Transcript

Bhí fear isna Déise anso fadó arbh ainm dó Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh. Bhí sé dh'ainm aige Pilib[1] go mba fhile é agus bhí ana-dhúil aige ina bheith ag imeacht tríd an dúthaigh ag lorg éinne a raibh taom filíochta ann ar fuaid na háite.

Lá dá raibh sé ag góilt an bóthar, do chasadh garsún leis ar thaobh an bhóthair ag feighil mhuc. Bhí cráin agus ál banbh aige. Agus adúirt Cearbhall leis an ngarsún, "A gharsúin," ar sé sin, "cé leis na bannaí?"

"Lena máthair, a dhuine uasail," arsa Cearbhall[2].

"Tá go maith," arsa (...) Cearbhall, ar sé sin.

Lá eile dá raibh sé ag góilt an tslí chasadh an garsún céanna leis agus do bhí sé in airde i mbarra crainn ag piocadh crabaí. "Tar anuas as san, a gharsúin," ar sé sin. "Ná bí ag piocadh na crabaí fiáine sin."

"Más fiáin féin iad, a dhuine uasail, is maith macánta (a leanaid) siad liomsa."

"Tá go maith," arsa Cearbhall, ar sé sin. "Thá tú id gharsún ana-mhaith. An chéad uair eile a chasfar liom tú tabharfaidh mé leathghiní dhuit."

"Tá go maith," arsa an garsún. Dh'imigh Cearbhall an bóthar agus dh'fhan an garsún ag cuimhneamh ar cad a dhéanfadh sé. Bhí lúb mhór sa mbóthar agus an fhaid is a bhí Cearbhall ag góilt thimpeall na lúibe dhein an garsún an t-aithghearr trísna na páircibh agus bhí sé ar an mbóthar roimhe.

"Cad athá uait, a gharsúin?" ar sé sin.

"Tá coinne agam go mbeidh tú chomh maith le t'fhocal, a dhuine uasail," ar sé sin. "Ná dúirt tú liom an chéad uair eile a chasfaí leat mé go dtabharfá leathghiní dhom?"

"Dúras," arsa Cearbhall, "agus beidh mé chomh maith lem fhocal. Nach[3] anois," ar sé sin, "ó thá tú chomh maith san caithfidh mé cuireadh a thabhairt duit chun teacht go dtí mo thighse Dé Céadaoin seo chughainn ar na coinníll a chuirfead ort. Agus shid iad na coinníll agat. Caithfidh tú teacht," ar sé sin, "gan a bheith id chois ná ag marcaíocht, gan a bheith ar an mbóthar ná dhen mbóthar. (Agus) caithfidh tú bheith os ceann na coille agus fé bhun na coille."

"Táid dian go leor," arsa an garsún, "nó déanfaidh mé iarracht ar iad a chomhlíonadh."

"Tá go maith," arsa Cearbhall.

Nuair a tháinig an Dé Cé-... Chuaigh an garsún abhaile go dtína mháthair agus dh'inis sí dhó[4] conas a bhí an scéal.

"Tá go maith," arsa an mháthair, ar sí sin. "Tabhair leat an gabhar san amuigh. Nín[5] sé ábalta (aon rud) a dh'iompar agus caithfidh tú cúnamh a thabhairt dó. Nuair a bheidh tú ag góilt suas an bóthar," ar sí sin, "coimeád cois ar an bhféar agus cois ar an mbóthar agus ní bheidh tú ar an mbóthar ná dhe. Nuair a raghaidh tú go dtí clós na coille cuir na duilliúir i do bhróga," ar sí sin, "agus ' thuilleadh dhe id chaipín agus cuir ar do cheann é. Agus mara bhfuil tú os ceann na coille agus fé bhun na coille nín Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh ann."

Do chuaigh an garsún mar a dúirt a mháthair leis agus do thriall sé ar thigh Chearbhaill. Agus nuair a chonaic Cearbhall ag teacht é dúirt sé, "(Maiste)," ar sé sin, "thá na coinníll comhlíonta ag an ngarsún." Agus do tháinig sé amach ina choinne agus do bheannaigh sé dhó. Agus do bheannaigh an garsún thar n-ais dó.

"Téir isteach," ar sé sin leis an ngarsún, "agus do gheobhair do dhinnéar."

"Tá go maith," arsa Cearbhall... arsa an garsún, ar sé sin. "Thá sé tuillte agam is dóigh liom."

