Transcript

Bhuel, bhí buachaill as an áit agamsa agus chuaigh sé go Sasanaí tá[1] fada ó shin. Bhí sé ina oibrí iontach breá ach níl pínn dá saothróchadh sé i rith na seachtaine nach n-ólfadh sé ceann deireanach an tSathairn nuair a gheobhadh[2] sé a pháighe, an duine bocht.

Bhí sé ceann deireanach aon tSathairn amháin ag goil abhaile chuigna[3] lóistín agus thit sé marbh ar meisce a chois an bhóthair. Bhí na fir a bhí ag tógáil an ghuail ins an oíche ag goil isteach agus fuair siad an fear marbh ar meisce a chois an bhóthair. Agus thóg siad ar a nguailneacha é agus thug siad isteach faoin talamh é. Agus leag siad a chois an bhalla é agus thoisigh siad ag obair. Agus luigh sé ansin an chuid is mó dhon oíche agus mhuscail sé suas nuair a bhí sé tamall fada ann. Agus chonaic sé gach fear dá raibh ansin agus solas i gclár a éadan[4], ar a mbearáid, agus iad chomh dubh leis an deabhal é féin, lámha agus éadan agus eile.

"Ó, in ainm Dé," ar seisean, "cé bhfuil mé?"

"Tá, tá tú in ifreann," arsa an fear a bhí comhgarach dó. "In ifreann."

"Ó, is fada an áit sin dá fhógairt orm," ar seisean. "Goidé a dhéanfas mé?"

"Ní bheidh muid ró-olc leat an chéad oíche anyway. Bhéarfaidh muid do shuipéar dhuid."

Thug siad a shuipéar dhó agus thug siad buidéal breá uisce bheatha anuas chuig an tábla chuige, agus d'ól sé an buidéal uisce bheatha agus thit sé marbh ar meisce a chois an bhalla aríst.

Agus nuair a bhí sé an t-am ag na fir a ghoil amach ar maidin bhó[5] obair na hoíche bhí sé marbh ar meisce, an fear a bhí a chois an bhalla. Chaith siad ar a nguailneacha é agus thug siad é amach gur leag siad a chois an bhóthair é ins an áit a bhfuair siad marbh é an tráthnóna roimhe sin, an maidin roimhe sin I should say. Bhuel, (...).

Translation

Well, there was a boy from my locality and he went to England a long time ago. He was a great worker but there wasn't a penny he'd earn during the week that he wouldn't spend on drink at the end of Saturday when he would get his pay, the poor man.

At the end of one Saturday he was going home to his lodgings and he collapsed drunk at the side of the road. The men who were mining coal at night were going in and they found the collapsed drunk on the side of the road. And they lifted him up on their shoulders and they brought down underground. And they set him down by the wall and they started working. And he lay there most of the night and he woke up after he was there a long time. And he saw every man there with a light on their forehead, on their cap, and they were all as black as the devil himself, hands and face and all.

"Oh, in God's name," he said, "where am I?"

"You're in hell," said the man who was near him. "In hell."

"Oh, I've been threatened with that place for a long time," he said. "What will I do?"

"We won't treat you too badly the first night anyway. We'll give you your supper."

They gave him his supper and they brought a fine bottle of whiskey down to his table, and he drank the whiskey and he collapsed drunk by the side of the wall again.

And when it was time for the men to go out in the morning from the night's work he was in a drunken heap, the man who was by the wall. They hoisted him up on their shoulders and they brought him out and laid him on the side of the road where they had found him collapsed the evening before that, the morning before that, I should say. Well, (...).

Footnotes

Commentary

This is an example of international folktale ATU 1706E Drunk man in the mine. It seems to be known mostly in northern and western Europe, and in parts of the Middle East. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It was formerly known as AT 835A Drunk man in the mine, and has been catalogued under this title in Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). It does not appear to be a hugely popular story in Ireland, but was known throughout the country, with a few examples from all four provinces.

This story is transcribed in Heinrich Wagner and Colm Ó Baoill, Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects (4 vols, Dublin, 1958-69), vol. 4, 301, and in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 300-3. A version of the story is included also in Nollaig Mac Congáil and Ciarán Ó Duibhín, Glórtha ón tseanaimsir (Gleann an Iolair, 2009), 50-1, as well as in Éamonn Ó Tuathail, Seanchas Ghleann Ghaibhle, supplement to Béaloideas 4:4 (1934), 18-19.