Καλλιτεχνικός Σύλλογος Δημοτικής Μουσικής Δόμνα Σαμίου

She’s a girl from Amorgos, ribbon, o my ribbon!
she wants to go out to sea, braided, ribbon mine!

But how? She cannot go to sea, she cannot use an oar.
She pays three hundred florins down, the passage costs her that,
and then she gives three hundred more , to protect her honour.
No sooner had they sailed two miles beyond their anchorage,
the bosun made so bold he lay his hand upon the girl.
And she was overcome with shame and fell in a dead faint.
Whereon the bosun clearly thought she surely must be dead,
so seized her roughly by the hair and threw her overboard.
The current carried her away into Attaleia bay.
And then one Easter Sunday, a very special day,
the women of Attaleia town turned out to promenade.
They found the wretched girl afloat, held fast by maidenhair.
The women of Attaleia began to lament.
Oh what a figure for a festive dress, a waist to wear a belt,
oh what a finger spindle-thin, made for the finest pearl.

Translated by John Leatham