Tras-scríbhinn

Bhí beirt deirfiúr in Acaill agus phós siad. Agus bhí ceann acu a bhí saibhir agus an ceann eile bocht. Agus bhí clann ag an mnaoi shaibhir agus ní rabh clann ar bith ag an mnaoi bhoicht. Ach chuir sí scéala i gcoinne a deirfiúr a theacht chomh fada léithe, gur theastaigh sí uaithi, (...) sí a leabaidh le tinneas. Agus tháinig sí le-, chomh fada léithe agus d'fhiafraigh sí dhaoithe céard a bhí ag cur as daoithe. Agus dúirt sí leis an deirfiúr dhá mbreathnaíodh sí ina déidh a fhad is a bheadh sí tinn go n-íocfadh sí ar ais í nuair a d'éireodh[1] sí as a leabaidh.

Tháinig... Rinne an deirfiúr ansin attendáil uirthi nó gur, gur tháinig an bás uirthi agus cailleadh í. Agus bhí sí curthaí an oíche sin insa talamh nuair a bhí an deirfiúr a bhí beo ag goil síos an pháirc ag a teach. Agus dúirt sí (léithe)... Chonaic sí an bhean ag goil aníos an pháirc agus níor sheas sí aici agus níor labhair sí, ceachtar acu le chéilí. Ach nuair a tháinig sí abhaile ansin ag a fear d'inis sí dhaoithe, dhó go dtáinig an deirfiúr aici aníos an pháirc agus nár labhair sí léithe.

"Bhuel, caithfidh tú ghoil aníos amáireach ann," arsa an fear, "nó go bhfeice tú an dtiocfadh sí 'ugad aríst."

Fuaigh sí an bealach céanna aríst lá arna mháireach. Agus tháinig sí aici agus níor labhair ceachtar acu le chéilí. D'inis sí dhon bhfear é agus dúirt an fear léithe ansin go gcaithfeadh sí ghoil siar cea-, ar cheann an bhaile thiar ar fad, an áit a rabh seanfhear ann agus gurbh é an seanfear ba sine é a bhí san áit. Fuaigh sí siar aige agus d'inis sí dhó an chuma a dtáinig an bhean aici.

"Bhuel, caithfidh tú ghoil aríst amáireach ann," ar seisean. "Agus nuair a bhe-, chasfaidhear[2] leat í, fiafraigh dhaoithe ina hainm agus ina sloinneadh an í atá ann. Agus rachaidh mise i mbannaí dhuit go dtiúrfaidh sí neart cainte dhuit."

D'imigh sí agus (sula rabh siad) leaindáiltí leis na beithígh suas tháinig sí aníos an pháirc an chuma chéanna aici. Agus d'fhiafraigh sí dhaoithe, "An tú Máire?" ar sise.

"Is mé," a deir sí.

"Agus cá bhfuil tú ó cailleadh thú?"

"Tá mé i mo rúma féin," a deir sí, "i mo chónaí ach ná hinis dho m'fhear é," a deir sí, "(dá) n-inseochthá, dhíbreodh sé as an teach mé. Agus ní dhéanfaidh mise díth ná dochar go brách dhó."

"Agus céard atá ag cur as dhuit?"

"Bhuel, an gealltanas a rinne mé dhuitse nuair a bhí mé beo ar an tsaol, sé atá dho mo choinneáilt amach as na Flaithis."

Aistriúchán

There were two sisters in Achill and they got married. And one of them was rich and the other poor. And the rich woman had a family and the poor woman didn't have any family. But she sent word to her sister to come to her, that she wanted her, (...) her bed with sickness. And she came to her, and she asked her what was bothering her. And she said to the sister that if she looked after her while she was sick that she would repay her when she would get up out of bed.

There came... Then the sister attended to her until death came upon her and she died. And she was buried in the ground that night when the surviving sister was going down the field by her house. And she said to her (?)... She saw the woman coming up through the field and she didn't stop by her and she didn't speak, none of them to each other. But when she came home to her husband she told him that the sister came to her up through the field and that she didn't speak to her.

"Well, you have to go up there tomorrow," said the husband, "to see if she comes to you again."

She went the same way again the next day. And she came to her again and none of them spoke to one another. She told the husband, and the husband said to her then that she would have to go over to the very top of the village, where there lived an old man who was the very oldest man in the place. She went over to him and she told him how the woman came to her.

"Well, you have to go there again tomorrow," he said. "And when you meet her, ask her by her first name and surname if it is she. And I will guarantee you that she will have plenty of talk for you."

She left and before they had arrived with (?) the cattle she came up through the field the same way to her. And she asked her, "Are you Máire?" she said.

"I am," she said.

"And where are you since you died?"

"I am living in my own room," she said, "but don't tell my husband," she said, "if you told him, he would banish me from the house. And I will never destroy or damage him."

"And what is bothering you?"

"Well, the promise I made you when I was alive in this world, it is keeping me out of the heavens."

Fonótaí

Tráchtaireacht

Tá gaol ag an scéal seo le sraith scéalta ina ndéanann sprideanna na marbh iarrachtaí fiacha a bhí orthu i rith a saoil a íoc nó socruithe a rinne siad a chomhlíonadh, chun suaimhneas a fháil dá n-anam. Tá finscéal idirnáisiúnta imirceach ann a bhfuil ceangal aige leis an téama seo, ML 4042 The unforgiven dead. Féach Reider Th. Christiansen, The migratory legends (Helsinki, 1958). B'fhéidir, leis, go bhfuil an mhóitíf idirnáisiúnta béaloidis E340 Return from dead to repay obligation sa scéal, nó an mhóitíf E342 Dead return to fulfill bargain atá gaolmhar léi. Tá an mhóitíf dheireanach seo an-choitianta i dtraidisiún na hÉireann, agus faightear í i dtéacsanna litríochta ó na meánaoiseanna. Féach Tom Peete Cross, Motif-index of early Irish literature (Bloomington, Ind., 1952). B'fhéidir, leis, go bhfuil tionchar imeartha ag móitíf eile, E351 Dead returns to repay money debt, ar an scéal seo cé gur mar chuid de scéal idirnáisiúnta béaloidis a fhaightear é de ghnáth in Éirinn. Féach Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Scéalta cráibhtheacha (BÁC, 1952), 53, 97.