cosmos”. It is foondit fecklie on *The Cantos* be the American makar 
Frae 1947, Auld scrievit monie warks in Esperanto. He wis the vice-preses o the http://www.uea.org (Warld Esperanto Associe) frae 1977 tae 1980, preses o the Academie o Esperanto (1979-1983), an honorarie preses o the Esperanto PEN Centre.  - I the bygaun, detractors o baith Scots (Lallans) an Esperanto aften thriep at thir twa leids are "artifeeshul". Howanever, the New Zealan leid talesman Steven Roger Fischer richtlie minds us i his buik  *A History of Reading* (Reaktion Beuks, Lunnon, 2004) at naitional leids - sic as Inglish, German an Italian - are nae mair nor  *artificial distillations of local dialects*. 
In the towmond 2001, William Auld praisentit his muckle klekkin o Esperanto leeteratur tae the   whaur it is noo hoosit.
Asides his oreeginal wark, Auld wis a bi-ordinar owersetter frae an intil Inglis, Esperanto, French an Scots.  Here is his Scots owersettin o a poem i French be the Belgian makar Émile Verhaeren:

THE FERRYMAN CHIEL

: This lang while the ferryman chiel
: hae warslet ‘s oar agin the tide-race,
: an emerant seg in ‘s mou.

: Ochone, the lass wha cried him
: ootwre the gurly swaws, ootby,
: aye faurer, owre the muckle swaws,
: hae vainishit in drow.

: Aland the carse, like een,
: the nocks on tours an winnocks
: gawk at ‘s dour warslan,
: wi ‘s middle fauldit owre
: an buirdly thows.

In 1988 Eldonejo Kardo (“Thistle Publishers”, Glasgow ) prentit a sma buik in Esperanto aboot the Scots leid. Its teetle wis *La Skota lingvo – hodiaŭ kaj hieraŭ* (“The Scots Leid – the day an yestreen”).  This wis eikit an reprentit i 2007 be the Scots Esperanto Associe i Mitherwell.
Auld’s maist kenspeckle wark La infana raso his bin owerset intil Inglish (“The Infant Race”), Scots (“A Bairnlie Ilk”) an Gaelic (“An Cinneadh Leanabail”), published on the warldwide wab be the *Akademio Literatura de Esperanto* (Academy o Esperanto Literature/Academie o Esperanto Leeteratur)http://www.everk.it .  Aa three versions are prentit thegither in ane vollum William Auld – Master Poet o Esperanto”, be Girvan McKay (Garbhan MacAoidh), Polyglot Publishers, Tullamore, Ireland, an Lulu Enterprises, N. Carolina, USA.  Here are a curn o lines frae the seevent chaipter:-

: langsyne Ah wis sae blithe tae leuk
: doon ow’r the Mars-lik Persin bens
: (ah, whence the ecstatic joy that lens
: sic inspiration tae life’s beuk?)

: - e’en Galileo Galilei
: haed tae renunce it an gainsay
: bit the thrawn licht o trowth aye burns
: eppur si muove: still it turns!

: soor saftness o the gloamin-fa
: a nicht club there in Kermanshah
: it passed – whit like? – like meltin sna –
: Ah didna syne tak tent o’t, ah!

: youthfu Ah nivver raelie wis
: - or ower late Ah fund in truth
: - ma kin o life noo as it is
: has nocht ava tae dae wi youth.

In the laist chaipter or canto o the poem Auld leets his Testament:-

: (An sae, ma luve
: here’s ma puir Will
: ma Testament
: fur guid or ill
: howp an torment:
: an it’s ma thocht
: man’s crueltie
: wull come tae nocht
: an cease tae be;
: that raison’s reing
: wull come fur man
: bit monie a tear
: be shed till than.)