Transcript

Bhí gabha ann aon uair amháin agus ní rabh sé in ann a dhéanamh ach iarann céachta. Tháinig fear go dtí é lá ar chapall bán agus dúirt sé leis cruithí[1] a chur ar an gcapall dó. Dúirt sé leis nar rabh[2] sé in ann... nar rabh sé in ann tada a dhéanamh ach iarann céachta.

"Toram iasacht na ceárta," a dúirt sé, "agus cuirfidh mé féin na cruithí suas."

Thug sé iasacht na ceárta dhó agus sháigh sé cosa an chapaill síos insa tine. Agus faoi cheann achair bheag, bhí cruithí réitithe amach aige uirthi.

Deir an gabha, "Tá an cheird agam féin anois agus déanfaidh mé féin na hoibreachaí seo níos mó."

D'imigh an fear ina bhealach féin agus chuaigh an gabha ar a thriáil agus sé an chaoi ar chuir sé a chapall féin 'un báis. Lá arna mháireach tháinig an fear aríst agus seanfhear aige agus sháigh sé a chosa síos sa tine agus rinne sé fear óg de.

"Tá seanbhean a'm," a deir an gabha, "agus sáfaidh mé a cosa síos sa tine (caithfidh sé go bhfuil an cheird a'm!) agus déanfaidh mé bean óg di."

Ach nuair a sháigh sé a cosa síos sa tine chuir sé 'un báis uiliug í. Bhí faitíos air ansin agus d'imigh sé leis agus casadh gasúr ar an mbóthar dhó.

"Tóig leat mise. Tabhair mo bhuach-... mo bhuachaill," a dúirt sé.

"Níl aon bhlas a'm dhuit ach mar sin féin tabharfaidh mé liom thú."

"Tá fear mór ina leithide seo dh'áit agus tá sé tinn. Leigheasfaidh mé é," a deir an gasúr, "agus déanfaidh sé maith dhúinn (a bhfaighidh muid leis)."

Leigheas sé é agus fuaireadar trí (fhál) airgid.

"Toram luach péire bróg," a deir an gasúr leis an ngabha.

"Ní thiúrfaidh mé," a deir an gabha. "Bhí sé ró-luath a'd a ghoil ag iarraidh airgid fós."

Tha-... D'imigh sé uaidh agus tharla cás eile agus dúirt an gabha go raibh sé féin in ann an leigheas a dhéanamh. Chuaigh sé gá dhéanamh agus ní rabh a fhios aige lena dhéanamh i gceart. Ach marach go dtáinig an gasúr ar ais bheadh an gabha curtha 'un báis.

"Tá mé ag tabhairt comhairle dhuit," a dúirt an gasúr, "gan a ghoil ag déanamh go brách rud ar bith nach bhfuil tú in ann a dhéanamh. Mise a tháinig go dtí thú an chéad lá agus an capall a'm. Is mé a tháinig go dtí thú an dara lá agus an seanduine a'm. Agus is é an fáth a dtáinig mé go bhfaghainn fios cén sórt intinne a bhí a'd ach tá a fhios a'm nar rabh a'd ach intinn lag."

Sin é.

Translation

There once was a smith and the only things he could make were coulters. One day a man came to him on a white horse and told him to shoe the horse for him. He told him that he wasn't able to... that he wasn't able to make anything except a coulter.

"Give me the use of the forge," he said, "and I will do the shoeing myself."

He gave him the use of the forge and he thrust the horse's feet into the fire. And after a small while there were shoes fixed on her.

The smith said, "I know the craft myself now and I will do this work myself from now on."

The man went his own way and the smith tried it and it he killed his own horse. The next day the man came again with an old man and he thrust his legs down into the fire and made a young man of him.

"I have an old wife," said the smith, "and I will thrust her feet down into the fire (I must have the craft!) and I will make a young woman of her."

But when he thrust her feet down into the fire the killed her altogether. He was scared then and he went off and he met a boy on the road.

"Take me with you. Take my bo-... my boy," he said.

"I don't have anything for you but I'll bring you with me all the same."

"There is a great man in a particular place and he is ill. I will cure him," said the boy, "and what we get from him will do good for us (?)."

He cured him and they got three amounts(?) of money.

"Give me the price of a pair of shoes," said the boy to the smith.

"I won't," says the smith. "It is too early for you to go asking for money yet."

He left him and another case happened and the smith said that he was able to do the curing himself. He began doing it and he didn't know how to do it properly. If it were not for the fact that the boy came back the smith would have been killed.

"I am advising you," said the boy, "never do something which you are not able to do. It was I who came to you the first day with the horse. It was I who came to you the second day with the old man. And the reason I came was to find out what kind of mind you had but I know that you only had a weak mind."

That's it.

Footnotes

Commentary

This is a variant form of an international folktale, ATU 753 Christ and the smith. In international versions, Christ or some saint visits a haughty smith, and performs miraculous feats such as taking off a horse's foot to reshoe it, or rejuvenating an old woman by placing her in a fire. The smith's attempts to do the same end in disaster or death. In some variants, the shock of the smith's failed attempts causes his pregnant wife and daughter to go into premature labour, and both give birth to monkeys. In this sense, it can function as an aetiological tale, providing an origin story for the first monkeys or apes in the world. It first appeared in print in German in the sixteenth century, and can now be found throughout Europe, and parts of the Americas and northern Africa. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). The tale is reasonably popular in Ireland, with most examples coming from the west coast. Irish versions generally do not contain the aetiological elements. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968).

The story contains a number of important international folk motifs, including J2411.1 Imitation of magic rejuvenation unsuccessful, 2411.2 Imitation of miraculous horse-shoeing unsuccessful, E782.4 Horse’s leg cut off and replaced and D1886 Rejuvenation by burning. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).