Transcript

Do bhí Eoghan Rua ag gabháilt an bóthar lá agus do bhuail an dá shagart 'na choinnibh. "Do bhí (mé i) (...)", arsa an cóidiútar leis an sagart paróiste, "le Eoghan."

"B'fhearra dhuit é scaoileadh thort," ar seisean. "Tá Eoghan ró-mhaith dhuit."

"Sea, mar sin féin is uile beidh triáil againn é (...)," arsa an cóidiútar.

Do bheannaigh sé go sibhialtha d'Eoghan. Agus má dhein do bhí fiach dubh ag imeacht lasmuigh in airde is "uác, uác" aige. "A Eoghain," ar seisean, "cathain a thiocfaidh a chaint don bhfear in airde," ar sin, "don bhfiach dubh?"

"Cruaidh an cheist í sin ormsa, a athair," ar seisean. "Ach pé acu san é," ar seisean, "tabharfaidh mé fé í réiteach duit," ar seisean. "Nuair a thiocfaidh an míol mór ar an moing[1]," ar seisean, "agus nuair a thiocfaidh an roinnt ar Shliabh Mis, nuair a chaillfidh an sagart an saint," ar seisean, "sea a thiocfaidh a chaint don bhfiach dubh."

"Féach cad dúrtsa leat," arsa an sagart paróiste, ar seisean. "Go mb'fhearra dhuit Eoghan a scaoileadh thort," ar seisean, "mar tá Eoghan ró-mhaith chun (...) (duit)."

Translation

Eoghan Rua was on the road one day and he met two priests. "I was (...)", said the curate to the parish priest, "with Eoghan."

"You had better let him pass you by," he said. "Eoghan is too good for you."

"Yes, even so we'll test him (?)," said the curate.

He saluted Eoghan politely. And if he did, a raven flew over going "caw, caw". "Eoghan," he said, "when will that fellow above, the raven, start to speak?"

"That is a difficult question for me, father," he said. "Even so," he said, " I will attempt to solve it for you," he said. "When the whale comes into the marsh," he said, "and when Sliabh Mish is divided (?), when the priest loses his greed," he said, "that is when the raven will speak."

"What did I tell you," said the parish priest, he said. "That you had better let Eoghan past," he said, "because Eoghan is too good (...) for you (?)."

Footnotes

Commentary

Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin (c. 1748-1784) was a well known eighteenth-century poet from county Kerry and features heavily in the folk narratives of Munster. Many humorous and at times apocryphal tales are attributed to him, and a streak of anti-clerical sentiment is often inserted into stories concerning his encounters with priests. See Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Myth, legend and romance (New York, 1991), 348. The plot of this particular encounter seems to be related to international folktale ATU 1832 The boy answers the clergyman. It is a miscellaneous type concerning a priest being outwitted by a clever answer to a difficult question. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004).