Transcript

Fear aosta agus a chuid airgid.

Bhí fear aosta insa chomharsain seo agus bhí a lán airgid aige. Agus bhí an oiread sin spéis aige san airgead go mbeadh sé dá shórtáil ar an tábla lena lámh ó uair go huair. Bhí an oíche... Ins an oíche rachadh sé suas 'un a rúma, 'uige fuinneog a rúma agus shuífeadh sé agus an fhuinneog suas aige agus a choinneal lasta ag amharc air ó luí na hoíche go dtí an meán oíche. Bhí dlítheamhnach[1] óg in éis a theacht 'na mbaile[2] in éis a chuid foghlama a fháil. Agus: "Saoilim," a deir sé, "go dtiocfadh liomsa cása maith a dhéanamh as an tseanduine[3] sin."

Bhí sé ag goil thart aon oíche amháin agus bhí an fhuinneog suas ag an tseanduine ag meabhrú agus ag amharc ar an airgead mar ' ghnách leis. Agus deir sé... Chuaigh sé 'na fuinneoige agus chuir sé a lámh isteach agus tharraing sé an t-airgead uilig den tábla isteach insa mhála agus bhí caefa[4] mná air agus bhí wig air faoin chaefaidh agus 'air[5] a d'amharc an seanduine air, d'amhar[6] sé isteach in aghaidh an tseanduine agus chraith sé an wig agus deir sé, "Veh, veh, veh!"

Bhí an seanduine, bhí sé chóir a bheith as a chéill fán airgead. Agus, "Ar maidin," arsa seisean, "caithfidh mise goil 'uige dlítheamhnach (chun amharc)," ar seisean, "cá bhfuil mo chuid airgid."

"Bhuel, cá hé rachfá 'uige ach mac do dhearthára féin atá ina dlítheamhnach mhaith in éis a theacht 'na mbaile as a chuid foghlama a fháil anois."

""Bhuel, rachaidh mé 'uige an uair seo."

Fuaigh sé 'uige agus d'ársaigh sé an scéal dó agus 'air a d'ársaigh, "Bhuel, má thig ar a fháil ar chor ar bith," arsa seisean, "gheobh' mise do chuid airgid duid."

Ach (nuair a) bhí sé ag goil 'na mbaile dhropáil sé an wig aige poll uisce a dtabharfadh fear comharsan a bhí ann a chuid caiple 'uige a dh'ól, agus 'air a tháinig an fear lena chuid caiple ar maidin fuair sé an wig insa tobar agus thóg sé í agus thug sé isteach í. Char shaoil sé aon dadaí de.

Ar ball tháinig na police(ibh) thart fiacháilt[7] an bhfaigheadh siad focal ar bith bhon[8] ghadaí ná cá hé thug an t-airgead leis. Fuair siad an wig insa tobar agus thug siad an wig leofa agus thug siad an farmer leofa fós ar leis an poll a rabh na caiple (aige). Tugadh suas é roimhe leis[9] an bhreitheamh. Agus fuair an... fuair sé an... fuaigh sé 'uig an dlítheamhnach seo, agus adeir sé leis an dlítheamhnach, "Cuirfear mise as an tír," arsa seisean, "thaire leis[10] an airgead seo is cha rabh an dadaí a'm le teanamh[11] leis."

"Bhuel, glacfaidh mise do chás, má thig liom aon dadaí a dhéanamh duid. Níl[12] a fhios agam."

Chuaigh siad ar aghaidh leis an chás agus 'air a scairteadh suas ar an tseanduine, mhionna-... bhí an wig ar an tábla agus mhionnaigh sé leis an wig agus mhionnaigh sé leis an farmer gurb é a chaith an t-airgead a thabhairt leis agus gur chaill sé an wig ag an tobar.

"Bhuel, tá an scéal cruaidh go leor," arsa an dlítheamhnach... arsa an breitheamh. Arsa seisean, "'N fhuil a fhios a'm goidé a dhéanfas mé leis an scéal."

"Fan, le do thoil," a deir an dlítheamhnach seo, "go bhfiafróchaidh mise ceist den - nó bheirt - den fhear seo má bheireas tú cead domh."

"Ó, bhéarfaidh go siúráilte."

Thug sé an... Chuir sé an wig air agus bhí an chaefa leis faoina ascaill agus chuir sé an chaefa air, agus d'amhar' sé isteach in aghaidh an tseanduine agus chraith sé an wig mar rinn sé 'air a bhí sé ag tabhairt an airgid leis agus, "Veh, veh, veh, veh!" a deir sé.

"Ó, a rógaire, is tusa a (thug) mo chuidse airgid leat!" arsa seisean.

"Anois," arsa an dlítheamhnach leis an bhreitheamh, "goidé a shaoileann tú den fhear sin? Mhionnaigh sé an chéad uair ar an fhear mhodhúil seo agus mhionnaigh sé anois ormsa," arsa seisean ansin, "(...) is tusa an... is tusa insa chathaoir an darna fear a mionnóchadh sé (air mur gcoimhéadóchaidh tú é)."

