Transcript

Bhí aige[1] Bríd Nic Cuarta cat mór bán agus ba hiontach an cat seo i ndéidh luchógú[2]. Char d'fhág sé luchóg thart fá na toighthe nár mharbh sé. Nuair a bhí sin réidh aige thoisigh sé gá ngoid na héiní bheag[3] bhó[4] na cearca.

Bhí Séan[5] Óg Mhac Cuarta ina sheasamh aige cladh an gharr(aidh) coineascar amháin agus chonaic sé an cat ag teacht trasna agus éan leis ina mbéal[6]. D'ársaigh sé do na comharsanaigh agus (deir)[7] bean acu, "Ó, sin an buachaill a bhí ag tabhairt na cionnaí óga har[8] siúl. Char smaoinigh muinn[9] ariamh ar an cat."

Chruinnigh cúigear de na buachaillí thart ine[10] toigh amháin an oíche sin agus tharraing siad learógaí le haghaidh a fheiceáil gá hacu a bhéarfadh bás don cat. Thuit sé ar Séan Óg Mhac Cuarta.

Ar an darna coineascar chonaic sé an cat ag teacht arís agus cnapán maith éan leis ina mbéal. Síos leis chuige scioból Bríd, isteach ar sean-bhfuinneog dall a bhí insa bhalla go díreach ar son an cat a theacht amach agus isteach am ar bith a thiocfadh sé. Síos leis, Séan agus a chomráid a bhí aige, agus druid siad an sean-bhfuinneog le clocha. Fuair ga'n[11] duine acu bata ansin agus thoisigh siad i ndéidh an cat agus char stad siad gur mharbh siad é.

D'ársaigh buachaill de na comharsanaigh do Bhríd gur mharbhadh an cat breá a bhí aici.

"Ó, mo chat bán (glógach)! Gá hé a mharbh é?"

"Ó, cha dtig liom sin a hársaí duid. Má tá, duine inteach den chúigear a rinn é. 'Á mbeadh fios agam gá hacu, dhéanfainn ceol orthu!"

"Má tá, tá an scéal seo go maith go dtiocfaidh an Féile Bríde,
Nuair a bhíonns an sac líonta is na luchógaí ag teacht,
Bhí Mícheál agus Stíobhán ar an chúigear a mharbh mo chat."

Translation

Biddy MacCourt had a big white cat and it was a wonderful cat for chasing mice. He left no mouse around the houses that he didn't kill. When he had done that he began to steal the little chicks from the hens.

John MacCourt junior was standing at the garden wall one evening and he saw the cat coming across with a chick in his mouth. He told the neighbours and one woman said, "Oh, that's the boyo who was stealing away the little chicks. We never thought of the cat."

Five of the boys gathered together in one house that night and they drew lots to see which one of them would kill the cat. It fell to John MacCourt junior.

The next evening he saw the cat coming again with a fine lump of a bird in his mouth. Down he went to Biddy's barn, in through an old shady window that was positioned in the wall in such a way that the cat could go in and out whenever he wanted. Down he went, John and a friend of his, and they closed up the old window with stones. Each of them got a stick then and they set off after the cat and they didn't stop until they had killed him.

One of the neighbourhood boys told Biddy that her fine cat had been killed.

"Oh, my purring(?) white cat! Who killed him?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that. All I can say is, one of the five did it. If I knew which one, I'd make a song and dance of it!"

"Well then, all is well until Saint Bridget's Day comes,
When the sack is full and the little mice come,
Michael and Stephen were among the five who killed my cat."

Footnotes

Commentary

The cante fable in folkloristic terms is a narrative that contains alternating prose and verse. A very popular variation of this type of story is known as a stave anecdote, whereby there is a verse at the end of a prose narrative that sums up or concludes the events, often in a clever way. They are very popular in Gaelic tradition. This example seems to have a long lead-in story, and a rather short poem at the end. See Donald Haase (ed.), The Greenwood encyclopedia of folktales and fairytales (3 vols, Westport, Ct, 2008), vol. 1, 158.

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, 296.