Transcript

Bhí fear ina chónaí fá mhíle de Bhaile Átha Cliath. (Théadh sé i gcónaí isteach 'na bhaile mhóir) ag cuartú bean is deabhal duine a thiocfadh leis a fháil. Cha rabh oiread bratógaí éadaigh air. Bhí sé (always ina chraiceann). Cha rabh oiread bratógaí éadaigh air (ag suireadh[1] craic agus spórt). Bhí sto-... lán stocaí d'ór aige. Cha rabh a fhios acu in Éirinn goidé an plan a chuirfeadh siad suas chun an t-ór a fháil de, stocaí óir. Bhí fear comharsan dena chuid féin is chuaigh sé isteach 'na bhaile mhóir a'n[2] lá amháin is chas sé ar bhuachaill. Deir sé leis, "Má níonn tusa rud a iarrfaidh mise ort gheo' mé tú... gheo' tú leathstocaí óir, gheo' tú leathstocaí óir."

"Dhéanfaidh[3] mise rud ar bith."

"Téigh isteach 'na tsiopa sin is ceannaigh culaith dheas cailín, is cuir ort é is abair leis an fhear go bpósfaidh tú é tráthnóna amáireach."

Rinn sé sin. Chas siad air an darna tráthnóna ag teacht isteach 'na bhaile mhóir go díreach ar a sheanléim.

"Seo cailín dhuid anois (le) pósadh."

"Buíochas do Dhia! Sin rud atá mise a chuartú le bliantaí, is cha(n fh)uil duine a thiocfadh liom a fháil. Níl duine astoigh, cailín nó bean, astoigh i mBaile Átha Cliath nach rachadh isteach ine[4] bpoll rat, nach scanróinn iad agus chráfainn iad. Bhuel, (siúlaigí) isteach ('un ' tsiopa seo) braom[5] le ól."

Chuaigh siad isteach. Shuigh sé cluadar leis an chailín. D'fhiafraigh sé daoi' an bpósfadh sí é.

"Pósfaidh mé tú."

"Bpósfaidh tú mé seachtain ó inniu?"

"Dhéanfaidh, dhéanfaidh."

"Bhuel, gheo' tú lán (an) stocaí d'ór má phósann tú mé." Bhuel, chuaigh siad ansin... "Má phósann tú mé seachtain ó inniu."

"Pósfaidh mé am ar bith thú mur mbeadh ór ar bith a'd[6]."

"Bhfuil binn a'd orm?"

"Tá mé tuitim as mo chuid éadaigh dhuid."

Rinn siad suas ansin go bpósfaí iad. Bhuel... seachtain ó inniu... Bhuel... I'm not too... Rinn siad suas ansin...

"Pósfaidh mé thú mur mbeadh ór ar bith a'd."

Bhuel... I forgot...

Translation

There was a man living within a mile of Dublin. He always used to go into the city (?) looking for a woman but he couldn't find any. He only had rags to wear. He was always threadbare. He was threadbare wooing, having fun and sport (?). He had a sock full of gold. They had no idea what plan they would come up with to get the gold from him, the sock of gold. There was a neighbour of his and he went into the city one day and he met a boy. He says to him, "If you do what I ask of you I will give you... you will get half a sock of gold, you'll get half a sock of gold."

"I'll do anything."

"Go into that shop and buy a nice woman's dress, and put it on and tell the man you'll marry him tomorrow afternoon."

He did that. They met him the following afternoon going into the city in the best of form.

"Here's a girl now for you to marry."

"Thanks be to God! That's something I've been looking for for years, and I couldn't find anyone. There's no one, no girl or woman in Dublin who wouldn't go into a rat hole, that I wouldn't scare or torment. Well, come into this shop (?), have a drop to drink."

They went in. He sat by the girl. He asked her if she would marry him.

"I'll marry you."

"Will you marry me a week from today?"

"I will, I will."

"Well, you will get a sock full of gold if you marry me." Well, then they went... "If you marry me a week from today."

"I'd marry you anytime even if you had no gold."

"Do you care (?) for me?"

"I'm falling our of my clothes for you."

They decided then that they would marry. Well... a week from today... Well... I'm not too... They decided then...

"I'd marry you even if you had no gold."

Well... I forgot...

Footnotes

Commentary

There are a number of international folktales relating to theft, which regularly include deception or elaborate trickery as part of the plot. For example, ATU 1525 The master thief is one such tale, as is the miscellaneous variant, ATU 1525Z Other tales of thefts. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). The current story may be related to these folktales, given that ATU 1525 is one of the most popular narratives in Irish tradition, with a great many examples coming from all over the country. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). This example may employ a number of international motifs, such as K311.16 Thief disguised as girl, K1836 Disguise of man in woman’s dress, and K1321.3 Man disguised as woman courted (married) by another man. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).

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, 291, and in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 234-7.