"(Dhéanaimsa)[13] dismiss ar an chása," arsa seisean. "Níl a fhios ag an tseanduine goidé atá sé a dhéanamh."

Translation

The old man and his money.

There was an old man in this neighbourhood and he had a a lot of money. And he was so obsessed with the money that he used to sort through it with his hands at the table as the hours went by. The night was... At night time he would go up to his room, to the window of his room, and he would sit, with the window open and his candle lit, looking at it from nightfall until midnight. There was a young lawyer who had come home after finishing his studies. And, "I believe," he said, "I could make a good case out of that old man."

He was going by one night, and the old man had the window open, examining and looking at the money, as was his wont. And he said... He went to the window and he put his hand in and he took all of the money off the table and into his bag and he had a woman's bonnet on and a wig on under the bonnet and when the old man looked at him, he looked straight at the old man and he shook the wig and he said, "Veh, veh, veh!"

The old man nearly lost his senses over the money. And, "In the morning," he said, "I'll have to go to a lawyer to see," he said, "where my money is."

"Well, who else would you go to but your own nephew who is a good lawyer and who has come home now after finishing his studies."

"Well, I'll go to him this time."

He went to him and he told him the story and when he had told him, "Well, if it can be found at all," he said, "I'll find your money for you."

But when he was going home he dropped the wig into a waterhole to which a neighbour used to bring his horses drinking, and when the man came with his horses in the morning he found the wig in the well and he took it and brought it inside. He didn't think anything of it.

After a while the police came by to see if they could find out anything about the robber or who stole the money. They found the wig in the well and took it with them and they also took the farmer who had the horses and owned the hole. He was brought up before the judge. And he got the... he went to this lawyer, and he said to the lawyer, "I'll be banished from the land," he said, "because of this money and I had nothing to do with it."

"Well, I'll take your case, if I can do anything for you. I don't know."

They went ahead with the case and when the old man was called upon, he swor-... the wig was on the table and he swore over the wig and he swore that it must have been the farmer who took the money and that he lost the wig at the well.

"Well, it's a hard case," said the lawyer... said the judge. He said, "'I don't know what I'll do with this case."

"Wait, please," said this lawyer, "until I put a question or two to this man if you'll permit me."

"Oh, do certainly."

He... He put the wig on, and he had the bonnet under his arm, and he put the bonnet on, and he looked straight at the old man and he shook the wig as he had done when he was taking the money and, "Veh, veh, veh, veh!" he said.

"Oh, you rogue, you are the one who took my money!" he said.

"Now," said the lawyer to the judge, "what do you think of that man? He swore first it was this gentleman and now he swears it was me," he said then, "(...) you are... you in the chair are the next man he will swear did it if you don't confront(?) him."

"I dismiss the case," he said. "The old man doesn't know what he's doing."

Footnotes

Commentary

This humorous story of a lawyer stealing from and outwitting a miser, appears twice in the Doegen collection, once as the current version, and again as 'An Seanduine agus an Dlightheamhnach', by the same informant. It is not clear whether this could be considered an example of a miscellaneous international folktale, ATU 1525 The master thief, since there is such a wide variety of stories categorised under this title. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktale: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It may be vaguely associated with an Aesopic fable about a miser and his gold. In Aesop's version, a miser has his gold stolen from a secret hiding place, and is advised to imagine it is still there, because he never made use of it in any case. See Karl Halm, Fabulae Aesopicae collectae (Leipzig, 1852), 198. The current tale appears in a printed collection of stories by the same storyteller, directly alongside a version of the Aesopic fable mentioned above, in which the miser's lawyer is the one who advises him to imagine he still had the gold. See Éamonn Ó Tuathail, Sgéalta Mhuintir Luinigh (Dublin, 1933), 84-7. Possible motifs appearing in the story include K311.16 Thief disguised as girl and K1836 Disguise of man in woman’s dress. The Aesopic fable is related to motif J1061.4. Miser’s treasure stolen. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).

The idea of a miser being tricked or outwitted for his money is one that was common in eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century popular culture. There are a number of comic operas and plays written on the theme dating from this period. See John Denison Champlin, Cyclopedia of music and musicians (New York, 1885), 90. It is also a common narrative in broadside ballads and chapbooks of the time. See T. A. Martin, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 20 (Bristol, 1897), 50. See also William Coolidge Lane, Catalogue of English and American chapbooks and broadside ballads in Harvard College Library (Cambridge, 1905), 106. Finally, a play entitled 'The Miser Outwitted', where a miser is tricked out of his money, was first performed in Dublin in 1848. See David Beasley, 'Major John Richardson's "The Miser Outwitted" Discovered', Theatre Research in Canada 7 (1986), 3-10. It is not known if this material may have influenced the oral tradition, but it does at any rate testify to the popularity of the theme in Europe at the time.

This story is transcribed also in Heinrich Wagner and Colm Ó Baoill, Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects (4 vols, Dublin, 1958-69), vol. 4, 289-90, and in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 208-13.