Tras-scríbhinn

Bhí fear thíos anseo ar an Fhallaigh a (bheirtí) an Fathach Mór Ó Cléirighean air. Bhí sé comh mór láidir go dtiocfadh leis crú úr capaill a bhriseadh le láidreacht a dhá lámh. Agus ba ghnách leis... Cha rabh duine ar bith ins an áit a rabh eagla ar na daoiní beaga bhua[1] ach an Fathach Mór Ó Cléirighean. Bhí an tír sin lán acu san am. Gachan[2] (dún dá) rabh ann bhí sé líonta acu. Agus bheadh siad ag tabhairt ar shiúl páistí óga sula mbaistfí iad.

Bhí aon lá amha-... aon oíche amháin aige[3] luí na hoíche agus bhí sé ag goil thart aige toigh beag a bhí ann agus chuala sé an callán thall insa... callán beag thall insa tsráid agus d'amharc sé thart agus bhí scata acu ina sheasamh. Agus (deir) aon nduine amháin leis an duine eile, "Ná labhair, for[4] sin an Fathach Mór Ó Cléirighean agus muirfidh[5] sé uilig sinn."

Fuaigh an fathach síos go dtí an toigh agus bhí fuinneog dhóideog ar an toigh agus d'fhiafraigh sé daofa, "Bhfuil an t-oidhre sin ar an tsaol go sea? Má tá, tabhairigí libh ar shiúl é i ndáil a bhaiste, for atá scata thall anseo ag feitheamh chun é a bheith leofa. Agus cuirigí ar shiúl (...) (fhad is atá mise ar an an tsráid) nó beidh sé leofa."

Aistriúchán

There was a man down here at Fallagh called the Big Giant O'Clery. He was so big and strong that he could break a new horseshoe with the strength of his two hands. And he used to... The little people were afraid of nobody in the district but the Giant O'Clery. That place was full of them at the time. Every ringfort there was full of them. And they used steal away young children before they were baptized.

This one day... one night at nightfall he was going by a small house that was there and he heard noise over in the... a little noise over in the street and he looked around and lots of them were standing (there). And one of them said to the other, "Don't talk, for that's the Giant O'Clery and he will kill us all."

The giant went down to the house and the house had a sod window and he asked them, "Is that heir born yet? If he is, take him quickly to be baptized, for there's a crowd over here waiting to take him away with them. And take him away (...) while I am on the street (?) or they will have him."

Fonótaí

Tráchtaireacht

Léiríonn an ráiteas a thugann an Fathach Mór Ó Cléirighean ag deireadh an scéil seo gur cóir an leanbh nuashaolaithe a bhaisteadh, léiríonn sé rud a creideadh go forleathan in Éirinn, is é sin le rá go bhféadfadh na sióga leanbh a fhuadach. Tá baint ag an móitíf seo, ina gnéithe ginearálta, leis an bhfinsceál imirceach, ML5085 The changeling. Féach Reider Th. Christiansen, The migratory legends (Helsinki, 1958). Tá anailís níos iomláine ar an scéal seo mar a fhaightear in Éirinn é le fáil in Séamus Mac Pilib, 'The changeling (ML5058): Irish versions of a migratory legend in their international context', Béaloideas 59 (1991), 123-31. Ní in Éirinn amháin a creideadh go raibh a leithéid de rud ann is malartán, agus is cosúil gur feiniméan Eorpach atá ann. In Éirinn, is minic a chreideadh daoine gur malartáin le ceart a bhí i leanaí nó i ndaoine fásta breoite, agus go raibh an duine a bhí ann roimhe sin fuadaithe ag na sióga. Is cosúil go bhfaightear leis san insint seo, an mhóitíf F610 Remarkably strong man, móitif a théann siar i bhfad in Éirinn agus atá le fail go forleathan ann. Féach Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (atheagrán méadaithe, 6 iml., Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8). Féach leis Tom Peete Cross, Motif-index of early Irish literature (Bloomington, Ind., 1952).

Tá tras-scríobh ar an scéal seo in Heinrich Wagner agus Colm Ó Baoill, Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects (4 iml., BÁC, 1958-69), iml. 4, 288-9, agus in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Béal Feirste, 2010), 214-17.