Transcript

Bhí... bhí buachaill óg ins an áit[1] s'aghainne. Ní rabh aige ach é féin agus a mháthair. Ní rabh talamh ar bith acu ach bothán beag tuighe. Agus ní rabh a'n[2] ghléas beo ar bith aige ach ag iascaireacht. Smaoitigh[3] sé lá amháin go rachadh sé go hAonach Ard an Rátha go gceannaíodh sé líon fá choinne gléasarthaí[4] iascaireachta a dhéanamh, líonta agus dorgaí.

Chuaigh sé 'un aonaigh agus chonaic sé cailín óg dar leis a bhi an-dóighiúil. Agus ba mhaith leis a ghoil 'un cainte léithe. Agus chuaigh. Thug sé cuireadh isteach go teach tábhairne daoithe agus thraetáil[5] sé í. Dúirt sé léithe gur mhaith leis a theacht an chéad aonach eile a bheadh ar an bhaile go bhfeicfeadh sé í. Agus dúirt sí go mbeadh sí ansin fána choinne.

B'fhaide leis ná bliain go dteachaigh[6] an mhí thart go rabh an t-aonach le bheith ann. Chuaigh sé 'un aonaigh agus bhí sí ar an aonach fána choinne agus a hathair léithe. Thug sé isteach i dteach tábhairne iad gur thraetáil sé iad. Agus dúirt sé lena hathair gur mhaith leis 'á dtabharfadh sé a níon dó le pósadh. Dúirt an t-athair, má bhí sí féin sásta, go rabh seisean ró-shásta. Agus dúirt an bhean óg go rabh. Níor fhág siad an áit go dtear'[7] siad lá pósta. Tháinig sé abhaile go lúcháireach cionn is go rabh an bhean le fáil aige. Agus thug sé cuireadh do bhuachaillí agus do chailíní a rachadh leis 'na[8] bainse. Cupla lá roimh an lánúin a bheith le pósadh dúirt sí lena hathair go mb'fhéidir gurbh amaideach an rud a bhí sí ag goil a dhéanamh, goil a phósadh fear nach rabh a fhios aici dadaí fá dtaobh dó, agus nach rabh a fhios aici goidé an gléas beo a bhí air. Dúirt an t-athair léithe go rabh sí mall. Agus dúirt sí nach rabh, go bhfaigheadh sí amach 'ama[9] bpósfaí iad goidé an áit a bhí aige.

D'imigh sí agus chóirigh sí í féin in éideadh bean bhocht a bheadh ag cruinniú. Agus shiúil sí léithe go dtáinig sí isteach tráthnóna go mall toigh Phadaí Ultach, an buachaill a bhí sí ag goil a phósadh. Ní rabh astoigh insa teach ach an tseanbhean, a mháthair, agus d'iarr sí lóistín go maidin uirthi. Agus dúirt an tseanbhean go bhfaigheadh agus fáilte, an cineál áite a bhí aici. D'imigh sí agus rinn sí sráideog i gcoirneál an toighe agus luigh sí insa tsráideog.

Ní rabh sí i bhfad ina luighe nuair a cé a shiúil isteach ach Padaí Ultach agus gallach ballán leis, i ndéidh a bheith ag iascaireacht. D'amhac[10] sé thart agus d'fhiafraigh sé dá mháthair cé seo a bhí ina luí insa tsráideog. Dúirt sí gur bean bhocht a tháinig an tráthnóna agus d'iarr áit go maidin agus go dtug sí sin daoithe.

"Maith go leor," arsa an mac. "A mháthair, an bhfuil dadaí bruite a'd[11]?"

"Maise, níl," arsa an mháthair. "Is maith atá a fhios a'd nach bhfuil. An rud deireanach a bhí sa teach (óir níor bhruith tú féin an gráinnín choinín a bhí ann agus d'ith tú iad 'amar imigh tú). Agus níl dadaí (eile aghamsa)."

D'imigh sé agus thug sé leis scion[12] agus ghearr sé an ceann ba mhó.

Translation

There was a young boy in our place. He only had himself and his mother. They had no land, only a small thatched bothy. And he had no means of livelihood except fishing. One day he thought that he would go to Ardara fair to buy flax to make fishing gear, nets and fishing lines.

He went to the fair and he saw a young girl he thought was very pretty. And he wished to speak to her. And he did. He invited her into a tavern and he treated her. He told her that he would like to come to the next fair to be held in the town so that he could see her. And she said that she would be there to meet him.

The month till the next fair felt longer than a year to him. He went to the fair and she was there to meet him and her father was with her. He brought them into a tavern and treated them. And he said to her father that he would like it if he would give him his daughter to marry. The father said that if she was happy he was very happy. And the young woman said that she was. They didn't leave the place until they had fixed a wedding date. He came home happy because he had the woman to marry. And he invited boys and girls who would go with him to the wedding feast. A few days before the couple were to be married she said to her father that maybe what she was about to do was foolish, marrying a man whom she knew nothing about, and that she didn't know what means of livelihood he had. The father told her that she was late. And she said that she wasn't, that she would find out before they were married what kind of a place he had.

She went and she dressed herself like a poor woman who would be begging. And she walked till late in the afternoon when she reached the house of Paddy Ultach, the boy who she was to marry. There was no one in the house except the old woman, his mother, and she asked her if she could lodge until the morning. And the old woman said that she could and was welcome, [to?] the kind of place she had. She went and she made a bed on the floor in the corner and she lay in the floor-bed.

She was not long in bed when who walked in but Paddy Ultach with a catch of pollock, having been fishing. He looked around and he asked his mother who was this who was lying in the floor-bed. She said that she was a poor woman who had come in the evening and had asked for a place until morning and that she'd given that to her.

"Fair enough," said the son. "Mother, have you cooked anything?"

"Indeed, I have not," said the mother. "It's well you know I don't. The last thing that was in the house (...) and you ate them before you left. And I have nothing else (?)."

He went and took a knife and he cut the biggest one.

Footnotes

Commentary

There are many folktales that involve potential spouses being tested for various traits of character, and the current narrative appears to be based on ATU 1455 The hard-hearted fiancée. In standard international versions it is not the future husband but the future wife who is tested. Her potential father-in-law dresses as a beggar, and calls to the house to see if she would treat him kindly. She does not, and he advises his son against marrying her. Parts 1 and 2 of this story combine to form a narrative that is obviously a version of this, but many of the details are changed. The story is not hugely popular worldwide, but has a scattered distribution, mainly around northern and eastern Europe, and parts of the Middle East. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It is quite popular in Ireland, with a countrywide distribution, and has developed a number of variants, one of which corresponds closely to the current example. In many Irish versions the girl, disguised as a beggar, visits a number of suitors to determine who is the kindest. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). It is related to a number of international folk motifs, including H384.1 Bride test: kindness--father-in-law disguised as beggar, and H384.1.1 Wealthy (handsome) suitor disguised as beggar to test bride’s kindness. The latter motif is known in South American Indian, Chinese and Indian lore, and suggests a potentially larger distribution for versions of the folktale. 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), 94-9. A version appears also in Nollaig Mac Congáil and Ciarán Ó Duibhín, Glórtha ón tseanaimsir (Gleann an Iolair, 2009), 41-3. Another version appears in Ludwig Mühlhausen, Zehn Irische Volkserzählungen aus Süd-Donegal (Halle (Saale), 1939), 18-20.