Transcript

Na trí naomh ar a mbealach go Toraigh.

Bhí Naomh Colm Cille, Naomh Fíonán agus Naomh Beigligh i mullach Chnoc na Naomh taobh amuigh de Ghort an Choirce ar a mbealach go Toraigh. Chuaigh siad síos go dtí an cuan. Ní rabh bád ar bith le fáil acu. Chaith Naomh Fíonán a chroisín amach ins an fharraige agus dúirt sé, "Le cuidiú Dé rachaidh mo chroisínsa go Toraigh."

Ach cha dteachaigh[1] sí go Toraigh ach bhuail sí isteach faoi Eas Fíonáin.

Chaith Naomh Beigligh a chroisín isteach ansin agus dúirt sé, "Rachaidh mo chroisínsa go Toraigh le cuidiú Dé."

Ach cha dteachaigh sí go Toraigh ach bhuail sí isteach ag... faoi Thulacha Beigligh.

Chaith Naomh Colm Cille a chroisín ins an fharraige ansin agus dúirt sé, "Le cuidiú Dé rachaidh mo chroisínsa go Toraigh."

Chuaigh croisín Cholm Cille go Toraigh. D'fhoscail an fharraige suas do na naoimh ansin mar d'fhoscail sí do Mhaoise ag an Mhuir Ruaidh fadó. Agus shiúil na trí naomh isteach ar thóin na farraige go oileán Thoraí. Bhí na daoiní ina bpágánaigh ar an oileán ins na laetha sin. Agus ní rabh siad sásta na naoimh a ligint isteach. Bhí brat beag ag Colm Cille ina lámh agus dúirt sé, "Bhfuil duine ar bith ansin a bhéarfas leithead an brat sin domh go ndéanamuid ár scíste?"

Ní rabh duine ar bith i dToraigh a bhéarfadh an cead sin dó ach fear amháin de Chloinn Uí Dhúgáin. Agus dúirt sé le Colm Cille, "Bhéarfaidh mise cead duid."

Lig Colm Cille an brat síos ar an oileán. Thoisigh sé a spréadh agus a spréadh gur spréigh sé thaire Thoraigh ar fad. Chuir sé na luchógaí móra agus na beathaigh allta a bhí i dToraigh ins na laetha sin amach ar an fharraige. Bhí cú nimhe ann, nó ainspiorad. D'fhág sí lorg a ceithre cosa agus barr a rubaill ar chreag nuair a thug sí léim amach ins an fharraige. Thug Colm Cille na daoiní 'un creidimh[2] ansin. Chuir sé suas seampall[3] mór agus mainistir i dToraigh. Agus bhí grá mór aige ar an oileán bheag sin. Ach nuair a bhí sé ag fágáil Thoraí, dúirt sé, "Mo thrí thruaighe naoi n-uaire, Toraigh, Uaigh agus Árainn."

Translation

The three saints on their way to Tory.

Saint Colum Cille, Saint Fíonán and Saint Begley were on top of Crocknaneeve ('Hill of the Saints'), outside Gortahork, on their way to Tory Island. They went down to the bay. They couldn't get a boat. Saint Fíonán threw his little cross out into the sea and he said, "With the help of God my cross will go to Tory."

But it didn't reach Tory but went instead in under Eas Fíonáin.

Saint Begley threw his cross in then and he said, "My cross will go to Tory with the help of God."

But it didn't go to Tory but went instead to Tullaghobegley.

Saint Colum Cille then threw his cross into the sea and he said, "With the help of God my cross will go to Tory."

Colum Cille's cross went to Tory. The sea opened up for the saints then as it opened for Moses at the Red Sea long ago. And the three saints walked in on the sea-bed to Tory Island. The people were pagans on the island in those days. And they weren't happy to let the saints in. "Colum Cille had a small cloak in his hand and he said, "Is there anyone there who will give me the width of that cloak so that we can rest?"

There was nobody in Tory who would give that permission except one man of the Ó Dúgáins. And he said to Colum Cille, "I will give you permission."

Colum Cille set the cloak down on the island. It started spreading and spreading until it spread over all of Tory. It cast the rats and the wild animals which were in Tory at that time out to sea. There was a vicious hound, or an evil spirit, there. It left the mark of its four legs and the top of its tail on a rock when it leapt out into the sea. Colum Cille converted the people then. He built a big church and a monastery in Tory. And he greatly loved that little island. But when he was leaving Tory, he said, "My three sorrows nine times, Tory, Owey and Aran."

Footnotes

Commentary

This story contains a number of different motifs, and is based around a central story concerning the visit of three saints to Tory Island. The legend first appeared in literature in the sixteenth-century Betha Coluim Chille by Maghnus Ó Domhnaill, where the three saints agree that the first of them to throw his staff onto the island would gain possession of it. Colum Cille succeeds by transforming his staff into a spear. See Andrew O'Kelleher and Gertrude Schoepperle, Betha Colaim Chille (Urbana, Ill., 1918), 105.

The episode of the saint's cloak expanding miraculously to cover a large patch of land is linked to an international folktale, ATU 927C The ground is measured with a horse's skin. The original versions of this story usually concern a man who is offered as much land as an animal skin will cover. He takes an animal hide and cuts it into one long strip, and uses this to enclose a great area. The story was documented in the ancient Indian text known as the Shatapatha Brahmana, which dates to the sixth century B.C. It first appeared in Europe in Virgil's Aeneid, and has since appeared throughout the world. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It has been recorded in Irish tradition as folktale number 2400, where it usually appears as a miracle performed by a saint, as in the current story. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968). The first part of the story, where the saints throw their staffs, is based on an international folk motif, K185.13 Deceptive land bargain: saints agree that the one who casts his staff far enough to reach distant island shall be owner of land. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8).

The element in the story concerning the parting of the water is likely derived from the biblical account of the parting of the Red Sea, as mentioned by the storyteller. See Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, The Bible: authorised King James version (Oxford, 1998), 83. This motif has been present in tradition surrounding saints, particularly when they use their staffs to perform the miracle. For example, consider international folk motif D1551.5 Saint’s bachall causes sea to divide, which has been documented as part of early medieval Irish tradition. See Tom Peete Cross, Motif-index of early Irish literature (Bloomington, Ind., 1952). See also Charles Plummer, Vitae sanctorum Hibernae (Oxford, 1922), clxxv. There is another account of a wonder performed by St Senan, where water was magically held back so the saint could cross to an island. See Charles Plummer, 'The miracles of Senan', Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 10 (1914), 1-35: 5. The story of St. Colum Cille driving rats from the island may be related to similar lore regarding St Patrick driving serpents from Ireland. See international folk motif A531.2 Culture hero banishes snakes, in Tom Peete Cross, op. cit.

This story is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 166-9.