Chuaigh sé isteach. Deirtí ná raibh bean Chearbhaill ró-sprionlaithe agus is dócha go raibh an ceart acu san a dúirt é. Agus nuair a bhí(g) an garsún leath slí tríd a dhinnéar do tháinig Cearbhall isteach agus do chuir sé ceist nó dhó ar an ngarsún. Agus sa deireadh adúirt an garsún, "An mb'fhéidir liom ceist a chur ort, a dhuine uasail," ar sé sin.

"Ó, is féidir," arsa Cearbhall, ar sé sin, "dí an cheist í?"

"Dé ghnó athá agat leis na rudaí sin ar do shúile?" arsa an garsún.

"Tá," arsa Cearbhall, ar sé sin, "chun cúnamh a thabhairt dom radharc, don rud ná féachann oiread na frídeach ann lem shúile nádúrtha.

Translation

There was a man in the Decies long ago who was called Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh. Philip (recte Cearbhall) was known to be a poet and he loved going all around the district looking for anyone who had a gift for poetry.

One day he was going along the road, he met a boy on the side of the road herding pigs. He had a sow and a litter of piglets. And Cearbhall said to the boy, "Boy," said he, "who owns the piglets?"

"Their mother, my good sir," said Cearbhall (recte said the boy).

"Very well," said (...) Cearbhall, said he.

Another day that he was coming along the way he met the same boy and he was on top of a tree picking crabapples. "Come down from there, boy," said he. "Don't pick those wild crabapples."

"Even if they are wild, my good sir, I am getting (?) them in a fine honest way."

"Very well," said Cearbhall, "you're a very good boy. The next time I meet you I will give you half a guinea."

"Very well," said the boy. Cearbhall went along the road and the boy stayed deliberating what he would do. There was a big bend in the road and while Cearbhall was going around the bend the boy took a short cut through the fields and he was before him on the road.

"What do you want, boy?" said he.

"I expect you will be as good as your word, good sir," said he. "Didn't you tell me you would give me half a guinea the next time you met me?"

"I did," said Cearbhall, "and I will be as good as my word. But now," said he, "seeing as you are so good I must invite you to come to my house next Wednesday under the conditions I impose on you. And here are the conditions. You must come," he said, "neither on foot nor riding, neither on the road nor off the road. And (?) you must be above the forest and beneath the forest."

"They are hard enough," said the boy, "but I will try to fulfil them."

"Very well," said Cearbhall.

When Wed[nesday] arrived... The boy went home to his mother and she told him (recte he told her) what the story was.

"Very well," said the mother, said she. "Bring that goat outside with you. He isn't able to carry anything (?) and you will have to help him. When you are going up the road," she said, "keep one foot on the grass and one foot on the road and you won't be on the road or off it. When you get to the forest enclosure(?) put leaves in your shoes," said he, "and more in your cap and put it on your head. And if you're not above the forest nor beneath the forest Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh doesn't exist."

The boy went as his mother told him and he called to Cearbhall's house. And when Cearbhall saw him coming he said "My goodness (?)," he said, "the boy has fulfilled the conditions." And he came out to him and he greeted him. And the boy greeted him in return.

"Go inside," he said to the boy, "and you will get your dinner."

"Very well," said Cearbhall... said the boy, said he. "I think I have earned it."

He went in. It was said that Cearbhall's wife was not very mean and I suppose those who said it were right. And when the boy was half way through his dinner Cearbhall came in and he asked the boy a question or two. And in the end the boy said, "May I ask you a question, good sir," he said.

"Oh, you may," said Cearbhall, said he, "what is the question?"

"What use to you are those things on your eyes?" said the boy.

"Well," said Cearbhall, said he, "they help my eyesight, for things that are barely visible to my eyes naturally.

Footnotes

Commentary

Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh features prominently in the lore of poets, and is likely a composite character representing several different poets who historically bore the name. Many legends, folktales and motifs became associated with him, and this is one such example. The main structure of this tale is formed from an international folktale, namely ATU 875 The peasant’s clever daughter. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). Many international versions see a king setting out a series of seemingly impossible tasks for a girl, which she achieves through intelligence. In this instance, it is a clever boy who manages to fulfil the strange conditions set out, not by a king, but by the poet Cearbhall.

It is entirely likely that this folktale came to be associated with the poet via the folkloric figure of the Gobán Saor, a mythical craftsman in Irish tradition. ATU 785 is well known in the lore of the Gobán, and it is understood that many stories associated with him or his family were borrowed into the lore of Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh in the post-medieval period. See Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Myth, legend and romance (New York, 1991), 337. For a list of Irish versions from all over the country see Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968), 158.