Transcript

Bhí feirmeoir ann agus fuair bacach lóistín 'na thigh. Bhí filíocht ag an mbeirt. Tháinig an bacach an feirmeoir isteach agus mála mór ar a dhrom.

Dúirt an bacach, "Féach an file (...) ag tarrac na móna chughainn."

D'fhreagair an feirmeoir, "Chun loirgne an bhacaigh a bhreacadh sea ceapadh an mhóin ar dtúis."

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Dé Luain. Dé Máirt. Dé Céadaoin. Déardaoin. Dé hAoine. Agus Dé Sathairn.

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Inniubh. Inné. Arú inné. Amárach. Amanathar. Agus amainiris.

Translation

There was a farmer and he let a beggar stay the night in his house. The two were able to compose poetry. The beggar came in to the farmer with a big bag on his back.

The beggar said, "Look at the poet (...) drawing turf to us."

The farmer answered, "Turf was first invented to redden the beggar's shins."

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Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. And Saturday

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Today. Yesterday. The day before yesterday. Tomorrow. The day after tomorrow. And the second day after tomorrow.

Commentary

This short story and accompanying quatrain is of a type that is very old in Ireland, whereby a half-quatrain is composed, and another person completes it. It is a popular device in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century stories surrounding poets and clever people. For a series of related narratives see Gearóid Ó Murchadha, 'Eachtraí, véursaí agus paidreacha ó iarthar Chorcaí', Béaloideas 3 (1931), 212-39. A good example of a contest between two persons competing through quatrains can be found in Douglas Hyde, The love songs of Connacht (5th ed., Dublin, 1909), 88-92. It is related to motif P427.7.1. Extemporaneous composition by poets, in Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8). See also Tom Peete Cross, Motif-index of early Irish literature (Bloomington, Ind., 1952).

The items following the story (recitations of the days of the week etc.) were recorded primarily for phonetic purposes.