Transcript

Thosnaigh sé ar bheith ag gearán is do chaith sé é féinig sa leabaidh arís. Níor thug Fionn... ní thug Síoman aon (toradh) air. Do leog sé dhó. Ach do bhí sé cortha cráite aige. Agus d'iompaigh sé ina choinnibh nuair a bhí a fhios aige nárbh é a mhac é an uair sin.

Tamall eile ina dhiaidh sin ansan do bhí sé arís ar an slí gcéanna. Agus do shín Síoman ar an raca fé mar a dhein sé roimis sin. Agus do bhí sé sin sínte insa chúinne. Ach nuair a cheap sé Síoman a bheith ina chodladh d'éirigh sé aniar agus do leog sé a chosa chun na tine. Do bhí stocaí straidhpeach dearg suas go dtí an dá ghlúin air agus caipín oíche air. Thairrig sé chuigis borróg 'on tuí do bhí fé insa leabaidh agus do dhein sé sop súirdín de agus do dhearg sé a phíop. Agus do bhí sé á tarrac agus á hól agus Síoman ag féachaint air. Ní fada a dh'fhéad sé bheith ag féachaint air nuair a chonaic Síoman é féinig. Agus d'iompaigh sé thairis ar an raca agus ansan bhéic sé sin agus do chaith sé é féinig insa leabaidh arís. Agus do dhírigh sé ar an nguaireán céanna do bhí aige riamh roimis sin.

Ansan ar maidin amáireach sé an chéad duine dos na comharsain a tháinig isteach (air) ar a thuairisc duine a bhí ar an mbaile aige go nglaoidís Pádraig Ó Flatharta air. Do nis Síoman dó cad a dhein... cad a chonaic sé aige á dhéanamh aréir. "Agus ní hé mo mhac atá riamh ann," ar sin, "agus tá a fhios agam le fada é. Dar (...)," arsa Síoman.

"Más é... más ea, nách fada a bheidh sé agat," ar (seisean). "Cuir síos tine mholl mhóna dhom," ar (seisean).

Do cuireadh agus do dhearg an tine. Agus dúirt Pádraig an tsluasad a thabhairt dó. Do fuair sé an tsluasad agus do dhearg sé í. Agus dúirt sé leis a bheith amuigh láithreach do gheit nó go ndófadh sé agus go loiscfeadh sé leis an sluasaid é go feargach. Ach d'iarr sé spás air go dtí tráthnóna. Do fuair sé an spás ó Phádraig agus ansan ní raibh húm ná hám ann ná focal cainte ná aon ní eile aige as san amach.

Ach ní mhór dá mháthair ag déanamh amach ar an dtráthnóna dul ag triall air. Agus ag triall as a (...) (mar suas dá bhrollach) chuir sí lámh síos leis (...) bhí sé ag cur allais de. Do dhúisigh sé ansan agus cad a bhí ann nuair a dhúisigh sé ná a mhac féin. D'imigh an síofra. D'imigh an síofra. N'fheacaidh éinne ag imeacht é ná n'fheacaidh éinne ag teacht é.

Translation

He began complaining and he threw himself in the bed again. Fionn didn't... Simon didn't pay any heed to him. He left him alone. But he was fed up and tormented by him. And he turned against him when he knew at that time that it wasn't his son.

Another while after that he was the same way again. And Simon lay on the settle the same way as he had before. And the other fellow was lying in the corner. But when he thought Simon was asleep he got up and put his feet by the fire. He was wearing red striped socks up to his knees and a night cap. He caught a bundle of the hay which was under him in the bed and he made a wisp of it and lit his pipe. He was smoking it and Simon was looking at him. He couldn't have been watching him for long when Simon saw him. And he turned around on the settle and then he shouted and he threw himself into his bed again. And he started complaining in the same way as he had been before.

Then the next morning the first of the neighbours who came in to visit him was a man from the townland called Patrick Flaherty. Simon told him what he did... what he saw him doing last night. "And it is never my son that's there," he said, "and I know that for a long time. Upon my soul(?)," said Simon.

"If it is so, you won't have him for long," he said. "Put down a big turf fire for me," he said.

It was done and the fire reddened. And Patrick asked for the shovel. He took the shovel and he reddened it. And he told him angrily to be gone immediately without delay or that he would burn him and scorch him with the shovel. But he asked for time until the evening. He got the time from Patrick and then he didn't say hum or hawm or a word or anything else from then on.

But his mother had to come to him nearing evening time. And moving (...) like this up to his breast (?) she put her hand down to him and(?) he was sweating. He woke up then and what was it only her own son. The changeling had left. The changeling had left. No-one saw him leaving and no-one saw him arriving.

Commentary

Parts one and two of this narrative combine to form one of a series of common stories in Ireland concerning changelings. These were supernatural creatures that took the place of a human. In Ireland it was common practice for people to believe that sick children or adults were actually changelings, and that the original person had been abducted by the fairies. Belief in changelings was not restricted to Ireland, and appears to be a European phenomenon. The above story is linked to a migratory legend ML 5085 The changeling. See Reider Th. Christiansen, The migratory legends (Helsinki, 1958). A more complete analysis of the story in an Irish context can be found in Séamus Mac Philib, 'The changeling (ML5058): Irish versions of a migratory legend in their international context', Béaloideas 59 (1991), 123-31. Sometimes extraordinary efforts were made to recover the person, which could result in their injury or death. One notorious case involved the burning to death of a woman by the name of Bridget Cleary in 1895, who was said to be a changeling. See Angela Bourke, The burning of Bridget Cleary (New York, 1999).