Transcript

Fadó is mé im gharsún óg. Ó pharóiste Abhainn an Scáil ab ea mo mhuintir agus bhínn ana-mhinic 'na bhfochair. Bhí bád mór aige fear don dtír sin i gcomhair leasaithe agus feamnaí do ghearradh le sceana.

Lá dhos na laethanna agus uair dos na huaireanna d'imíodar orthu agus do rugadar mé féin 'na bhfochair. Agus do ráiníodar orthu suas taobh le carraig mór go nglaotar Carraig Dhiarmaid Gabha uirthi. Agus do chaitheadar an méid a bhí díomhaoin dos na maidí rámha agus na gleothálacha in airde ar an gcloich agus na téadáin agus mise ina bhfochair.

(Ag) déanamh ar an lag trá nuair a thit an taoide síos do bhíos ag gliúmáil go bhfuaireas daigh. Agus do chuireas mo lámha isteach inti agus fuaireas portán. Do thógas an portán agus do bhí rud ceangailthe do chleith a bhíodh ag teanntach an bháid i bhfochair na gcloch i (bhfoirm) dubháin. Agus do bhuaileas in airde an portán mar bhaidhte ar an ndubhán dar liom féin. Agus do cheanglaíos don gcleith aríst é agus chuireas an chleith - bhí sí ró-throm chun í a choimeád im dhorn mar do bhíos ró-lag - i scoilt chloiche. Agus is gearr ansan go rug an amhailt uirthi agus do bhain as a ghreim í.

Agus amach leis an gcleith agus an amhailt á tharrac. Do bhéiceas ar an m(...) agus na fearaibh go raibh an chleith imithe uathu 'ge an amhailt. Agus dá mba mhaith leothu gan an chleith a scaoileadh uathu, a bh(r)eith air agus é thógaint. Thairrigeadar suas (as an ród) mar a rabhadar ag gearradh na feamnaí agus siúd leothu agus do rugadar ar an gcleith agus má rugadar ní fhéadfaidís hoba na héim a bhaint as an mbreac. Bhí sé ró-throm dóibh.

Bhí an taoide ag casadh ar líonadh ansan ach go háirithe agus ní'bh fhada uathu an port a bhualadh. Timpeall le míle. Agus thóg sé an méid sin aimsire, go raibh sé barra an taoide aríst, an port a bhualadh.

Agus bhí an tráigh ag trá. Agus bhíodar (ag casadh agus i dtarrag ina) chéile ag gabháil (fimine fort) dá chéile ná raibh leasú ná áirithe déanta tar éis an lae acu agus go maródh an máistir iad.

Ach is gearr go dtriomaigh an breac agus bhí feamnach a ndóthain acu. Do bhí hocht n-orlaí déag feamnaí ag fás ar an mbreac agus (báirí is bairnibh). Thabharfadh sé ós na (paróistithe bairnigh). Agus do bhí hocht (mbairille) déag ar fhichid éisc air. Ballach ab ea é.

Translation

Long ago when I was a boy. My family were from Anascaul parish and I was very often in their company. A man from that place had a big boat used for cutting fertiliser and seaweed with knives.

One of the days and one of the hours they went off and brought me along. And they arrived alongside a big rock which is called Dermot the Smith's Rock. And they threw as many of the oars and the bits and pieces which weren't in use up on the rock and the ropes and me with them.

Near low tide when the tide fell away I was fumbling around until I found a hollow. And I put my hand into it and I found a crab. I took the crab and there was a hook-shaped thing tied to a pole which was holding the boat amongst the rocks. And I put the crab as bait onto what I thought was a hook. And I tied it to the pole again and I put the pole - it was too heavy to hold in my fist because I was too weak - in a crack in the rock. And it wasn't long until the monster caught it and unloosened it.

And out went the pole, being pulled by the monster. I shouted at the (...) and the men that the monster had taken the pole. And if they didn't want to lose the pole, to catch up with it and to take it. They pulled out of the place where they were cutting the seaweed and away they went and they caught the pole, and if they did they couldn't get the better of the fish. It was too heavy for them.

The tide was turning to fill then and they weren't far from land. Around a mile. It took them until high tide again to make land.

And the shore was ebbing. And they were blaming(?) and (...) each other that they didn't have fertiliser or anything(?) after the day and that the master would kill them.

But it wasn't long until the fish beached and they had plenty of fertiliser. There were eighteen inches of seaweed growing on the fish and shoals and limpets (?). It had enough limpets for all the parishes (?). And it had thirty eight barrels(?) of fish on it. It was a wrasse.

Commentary

Although this story is presented as a chronicate, or a personal account of an actual event, it may be based on international folktale ATU 1960B, The great fish. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). The story itself may be based around the motif X1301, Lie: the great fish. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8). The implication of the likely presence of this motif is that the storyteller is deliberately lying or exaggerating details in the story, for entertainment purposes or comic effect. This does not appear to be a hugely popular story in Irish tradition, although around 35 examples were found throughout the country by Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen in their study entitled The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). For an analysis of this type of story in an international context, see Nancy Cassell McEntire, 'Tall tales and the art of exaggeration', Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 54:1 (2009), 125-34.