Riu Riu Chiu, and a giveaway

So I was out shopping with my daughter and we saw David Archuleta's new Christmas album, Christmas from the Heart. Of course, we bought it. (Love that voice!) We listened to it all the way home, and I have had this song, Riu Riu Chiu, stuck in my head for days. I had never heard it before, so I did some research to see what it was all about. The "riu, riu, chiu" part is supposed to be the song of a nightingale. The song is a Spanish "vilancico" dating from the 16th century, written in a very archaic form of Spanish.

Here are the lyrics in Spanish:

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera

El lobo rabioso
La quiso morder
Mas Dios poderoso
La supo defender
Quizole hazer que
No pudiesse pecar
Ni aun original
Esta uirgen no tuuiera

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera

Este uiene a dar
A los muertos uida
Y uiene a reparar
De todas la cayla
Es la luz del dia
Aqueste mocuelo
Este es el cordero
Que San Juan dixera

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera

Yo ui mil garcones
Que andauan contando
Por aqui bolando
Haziendo mil sones
Diziendo a gascones,
Gloria sea en el cielo
Y paz en el suelo
Pues Jesus nasciera

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera

Este uiene a dar
A los muertos uida
Y uiene a reparar
De todas la cayla
Es la luz del dia
Aqueste mocuelo.
Este es el cordero
Que San Juan dixera.

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera

Yo ui mil garcones
Que andauan contando
Por aqui bolando
Haziendo mil sones
Diziendo a gascones
Gloria sea en el cielo
Y paz en el suelo
Pues Jesus nasciera

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera

And here is the rough translation:

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

The rabid wolf tried to bite her,
But God Almighty knew how to defend her,
He wished to create her impervious to sin,
Nor was this maid to embody original sin.

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

The newborn child is the mightiest monarch,
Christ patriarchal invested with flesh.
He made himself small and so redeemed us:
He who was infinite became finite.

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

Many prophecies told of his coming,
And now in our days have we seen them fulfilled.
God became man, on earth we behold him,
And see man in heaven because he so willed.

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

A thousand singing herons I saw passing,
Flying overhead, sounding a thousand voices,
Exulting, "Glory be in the heavens, and peace on Earth, for Jesus has been born."

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

He comes to give life to the dead,
He comes to redeem the fall of man;
This child is the light of day,
He is the very lamb Saint John prophesied.

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

Now we have gotten what we were all desiring,
Go we together to bear him gifts:
Let each give his will to the God who was willing
To come down to Earth man's equal to be.

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

Now here's the giveaway. If you leave a comment on my blog between now and December 25th, I will put your name in a drawing to be held on December 26th for some great prizes. You can have one entry per blog post that you comment on. The prizes will be some of the great gift ideas I will be featuring this month. One prize will be a copy of Christmas from the Heart. (Not mine. A brand new one with all that annoying security sealing tape still on it.) Yes, I realize it's a Christmas album and the person who wins it won't be getting it until after Christmas. There's always next year. Or, if you just have to go out and buy your own copy before Christmas, I can make a substitution.

Now just for fun, I saw this video today and just had to throw it in.