Transcript

Bhí gasúr ann fada ó shoin arbh ainm Croidheán. Agus nuair a bhí sé seacht bliana de aois fuair sé bás. Agus shíl a athair is a mháthair gur 'na[1] bhflaitheas a fuaigh sé. Agus lá amháin tháinig fear isteach. Bhí sé greannmhar. "(...)" arsa an tseanbhean.

"Sé," arsa seisean.

"Órú, charbh fhéidir gur as na flaithis tú?"

"Is é."

"An bhfaca tú Croidheán?"

"Chonaic."

"An bhfuil sé go maith?"

"Ó, tá sé go maith," arsa seisean. "Tá sé ag buachailleacht achan lá."

"An mbíonn mórán seascaireacht éadaigh sa lá air?"

"Leoga, ní bhíonn."

"An mbíonn mórán seascaireacht éadaigh san oíche air?"

"Leoga, ní bhíonn."

"An mbíonn im ar an arán aige?" arsa sise.

"Ní bhíonn," arsa seisean.

"Bhuel, cuirfidh mé... cuirfidh mé cóta leat agus plaincéad agus croc ime agus leathstocaí óir agus dhéanfaidh sin tamalt maith (dó). Ach b'fhéidir," ar sise, "go mbeadh sé trom agad (is b'fhearr dom) beathach is an dá chliabh a thabhairt leat."

(...) d'imigh sé leo agus nuair a bhí sé giota mór fada ar shiúl tháinig an sean-nduine[2] isteach.

"Tá tú ag teacht anois," arsa sise, "nuair atá an fear ar shiúl a bhí astoigh a bhí i gcuideachta Chroidheáin sna flaithis."

(...) nár mharbh sé í nuair a chuala sé goidé a rinn sí agus shín leis i ndéidh an fhir.

Chonaic an fear ag tarraingt air é. Chuir sé isteach an beathach 'na coilleadh agus luigh sé féin (...) ar an bhealach mhór.

"Éirigh amach suas as sin," arsa an sean'uine.

"Chan éirím," arsa seisean. "Dá bhfeicfeá thusa an rud a chonaic mise anois. Chonai' mé fear agus dhá chliabh agus beathach agus iomlán ar shiúl suas 'na bhflaitheas."

Phill an sean'uine. (Dar leis gurbh é) sin an fhírinne, agus níor amharc sé ón lá sin go dtí an lá inniu go feargach ar an tseanbhean.

Translation

Long ago there was a boy called Croidheán. And when he was seven years old he died. And his mother and father thought he had gone to heaven. And one day a man came in. He was strange. "(...)," said the old woman.

"Yes," he said.

"Might you be from heaven?"

"Yes."

"Did you see Croidheán?"

"I did."

"Is he well?"

"Oh, he's well," he said. "He herds cattle every day."

"Does he wear warm clothes during the day?"

"Indeed, he doesn't."

"Does he wear warm clothes at night?"

"Indeed, he doesn't."

"Does he take butter on his bread?" she said.

"He doesn't," he said.

"Well, I'll send... I'll send a coat and a blanket and a crock of butter and a sock of gold along with you and that will last him a good while. But maybe," she said, "that would be too heavy for you and(?) I'd better give you a horse and two baskets to take along."

(...) he went off with them and when he was a good way off the old man came in.

"Here you are now," she said, "and the man who was here and who was with Croidheán in heaven has gone away."

He nearly killed her when he heard what she had done and he went off after the man.

The man saw him drawing near. He put the horse into the wood and he lay down (...) on the road.

"Get up from there," said the old man.

"I can't get up," he said. "If you only saw what I saw just now. I saw a man and two baskets and a horse and the lot moving up in the heavens."

The old man returned. He thought it was true, and he didn't look angrily at the old woman from that day down to the present day.

Footnotes

Commentary

This appears to be a variant form of an international folktale, ATU 1540 The student from Paradise. In international versions, the tale usually concerns a student, beggar or swindler who says he is from Paris. His words are mistaken by some foolish person as meaning he is from Paradise, and they give him food, clothing or money to bring back to Heaven to pass on to some recently deceased relative. It first appeared in print in Latin at the end of the fifteenth century, and has since proven popular throughout all of Europe and much of Asia and Africa. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). The story is popular in Ireland, having been recorded in all four provinces. It is often found in combination with other stories of fools or numskulls. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). It can also be seen as being related to international folk motifs, such as J2326.1 Foolish woman gives swindler money for her parents in heaven, and J2326 The student from Paradise. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).

Other versions of this story appear in Conall Ó Grianna, Rann na Feirsde: seanchas ár sinsear (Rann na Mónadh, 1998), 312-13, and in Gordon W. MacLennan, Seanchas Annie Bhán (Dublin, 1997), 224-9.