Transcript

Bhuel, bhí amadán ar Shliabh Gad ina chónaí aigena[1] athair. Agus 'air[2] a bhí, d'imigh sé ansin agus bhí sé ráite go rachadh sé a shuirí le níon an rí, a bhí ag (tnúth).

"Ó," arsa siadsan, "goidé an mhaith duid choil[3] a shuirí le níon an rí sin. Ní cha déan siad ach an ceann a bhaint (daod). Cha ngeobhadh duine ar bith níon an rí ach an té a bhainfeadh 'Bréagach!' aisti."

D'imigh seisean agus fuaigh sé ann agus 'air a fuaigh, d'imigh sé ansin agus thug an rí amach é agus (thaispeáin)[4] sé cruach fhéir dó. 'Air a fuaigh, "An bhfaca tú a'n[5] chruach fhéir ariamh nas[6] mó ná í sin?"

"Hah," arsa seisean, "chonaic mé cruach bhfae-... fhéir comh mór le ceathrar ('tá mar seo). Bhí cruach bhfaeir a-... cruach fhéir aige m'athair mór ar... ar Shliabh Gad agus dá rachadh coileach in airde ar lár na cruaiche agus coileach in airde ar achan cheann nach gcluinfeadh a'n cheann de na coiligh ceann eile ag scairtigh."

"Tchím," arsa seisean. "Bhuel," arsa seisean. Arsa seisean ansin leis... Thug sé amach é. Theaspáin garradh[7] cáil dó. D'abair sé ansin leis, an bhfaca sé a'n gharradh cáil ariamh a bhí nas mó ná sin.

"Och," arsa seisean, "chonaic mé garradh cáil aige m'athair mór ar Shliabh Gad, agus bhí cráin mhuice aige, agus chaill sé a chráin mhuice, agus fuaigh sé amach lá amháin agus bhí dhá phigín[8] déag aici astoigh insa chroidhe, croidhe de chuid an cháil. Agus 'air a bhí, thug sé isteach iad agus 'air a thug, chas madadh rua dó 'air a bhí sé ag teacht isteach agus bhí sé ag cac pramas agus bhuail sé ceann de na pramais isteach sa choirce."

Translation

Well, there was a fool on Slieve Gad living with his father. He left then and it was said that he would go courting the king's daughter, who was expecting(?).

"Oh," they said, "what good is it for you to go courting with that king's daughter. They'll only take the head off you. No one would get the king's daughter but the one who would make her say, 'Lie!'"

He left and he went there, and the king took him out and he showed him a haystack. [And he said], "Did you ever see any haystack bigger that that?"

"Ha," he said, "I saw a haystack as big as four of those. My father had a haystack on Slieve Gad and if a cock went up on the middle of the stack and a cock up on each end, none of the cocks could hear the other one crowing."

"I see," he said. "Well," he said. He then said to him... He brought him out. He showed him a field of cabbage. He then said to him, did he ever see a field of cabbage bigger than that.

"Och," he said, "I saw a field of cabbage my grandfather had on Slieve Gad, and he had a sow, and he lost the sow, and he went out one day and she had twelve piglets in the head, the cabbage head. And he brought them in, and he met a fox when he was coming in and it was dropping dry turds and he kicked one of the turds into the corn."

Footnotes

Commentary

This appears to be the first part of an international folktale, ATU 852 Lying contest. In standard versions, a princess is offered in marriage to whomsoever can make her exclaim 'That is a lie'. A suitor tells tall tales, and ultimately threatens to reveal some secret or tell an embarrassing story, whereby she relents and says the words, and subsequently marries him. The story is known in most parts of the world, from Eurasia to Africa, and parts of the Americas. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It is well known in Ireland and found in most parts of the country. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). It also contains a number of international folk motifs, including H342.1 Suitor test: forcing princess to say, 'That is a lie', X1450 Lies about field crops and X1423 Lies about cabbages. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).

This story is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 138-41.