Transcript

An t-am a rabh Naomh Bríd ar an saol seo, séard a bhí inti iníon duine boicht. Bhí substaint a hathar ar fad caití aici le bochta Dé. Ní rabh a fhios ag an athair céard a dhéanfadh sé léithe. Thug sé go Cúige Laighean í go ndíolfadh sé í le (...). D'fhága sé amuigh ag an ngeata í. Bhí claimhe[1] agus scabard aige. D'fhága sé aici é le cumhdach do dtagadh sé amach.

"Cén locht atá agat uirthi?" a deir an rí.

"Tá mo shubstaint ar fad caití aici le bochta Dé."

"Más é sin an locht atá agat uirthi," a deir an rí, "níl aon ghnóthaí agamsa dhaoith'. Dhéanfadh sí an cleas céanna liomsa."

Ní choinneodh sé an iníon uaidh. Agus an fhad is a bhí sé, an t-athair, istigh chuaigh duine bocht thart. D'iarr sé déirce uirthi. Thug sí dhó claimhe agus an scabard an athar. Nuair a tháinig an t-athair amach d'fhiafraigh sé cé rabh an claimhe agus an scabard. Dúirt sí go dtug sí dho dhéirce dho dhuine bhocht é.

"Níl aon mhaith dhom leat," a deir an t-athair.

Thug sé abhaile í. Thar éis a ghoil abhaile dhaoith' chuaigh sí isteach insa riail go Cill Dara. An fhad is a bhí sí sa riail chniotáil sí brat a dtugann siad brat Bhríde air. Nuair a bhí an brat cniotáiltí tháinig guth chuici. Dúirt sé léithe ghoil amach ar an talamh ag teagasc na ndaoiní.

"Níl aon ghnóthaí agam a ghoil amach," a deir sí. "Ní thiúrfaidís aon aird orm ach meas bean fios nó seachráin."

"Luach saothair ar bith a iarrfas tú," a deir an guth, "geobhfaidh tú é."

"Seacht lán mo bhrat a fháil dh'anamnachaí saor lá an bhreithiúnais."

"Gheobhfaidh tú sin."

Chuaigh ceathar naomh go curach Chill Dara le brat Bhríde. Théis daoithe an brat a foscailt bhí sé ag leathnú nuair a d'éirigh bean agus dúirt sí mur stopfaidís go mbeadh Éire ar fad foilithe acu. Níor leathnaigh an brat uaidh sin amach. Tá seacht míle ar fad, seacht míle ar leithead i mbrat Bhríde, agus tá a sheacht sin lán dh'anamachaí le fáil lá an bhreithiúnais aici.

Dúirt an guth léithe, "Anois," a deir sé, "téirigh agus faigh teampall agus blaosc duine mhairbh. Nuair a bheas blaosc an duine mhairbh agat, faigh pobal Aifrinn. Leag an bhlaosc ar an gclaí le t'ais. Fág fianaise do chuid cainte ar an mblaosc. Freagróidh an bhlaosc thú, agus creidfidh siad ansin thú."

Fuair sí an bhlaosc. Nuair a bhí an bhlaosc aici fuair sí an pobal. Leag sí an bhlaosc ar an gclaí lena hais agus thosaigh sí ag caint. Agus dúirt sí mar seo:

Seo í teagasc Bhríde ar a leas dhon pheacach:
Beannacht a athar agus a chomhairle a ghlacadh,
An Mhuire Mháthair go brách a (dh'agairt),
Mac na mná a bhí ariamh gan scannal,
Achoíche go brách, ná déanaigí dearmad ar a Athair.
Is é féin a rinne ár gceannacht,
Thrína chroí fuair sáthadh dho na sleathachaí,
Tairní iarainn ina ghéagaí geala,
Sciúirscí nimhe a bhí dhá ghearradh,
Gur bhain siad dósan an chraiceann treasnaí.
D'iarr sé deoch agus é dhá thachtadh,
Sé an deoch a fuair sé le gléas magadh
Domblas dragúin (salach).
Ghlac sé uabhtha é mar bhí sé beannaithe,
Rinne sé fíon dár bhlas na mealadh.
Aon nduine gur (...) dúil aige
Níor fhéad sé na trócaire a fháil le ceannacht.
Déanaigí dea-bheart gan bhréagaí gan mhagadh.

