Transcript

Bhí fear am amháin agus bhí mac aige is bhí sé an-dreabhlásach, agus rinn sé achan rud nas[1] measa ná a chéile. Bhíodh sé ar meisce, agus ghoideadh sé achan rud, agus bhí sé in éis mná, agus bhuaileadh sé a athair agus a mháthair. Agus shíl sé leis féin am amháin go ndéanfadh sé aithreachas agus go rachadh sé ar faoiside chuig an tsagart.

Chuaigh sé ar faoiside chuig an tsagart agus rinn sé a fhaoiside is d'ins[2] an sagart dó nach dtiocfadh leis a'n[3] dadaí a dhéanamh leo... leis.

"Bhuel," arsa seisean, "goidé atá mé le teanamh[4] anois?"

"Rachaidh tú chuig an easpag."

Chuaigh sé chuig an easpag agus rinn sé a fhaoiside don easpag agus d'ins an t-easpag dó nach dtiocfadh leisean a'n dadaí a dhéanamh leo... leis.

"Bhuel," arsa seisean, "goidé atá mé le teanamh anois?"

"Téigh ionsair[5] an Phápa."

Chuaigh sé ionsair an Phápa agus d'ins sé dó a fhaoiside agus d'ins an Pápa dó go dtabhairfeadh seisean maithiúnas dó dhá ndéanfadh sé an t-aithreachas a chuirfeadh sé air. Dúirt sé go ndéanfadh sé aithreachas ar bith a chuirfeadh sé air.

"Bhuel, gabh abhaile," arsa seisean, "agus tá tom a chos na habhna insa bhaile agus suigh faoi an tom sin go dtigidh dilliúr air."

Chuaigh sé 'na[6] bhaile agus shuigh sé faoin tom. Agus oíche amháin a bhí sé ina shuí chonaic sé beirt fhear ar an track ar an chúl agus bhí siad ag tiomáint cupla bearach agus thug siad fá deara é agus tháinig fear acu chuige agus d'fhiostraigh sé dó, "Cé thú féin? An fear den tsaol thú ar chor ar bith nó goidé tá tú a dhéanamh anseo comh mall san oíche?"

D'ins sé dó go rabh sé ag déanamh aithreachas agus an cineál diúnlach a bhí sé.

"Bhuel," arsa seisean leis, "diúnlach den chineál chéanna mé féin." Agus deir sé leis an chomrád, "Tiomáin leat na heallaigh. Cha bhfeicim tú nas mó agus dhéanfaidh[7] mise aithreachas fost'."

Agus shuigh seisean faoin tom fost'. Bhí an chéad fhear, bhí sé trí bliana faoin tom sula (dtala)... sula (dtear) deilg air. Agus bhí an dara fear, bhí sé ceithre bhliana faoin tom sula (dtear'adh) dilliúr air.

Translation

There was a man once and he had a son and he was very wanton, and he did everything worse than the other. He would be drunk, and he would rob everything, and he was after women, and he would hit his father and his mother. And he thought to himself one time that he would repent and that he would go to the priest for confession.

He went to confession to the priest and he made his confession and the priest told him that he couldn't do anything with them... him.

"Well," he said, "what am I to do now?"

"You will go to the bishop."

He went to the bishop and he made his confession to the bishop and the bishop told him that he could do nothing with them... him.

"Well," he said, "what am I to do now?"

"Go to the Pope."

He went to the Pope and he told him his confession and the Pope told him that he would give him absolution if he would do the penance that he gave him. He said that he would do any penance he gave him.

"Well, go home," he said, "and there is a bush beside the river at home and sit under that bush until the leaves come on it."

He went home and he sat under the bush. And one night when he was sitting he saw two men on the track behind him and they were driving a couple of heifers, and they noticed him and one of them came to him and asked him, "Who are you? Are you a man of this world at all or what are you doing here so late at night?"

He told him that he was doing penance and what kind of fellow he was.

"Well," he said to him, "I am the same type of fellow." And he said to his companion, "Drive on the cattle. I will see you no more and I will do penance too."

And he sat under the bush also. The first man was three years under the bush before ... before a thorn came(?) on it. And the second man was four years under the bush before leaves came(?) on it.

Footnotes

Commentary

This appears to be related to an international folktale, ATU 756C The two sinners. Standard versions describe a man who repents for his sins, and confesses to a number of holy men, but is persistently rejected. Eventually one of them says he must undergo penance until a twig he has planted springs into bloom. In some variants, the holy man says the sinner will get absolution when a certain staff sprouts. After many years of penance, he meets another sinner and convinces him to give up his wicked ways, or to feel regret for some bad deed. In some versions, he kills a murderer to prevent further death. Due to his intervention, the staff or twig sprouts, and he receives absolution. Some of the earliest versions of the story date to at least the fifteenth century. See D.L. Ashliman, A guide to folktales in the English language: based on the Aarne-Thompson classification system (Bloomington, Ind., 1987). The story is primarily known in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). It is not hugely popular in Ireland, with relatively few examples having been recorded. 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, namely Q520.2 Robber does penance, V29.1 Search for confessor: great sinner sent from one confessor to another, and Q521.1 Doing penance till green leaves grow on a dry branch. See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8). It is likely related to a medieval exemplum, #3664 Penance, flowering dry stick. See Frederic C. Tubach, Index exemplorum (Helsinki, 1981). The motif of the flowering stick or staff is well known in medieval lore, and ultimately may derive from the biblical miracles concerning Aaron's staff blooming (Numbers 17:8). See Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, The Bible: authorised King James version (Oxford, 1998), 176.

This story is transcribed also in Heinrich Wagner and Colm Ó Baoill, Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects (4 vols, Dublin, 1958-69), vol. 4, 292-3, and in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 224-7.