Transcript

Thug sé leis an ceann is mó de na balláin agus scoilt sé é. Tharraing sé amach an tinidh agus chuir sé á rósadh é. Nuair a bhí sé róstaí aige thóg sé ar phláta é agus chuaigh sé féin agus a mháthair á ithe.

"B'fhéidir," arsa seisean, "go mbeadh dúil ag an bhean bhocht atá sa tsráideog (ine ngiota) iasc úr comh maith linn féin. Agus ar ndóighe má tá, gheobhaidh sí cuid de le hithe."

Chuir sí amach a lámh faoi na héadaí ag tabhairt le teiseánadh[1] gur mhaith léithe a fháil. Thug sé daoithe leadhb de agus chrup sí isteach a lámh ar ais agus d'ith sí é. Ní rabh níos mó de. Chuaigh siad a luighe ina dhéidh sin agus ar maidin lá harna mhárach ar luas ar éirigh Padaí Ultach, bhí an bhean bhocht ar shiúl ag éirí dó. D'fhiafraigh sé dá mháthair goidé a d'éirigh don bhean bhocht a bhí sa tsráideog go rabh sí ar shiúl. Dúirt sí nach rabh a fhios aici, gur créatúr bocht inteacht a rabh a buaireamh féin uirthi a bhí ann.

Ní rabh níos mó de. Chuaigh sé a dh'iascaireacht[2] mar a bhí ariamh. Agus nuair a tháinig lá na bainse ghléas sé féin agus an bunadh óg a bhí le bheith leis le ghoil 'na[3] bainse. Chuaigh siad síos Gleann Gheis agus deir siad, an bhainis a bhí le Padaí Ultach an lá sin, nach dteachaigh[4] a leithéid ariamh aroimhe síos Gleann Gheis. Nuair a tháinig siad ar amhac[5] theach na bainse bhí cruinniú mór fá dtaobh den teach. Chuaigh siad ann, agus leis an scéal fhada a dhéanamh gairid, (himíodh) agus pósadh an lánúin.

Nuair a tháinig siad abhaile i ndéidh a bpósta, d'iarr sí ar an bhuachaill a bhí ag cur thart uisce bheatha an chéad ghloine a thabhairt daoithe-se go n-óladh sí sláinte an té ab fhearr léithe insa teach. Fuair sí an gloine agus shiúil sí a fhad le Padaí Ultach. "Seo do shláinte, a Phadaí Ultach," arsa sise, "agus sláinte an bhalláin a chuidigh mé leat a ithe a leithéid seo dh'oíche in do theach."

Tháinig náire mhór ar Phadaí Ultach nuair a chuala sé go rabh a fhios aici goidé mar a bhí sé ina chónaí agus gurb í a bhí ar lóistín insa teach.

"Ná bíodh náire ná cás ort, a Phadaí Ultach," arsa sise, "ach go b'é go bhfaca mise go rabh méin mhaith aghad," arsa sise, "leoga ní rachadh mo mhéar achoíche i bhfáinne leat. Ach chonacthas domh go rabh an mhéin aghad," ar sise, "má bhí tú bocht féin, a fhad agus bhí méin mhaith aghad go dtiocfadh liom cur suas leat."

Tháinig sí abhaile agus d'imigh a hathair agus cheannaigh sé leath baile talaimh daoithe agus chuir sé dhá bhó dhéag agus tarbh (ina chrudh 'uici). Bhí siad 'na gcónaí air go dtí a'n[6] lá amháin, a'n oíche amháin go háirid, bhí ceann den eallach cronaithe aici agus chuaigh sí á héileamh. Ní rabh Padaí Ultach insa bhaile, agus chuir sí froc Phadaí Ultach uirthi agus cheangail sí buarach na bó aniar thairsti.

Translation

He took the biggest pollock and he split it. He pulled the fire out and began roasting it. When he had roasted it he took it on a plate and he and his mother started eating it.

"Perhaps," he said, "the poor woman in the floor-bed would like a bit (?) of fresh fish as much as ourselves. And if she does, she will get her share to eat."

She put her hand out from under the sheets to show that she would like to get some. He gave her a strip of it and she pulled her hand back in and she ate it. There was no more about it. They went to bed after that and the following morning as soon as Paddy Ultach got up, the poor woman was gone when he got up. He asked his mother what happened to the poor woman who was in the floor-bed that she had left. She said that she didn't know, that she was a poor creature who had her own troubles.

There was no more about it. He went fishing as usual. And when the wedding day came he dressed himself, as did the young crowd who were going to the wedding with him. They went down through Glengesh, and they say that nothing like the wedding crowd who were with Paddy Ultach that day had ever gone through Glengesh before. When they came within sight of the wedding house there was a big crowd around the house. They went in, and to make a long story short, the couple went(?) and got married.

When they came home after getting married, she asked the boy who was passing whiskey around to give her the first glass so that she would drink to the health of the person she liked best in the house. She got the glass and she walked to Paddy Ultach. "Here's to your health, Paddy Ultach," she said, "and the health of the pollock which I helped you eat one night in your house."

Paddy Ultach became ashamed when he heard that she knew how he was living and that she was the one who had been lodging in the house.

"Don't be ashamed or concerned, Paddy Ultach," she said, "for if I had not seen that you had a good heart," she said, "well, my finger would never go into a ring of yours. But I saw that you had a good heart," she said, "even if you were poor, as long as you had a good heart, I could put up with you."

She came home and her father went and he bought half a townland of land for her and he sent twelve cows and a bull as a dowry to her. They were living on it until, one day, one particular night, she was missing one of the cows and she went looking for it. Paddy Ultach was not at home, and she put Paddy Ultach's coat on and she tied the cow's rope around herself.

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.