Translation

The time when Saint Bridget was in this life, she was the daughter of a poor person. She had spent all of her father's wealth on God's poor. The father did not know what he would do with her. He brought her to the province of Leinster to sell her to (...). He left her outside at the gate. He had a sword and scabbard. He left it with her to keep until he came out.

"What do you find as a fault with her?" says the king.

"She has spent all of my wealth on God's poor."

"If that is what you find as a fault with her," says the king, "I have no use for her. She would do the same thing to me."

He would not take the daughter from him. And while he was, the father, inside, a poor person went by. He asked for charity of her. She gave him her father's sword and scabbard. When the father came out he asked where the sword and the scabbard were. She said that she had given them as alms to a poor person.

"You are no good to me," says the father.

He brought her home. After she had gone home she went into the order to Kildare. While she was in the order she knitted a mantle which they call Bridget's mantle. When the mantle was knitted a voice came to her. It told her to go out into the country teaching the people.

"I have no business going out," she said. "They would take no notice of me, but judge me a fortune-teller or a wandering woman."

"Whatever remuneration you ask for," says the voice, "you will get."

"Seven fills of my mantle's worth of free souls on judgement day."

"You will get that."

Four saints went to the Curragh of Kildare with Bridget's mantle. After she had opened the mantle it was spreading when a woman arose and she said that if they didn't stop that they would have all of Ireland covered. The mantle did not spread from then on. Bridget's mantle is seven miles in lengths, seven miles broad, and she will have seven times the fill of that worth of souls on judgement day.

The voice told her, "Now," it said, "go and find a graveyard and a dead person's skull. When you have the dead person's skull, find a congregation. Put the skull on the wall beside you. Direct your testimony to the skull. The skull will answer you, and they will believe you then."

She found the skull. When she had the skull she found the congregation. She put the skull on the wall beside her and she started speaking. And she spoke thus:

This is the teaching of Bridget for the good of the sinner:
To accept the blessings of his father and his advice,
To plead(?) to Mother Mary forever,
The son of the woman who was always without scandal,
Always and forever, do not forget his Father.
He was the one who redeemed us,
Through his heart he got stabbed with the spears,
Iron nails in his bright limbs,
Stinging lashes cut into him,
And cut the skin crossways from him.
He asked for a drink as he was choking,
The drink he got as an act of mockery
Was the bitter drink of a dirty dragoon (?).
He accepted it from them because he was holy,
He made wine which tasted of honey.
Anyone who (...) had desire
He could not buy the mercy.
Do good deeds without lies or mockery.

Footnotes

Commentary

This account of St Brigid appears to combine legends from a number of sources. The motif of Brigid's cloak is found in early hagiographies concerning the saint. It appears in one of the earliest Brigidine texts, The life of St Brigit by Cogitosus, where the saint uses her mantle to receive and carry meat for the poor, and the garment remains unstained. See Sean Connolly and J.-M. Picard, 'Cogitosus's "Life of St Brigit": content and value', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 117 (1987), 5-27: 17. The idea of the cloak expanding miraculously is linked to an international folktale, ATU 927C The ground is measured with a horse’s skin. The original versions of this story usually concern a man who is offered as much land as an animal skin will cover. He cuts the hide into one long strip, and uses it to enclose a great area of land. The story was known in the ancient Indian text known as the Shatapatha Brahmana, which dates to the sixth century B.C. It first appeared in Europe in Virgil's Aeneid, and has since appeared throughout the world. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It has been recorded in Irish tradition as folktale number 2400, where it usually appears as a miracle performed by a saint, and stories of St Brigid using her miraculously expanding cloak to gain land are well known in Irish tradition. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). The episode where the young saint is taken to the king by her father, and gives his sword to a beggar, is also found in early Irish hagiographical texts, including the Vita prima Sanctae Brigitae. See Seán Connolly, 'Vita prima Sanctae Brigitae: background and historical value', Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 119 (1989), 5-49: 17. International folk motifs include K185.4.2 Land grant: as much land as can be covered by saint’s mantle, and also possibly N819.3.1 Helpful speaking skull. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8). The final part of the story is a folk prayer known as An Teagasc Bhríde, versions of which were popularly recited by followers of the saint. See Séamas Ó Catháin, 'The festival of Brigit the Holy Woman', Celtica 23 (1999), 231-60: 256f.