Transcript

Bhí mé lá amháin, mé féin agus mo mhac... chuaigh muid amach a dh'iascaireacht le triúr eile. Agus gairid an t-am a bhí muid ar s(h)iúl ag iascaireacht, cuireadh mise agus fear 'en chomharsain amach ar... ar charraig. Agus d'imigh seisean agus beirt eile uainn. Agus is ró-ghairid an t-am a bhí siad ar s(h)iúl uaim nuair a tháinig siad le scéal chugham[1] go rabh sé (crothnaithe) acu. Agus thug siad mise siar ins an áit (inar) cailleadh é. Agus ní rabh a'n[2] dath le fáil a'inn[3] ach a bhearád ar an uisce.

Tháinig mé abhaile agus an scéal sin liom ansin agus bhí muid an uile lá ar feadh coicíse ag feitheamh air go bhfaighmuist[4] a chorp ar dhóigh íneach[5] le tabhairt 'na[6] huaighe. Agus ar an c(h)eathrú lá déag bhí oifigeach na gcoastguards ar s(h)iúl lena chuid níonacha ag déanamh phléisiúir agus ag teacht abhaile dó casadh leis (é) ar bharr na farraige agus é ag goil ó sholas. Chuir sé scéala chughamsa aniar 'un an bhaile, agus bhí na soilse dá lasadh sna toighthe an uair sin.

Agus d'imigh mé féin agus fear 'en chomharsain nó go dteachaigh[7] muid san áit a dtug sé tuairisc dhúinn a bhfaca sé é. Agus bhí muid ag cuartú anonn agus anall, agus thug an uile bhád eile ansin dá gcualaidh an scéala, thug siad iarraidh fosta orainn. Ach bhí mise agus an fear a bhí liom ag amhac[8] agus ag cuartú, agus bhí sé comh dorcha agus chonaic mé an t-uisce ag corrú, solas ag teacht ar an uisce agus chuaigh muid isteach. Arsa mise leis an chromrádaí[9] "Tá rud íneach ar an uisce astoigh ansin."

Agus chuaigh muid a fhad leis an áit a rabh an t-uisce ag corrú agus bhí seisean ag snámh ar bharr na farraige. Thug muid isteach chun an bháid é leis sin agus abhaile. Agus ní rabh ann ach a thabhairt 'na huaighe ar maidin lá harna mhárach.

Translation

One day, myself and my son went out fishing with three other people. And we weren't long fishing when myself and one of the neighbours were put up on a rock. And [my son] and the other two left us. And they were only gone a very short time when they came to me with news that they had lost him. And they brought me back to the place where he had been lost. And there was nothing to be found but his hat in the water.

I came home with that news and we spent every day for a fortnight waiting for him so that we might somehow find his body to bring to the grave. And on the fourteenth day an officer of the coastguard was out for a stroll with his daughters and when he was coming home he saw him floating on the sea at dusk. He sent news to me at home, and the lights were being lit in the houses at that time.

And myself and one of the neighbours went until we were at the place where he reported to us that he saw him. And we were searching over and back, and every other boat that heard the story headed towards us too. Well, myself and the man who was with me were looking and searching, and it was so dark, and I saw the water moving, a light on the water and we went in. I said to my companion, "there is something in the water there."

And we went to the place where the water was moving and [my son] was floating on top of the sea. We brought him into the boat then and home. And there was nothing left to do but to bury him the following morning.

Footnotes

Commentary

This sad story does not appear to be based on any folk motifs, and is simply a personal account of the storyteller's son drowning. This story is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 154-7. Another version appears in An tUltach 10:7 (1933), 2.