Transcript

Bhí Naomh Pádraig ag góilt[1] an bóthar lá agus chonaic sé triúr saor chloch[2] ag tógaint tí. Bhí lian[3] i láimh gach nduine acu agus iad ag obair go dícheallach dúthrachtach ar an moirtéal. Stad sé ag féachaint orthu agus rioth sé leis gur ana-cheardaithe ar fad iad. Ach ansan chuir sé ceist orthu agus dh'fhiafraigh sé dhíobh an rabhadar ag an Aifreann. Dúireadar san ná rabhadar mar go rabhadar róbhocht agus nárbh acmhainn dóibh dul ann. Dh'fhiafraigh sé dhíobh cad é a dtuarastal lae. Dúireadar san gur scilling agus dhá thoistiún. Chuir sé a láimh ina phóca agus thug sé scilling agus dhá thoistiún an duine dhóibh agus dúirt sé leothu dul go dtí an Aifreann agus gan casadh aríst ar an obair an lá san.

Dh'imíodar. Ach nuair a bhíodar ag dul thar tigh ósta tháinig tart orthu agus chuadar isteach. Dh'iarr ceann acu deoch agus fuaireadar é. Agus shéideadar an cúr go breá dhe. Agus ba ghairid luath léir a bhíodar á chaitheamh siar. Dh'iarr an dara duine an dara deoch agus dh'óladh é chomh maith. Dh'iarr an trígiú[4] duine an trígiú deoch agus budh é an cás céanna aige sin é. Ansan nuair a bhí an trígiú deoch ólta dúirt an chéad dhuine go mb'fhearra dhóibh deoch eile mar go mbeidís luath go leor don Aifreann. Dh'óladar an deoch eile agus ansan ní bheadh an dara fear sásta gan deoch a bheith aige féin chomh maith le duine. Agus ansan ní bheadh an trígiú fear sásta ach an oiread. Dh'fhanadar mar sin ó dheoch go deoch go dtí go raibh an scilling agus dhá thoistiún ólta acu. Agus nuair a bhí deireadh leis an airgead chaitheadar bóthar a bhogadh thar n-ais.

Nuair a bhíodar ag teacht thar n-ais stadaidís go minic ag crothadh lámh lena chéile agus ag moladh a chéile agus ag moladh a n-aithreacha agus a seanaithreacha agus a sin-seanaithreacha. Agus bhí d-... dhá thaobh an bhóthair acu. Agus thugadar fé ndeara go mbíodh cnocáin sa mbóthar ag casadh dhóibh ná raibh ann ar aon chor agus iad ag dul ar maidin.

Pé scéal é, nuair a shroiseadar an tigh ina rabhadar ag obair air chuadar in airde ar an dréimire. N'fheadar mé féin conas a chuadar in airde ar an dréimire mar go deimhin bhíodar criothánach go maith. Ghabhadar chútha[5] na liain arís agus thosnaíodar ag leagaint chloiche ach ní rómhaith a bhíodar inniúil air. Thosnaíodar ar an bhfalla a dhéanamh rud beag cam.

Nuair a bhí Naomh Pádraig ag teacht thar n-ais im thráthnóna thug sé fé ndeara go rabhadar ag obair arís tar éis dó é a chros orthu ar maidin gan casadh a thuilleadh. Thosnaigh sé á gceistiú. Dh'fhiafraigh sé dhen chéad fhear dé chúis gur tháiníodar ag obair. Chuir sé sin an mhilleán ar an tara fear. Agus chuir an tara fear an mhilleán ar an trígiú fear. Agus chuireadar go léir a[6] mhilleán ar a chéile. Bhí an naomh tamall ag féachaint orthu agus sa deireadh tháinig buile air. Agus dúirt sé leo go gcuirfeadh sé mallacht orthu. Agus sé mallacht a chuir sé orthu ná siúl fada agus bróga briste. Agus sin é mallacht na saor chloch. Agus tá sé orthu riamh gusan[7] lá inniubh.

Translation

Saint Patrick was travelling the road one day when he saw three stonemasons building a house. Each had a trowel in his hand and was working very diligently with the mortar. He stopped to look at them and thought that they were very good craftsmen indeed. But then he questioned them and asked them if they had been to Mass. They said they had not because they were too poor and did not have the means to go. He asked them what their daily pay was. They said it one and eightpence. He put his hand in his pocket and gave them each one and eightpence and told them to go to Mass and not to return to work again that day.

They left. But when going past a public house they became thirsty and went in. One of them asked for a drink and they got it. And they gently (?) blew the froth from it and were not long knocking it back. The second man asked for a second drink and it was drunk too. The third man asked for a third and he got the same. Then, when the third drink was drunk the first man said that they might as well have another drink as they would be early enough for Mass. They drank another. Then, likewise, the second man was not happy until he had a drink himself. And then the third was not happy either. They stayed there from drink to drink until they each had drunk their one and eightpence. And when the money was spent they had to go back.

On their way back they stopped often and shook hands with each other and praised each other and each other's fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers. And they weaved from one side of the road to the other. And they noticed that there were hills in the road on their return that were not there when they came that morning.

When they reached the house on which they were working they went up on the ladder. I do not know myself how they went up on it for they were really quite unsteady. They picked up the trowels again and began laying stone but they were not very well able for it. They began to make the wall somewhat crooked.

On his return that evening Saint Patrick noticed that they were working again despite that fact that he had forbidden them doing so. He began to question them. He asked the first man why they had returned to work. He blamed the second man. And the second man blamed the third man. And they all blamed each other. The saint looked at them for a while and eventually became angry. And he said that he would put a curse upon them. And the curse he put upon them was 'a long walk and worn-out shoes'. And that is the curse of the stonemasons. And it is still upon them to this day.

Footnotes

Commentary

This is part of a series of legends relating to the national saint which appear frequently in literary and oral tradition since the early medieval period. The idea of Saint Patrick cursing someone who had crossed him is one that appears in the eighth- and ninth-century hagiographies, and appears to be framing the saint as a folk-hero figure. Stories of curses bestowed by saints were used by various factions or residents of a given area to make fun of other groups, and it is clear from this account that the motivation was to cast masons in a particular light. See Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, The hero in Irish folk history (New York, 1985), 14.

It ultimately appears to be based on an account found in Muirchú's seventh-century Life of St. Patrick, where craftsmen were rebuked for working on a Sunday. See Ludwig Bieler (ed. and tr.), The Patrician texts in the Book of Armagh, Scriptores Latini Hiberniae 10 (Dublin, 1979), 106.

The story could be seen as an aetiological legend, describing why masons have a difficult nomadic life. See Thomas Johansen, 'Malefactor and antagonist: a study in aetiological legend structures', Folklore 100:2 (1989), 184-200. Possible motifs include Q556 Curse as punishment, and C987 Curse as punishment for breaking tabu. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).

A transcription of a shorter version of this story from the same speaker appears in Risteard B. Breatnach, The Irish of Ring, Co. Waterford (Dublin, 1947), 114-15.