Tras-scríbhinn

Agus tréis an tsuipéir a ithe do chuadar ansan a chodladh. D'fhan sé i dteannta an fheirmeora ar feadh chúig mbliana. Agus nuair a bhí na chúig bhliana suas do thug an feirmeoir a thuarastal dó agus níosa mhó ná a thuill sé. Tháini' sé abhaile ag triall ar a mhnaoi. Is d'fháilthigh sí roimis.

"Do (shílíos)," ar sise, "go rabhais marbh fadó," ar sise.

"Dá mbeinn," ar seisean, "ní bheinn anso anois," ar seisean.

"Ar thugais aon chabhair ná chúnamh chugham?" ar sise.

"Ó, do thugas," ar seisean. "(...) Ní aithním an leanbh in aon chor," (ar seisean), "d'fhás sé chomh mór san," ar seisean.

Chuir sé a lámh ina phóca agus do chaith sé an sparán ar an mbord. D'oscail sí é. "Ó, do thugais mo dhóthain ag triall orm," ar sise. "Go raibh maith agat," ar sise.

(...) (a bhfuil de) scéal críochnaithe agam anois.

Aistriúchán

And after eating supper they then went to sleep. He stayed with the farmer for five years. And when the five years were up the farmer gave him his wages and more than he had earned. He came home to see his wife. And she welcomed him.

"I thought(?)," she said, "you had died long ago," she said.

"If I had died," said he, "I wouldn't be here now," he said.

"Did you bring any help or assistance to me?" she said.

"Oh, I did," he said. "(...) I don't recognize the child at all," he said, "he grew so much," he said.

He put his hand in his pocket and he threw the purse onto the table. She opened it. "Oh, you brought plenty back to me," she said. "Thank you," she said.

(...) I have finished as much of (?) the story as I have now.

Tráchtaireacht

Tá mórán scéalta ann sa bhéaloideas idirnáisiúnta ina dtéann seirbhíseach nó buachaill feirme ar aimsir ar feadh tréimhse ama, ach bíonn móitíf, eachtra nó scéilín de shaghas éigin le fáil iontu go léir laistigh den scéal féin. Mar shampla, sna scéalta a rangaítear faoi ATU 1000-1029 Labour contract pléitear le socrú nó margadh a dhéanann máistir agus buachaill feirme maidir le tréimhse ar aimsir. Féach Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 iml., Helsinki, 2004). D'fhéadfadh sé go bhfuil an sampla seo, mar aon le cuid 1, bunaithe ar a leithéid de scéal, ach ní cosúil go dtarlaíonn aon eachtraí eile mar chuid den phlota anseo. Níl ann ach cuntas ar fhear óg a théann ar aimsir, a thuilleann airgead, agus a thagann abhaile go dtí a bhean nuair atá an conradh suas. Mar sin a bhí an saol ag cuid de mhuintir na hÉireann nuair a bhíodh an scéal seo á insint, agus bhí ról tábhachtach ag spailpíní agus seirbhísigh i saol eacnamaíoch na linne. Féach Cormac Ó Gráda, 'Seasonal migration and post-famine adjustment in the west of Ireland', Studia Hibernica 13 (1973), 48-76.