Transcript

Bhí aon am amháin a rabh fear de mo chineadh ina chónaí in oileán Árann a bhí ina charpenter agus bhí... a rabh mac amháin aige. Agus na a[1] tháinig an mac in aois pósta thug sé cead dó bean a iarraidh agus pósadh. Chuaigh sé sa chomharsa go bhfuair sé bean agus go dtearnadh[2] dáil. Agus bhí sé ina fhear mhór ceoil agus damhsa agus bhí fidil insa bhaile aige agus chuir sé teachtaire 'na[3] bhaile fá choinne an fhidil.

B'fhada leis a bhí an teachtaire ag teacht agus chuaigh sé amach 'na sráide agus shnadhm sé féin ar chreag mhór gharbh a bhí ina shuí ar an tsráid. Tháinig na daoiní beaga agus thug siad leofa ón chreag é agus d'fhág cosúlacht ina áit a bhí ó laige go laige. Thug a... Thug a mhuintir[4] isteach an chosúlacht 'un toighe agus chuaigh a cealgadh nó go dtí gur fhág an chosúlacht iad gan a dhath.

Am ina dhéidh sin chuir sé scéala 'na bhaile go rabh sé ag na daoiní beaga agus an oíche Shamhna a bhí ag teacht go mbeadh sé ag goil thart (...) (a chur theacht athrach). Agus d'ins sé (...) agus gur mhaith leis dá dtabharfadh siad iarraidh ar é a bhaint amach.

D'ins (an t-athair don) chomharsa sin, agus oíche Shamhna chruinnigh muintir na comharsana go teach an athara fá choinne ghoil 'un tosaigh lena bhaint amach. (Chuaigh duine a chur) faoin scéal agus os a chionn agus thuit an scéal fána gcois. Ghlac siad beaguchtach agus cha dteachaigh ar aghaidh. Agus chaith sé a shaol ag na daoiní beaga ina fhidiléir.

In am amháin bhí bál damhsa ag na daoiní beaga in áit a bhfuil Baollach air agus chuir taobh de na daoiní beaga geall as cailín a bhí i gConnachta agus taobh eile de na daoiní beaga geall as cailín a bhí in Árainn, oilean Árann, dá mbeadh (achan) chailín acu ag an bhál go mbainfeadh siad an geall. Chuaigh páirtí acu go Connachta fá choinne an chailín a bhí i gConnachta agus páirtí eile go oileán Árann fá choinne an chailín a bhí in Árainn. Tugadh an cailín a bhí in Árainn... a phota... potaí brúite... pota... le pota a bhí sí... pota... a phota préataí brúite a bhí sí a bhrú ar an urlár. Agus nuair a chuaigh sí go Baollach chuig an damhsa d'aithin an fear seo í a bhí ina sheanduine acu agus an fhidiléir mar bhí a fhios aige cé hí agus a muintir. Chuir sé forrán uirthi agus d'ins cé hé agus d'iarr uirthi a dhíchealt a dhéanamh, go rabh cailín as Connachta ina héadan ag goil a dhamhsa agus gan eagla a bheith uirthi go bhfaigheadh sí slán folláin sa bhaile ar ais. Chuaigh an scéal gur bhain cailín Árann an bál agus gur fágadh ar ais sa bhaile í.

Translation

Once upon a time a man of my people was living in Aranmore Island and he was a carpenter and he... who had one son. And when the boy came of age he gave him permission to look for a wife and marry. He went around the neighbourhood until he found a woman and a match was made. And he was a great man for music and dancing and he had a fiddle at home and he sent a messenger home to fetch the fiddle.

He thought the messenger was a long time coming and he went out on the street and he tied himself to a huge great rock that was on the street. The little people came and they took him away from the rock and they left a likeness in his place who was becoming weaker and weaker. His people brought... His people brought the likeness into the house and the likeness deceived them until he left them with nothing.

Some time after that he sent a story home that the little people had him and that next Hallowe'en he would be going about (...). And he told (...) and that he would like it if they would try to find him.

The father(?) told the neighbour that, and on Hallowe'en night the people of the neighbourhood gathered together in the father's house in order to go ahead and find him. One person went under the story and over it (?) and the story fell under their feet (?). They lost heart and they didn't continue. And he spent his life as a fiddler with the little people.

One time the little people had a dance in a place called Baoigheallach and some of the little people put a wager on a girl who was in Connacht and more of the little people put a wager on a girl who was in Aranmore, the island of Aranmore, that if they got each of the girls to the ball they would win the wager. One party went to Connacht for the girl who was in Connacht and the other party went to the island of Aranmore for the girl who was in Aranmore. The girl from Aranmore was brought... his pot... mashed pots... a pot... with a pot she was... a pot... the pot of mashed potatoes she was mashing on the floor. And when she went to Baoigheallach to the dance this man who was now an old man with his fiddle recognized her because he knew her and her people. He addressed her and he told her who he was and he asked her to do her best, that there was a girl from Connacht dancing against her and not to be afraid but that she would be returned home safe and sound. The story was that the girl from Aranmore won the ball and she was sent back home again.

Footnotes

Commentary

A common motif in Irish folklore regarding fairy belief is the idea that people with particular skills in sport or music could be abducted by the fairies. Often fairy abduction would involve replacing the missing person with a changeling, a supernatural creature who bore their appearance. It was also commonly believed that sick children or adults were actually changelings, and that the original person had been abducted by the fairies. Belief in changelings was not restricted to Ireland, and appears to be a European phenomenon. The above story is linked to a migratory legend, ML 5085 The changeling. See Reider Th. Christiansen, The migratory legends (Helsinki, 1958). A more complete analysis of this narrative type in an Irish context can be found in Séamus Mac Pilib, 'The changeling: Irish versions of a migratory legend in their international context', Béaloideas 59 (1991), 123-31.