Transcript

Bhí fear ann agus bhí beirt mhac aige. Agus dúirt an mac ab óige lena athair, "A athair, riar ár gcuid eadrainn." Agus do riar an t-athair a chuid eatarthu an lá a bhí chútha. Agus i gcúpla lá do bhailigh an mac óg a chuid chuige agus d'imigh sé go dúthaigh iasachta i bhfad ó bhaile. Agus do scaip sé a chuid ann le baois agus le ragairne.

Tháinig easpa agus gátar mór sa tír agus d'imigh sé amach agus do thóg sé le feirmeoir do bhí san áit agus do chuir sé ag cothú mhuc é. Agus do bhí sé chomh hocrach agus go n-íosfadh sé cuid de bhia na muc ach ní raibh éinne ann chun a rá leis é a ithe. Agus do bhuail machnamh é ansan agus dúirt sé, "Féach a bhfuil d'fhearaibh aige mh'athair sa bhaile á dhíol agus a ndóthain aráin acu agus mise anso ag fáil bháis leis an ngorta. Rachaidh mé fé dhéin mh'athar agus déarfaidh sé... déarfad leis, 'Tá peaca déanta agam roim neamh agus romhatsa agus ní fiú dhuit go nglaofá mo mhac... do mhac orm.'"

Agus do tháinig a mhac chun a athar agus dúirt... Chonaic an t-athar fós i bhfad uaidh é. Agus do rith sé chuige agus do tháinig trua aige dhó. Agus do chaith sé é féin ar a bhráid agus do thug sé póg dó. "A athair," ar seisean, "tá peaca déanta agam in aghaidh (neimh') agus romhatsa agus ní fiú dhuit go nglaofá do mhac orm."

Agus dúirt an t-athair... Ghlaoigh sé ar an lucht oibre a bhí aige, "Agus téig isteach," ar seisean "agus (tabhairig) amach an chulaith éadaigh is fearr sa tigh agus cuirig uime é. Agus tabhair amach fáinne agus cuir ar a láimh é. Agus tabhair amach péire bróg agus cuir ar a chosa é, mar bhí s-... agus tugaig libh an gamhain ramhar agus maraíg é, mar bhí sé caillthe agus tá sé beo."

D'imigh... Tháinig an mac ba shine chun an tí agus do chuala sé an ceol agus an rince istigh agus do ghlaoigh sé ceann de lucht na hoibre chuige. Agus d'fhiafraigh sé cad é seo.

"Do dheartháir a tháinig abhaile," ar seisean. "Agus do mharaibh th'athair an gamhain ramhar agus táid siad súgach."

Tháinig an t-athair. Ní raghadh sé isteach. Tháinig baois air. Tháinig an t-athair amach chuige. Agus do labhair sé leis ... teacht isteach.

"Ní fhéadfainn dul isteach," ar seisean. "Sin é an fear imigh uait agus do chaith a chuid. Agus d'fhanas-sa leat an oiread san aimsire agus níor thugais riamh an oiread dom agus mionnán do dhéanfadh sult[1] i measc mo charaid. Agus do chaith san a chuid tríd an tsaol le striapachaibh agus le rudaí nár cheart. Agus..."

Translation

There was a man and he had two sons. And the younger son said to his father, "Father, divide between us what is ours." And the father divided his possessions between them the next day. And in a few days the younger son gathered his share and went to a foreign land far from home. And he spent his share there foolishly and debauchedly.

Great scarcity and need came upon the land and he went out and he took up with a farmer who was in the place and he sent him feeding pigs. And he was so hungry that he would have eaten some of the pigs' food but there was no one there to tell him to eat it. And then a thought struck him and he said, "See how many men my father is paying at home and they have plenty of bread and I am here dying of hunger. I will go to my father and he will say... I will tell him, 'I have sinned before heaven and before you and I am not worthy of being called your son.'"

And the son came to the father and said... The father saw him a long way off. And he ran to him and he took pity on him. And he threw himself upon him and gave him a kiss. "Father," he said, "I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am not worthy of being called your son."

And the father said... He called his workers and, "Go inside," he said, "and bring out the best suit in the house put it on him. And bring out a ring and put it on his hand. And bring out a pair of shoes and put them on his feet, because there was... and bring along the fatted calf and kill it, because he was lost and he is alive."

The elder son came to the house and he heard the music and dancing inside and he called one of the workers. And he asked him what this was.

"Your brother came home," he said. "And your father killed the fatted calf and they are merry."

The father came. He wouldn't go in. He became angry. The father came out to him. And he spoke with him... to come in.

"I couldn't go in," he said. "That's the man who left you and spent his share. And I stayed with you all this time and you never even gave me a kid goat that I could enjoy with my friends. And he spent his share on harlots and things that are wrong. And..."

Footnotes

Commentary

This telling of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is based on a version supplied to the speaker in advance. See Peadar Ua Laoghaire, Na cheithre Soisgéil as an dTiomna Nua (Dublin, 1915), 191-2. The speaker was encouraged to adapt the text to his own dialect.