translated by J. H. Lloyd
Electronic edition compiled by Beatrix Färber
Funded by University College, Cork and
The HEA via the LDT Project
1. First draft, revised and corrected.
Extent of text: 965 words
Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
Text ID Number: T307004
Availability [RESTRICTED]
Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
Text has been proof-read twice.
The electronic text represents the edited text. Text supplied by the editor is marked sup resp="JHL".
Direct speech is marked q.
When a hyphenated word (hard or soft) crosses a page break, the break is marked after the completion of the hyphenated word.
div0=the tale. Paragraphs are marked p and numbered.
Names are not tagged, nor are terms for cultural and social roles.
Created: By J. H. Lloyd (1899)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (capture)
¶1] Two cows were stolen from them. Patrick
¶2] ‘Now’, says she to the lad, ‘come to- night. We have strangers lodging with us, and I'll leave the door open, waiting for you.’
¶3] The two went away, and Patrick Mac Bride's son came into the house. A bed was prepared for him, and for his father in the room. The old man of the house and his wife had another bed there in the same room. The girl had a bed in the corner of the kitchen.
¶4] When they slept, Patrick Mac Bride's son arose, and he came up to the kitchen. He shut the door. He got into the bed of the daughter of the house. She thought that it was the bachelor was with her to whom she had been talking in the evening the night before.
¶5] ‘Guess who are with us to- night'’ says she. ‘Yon men from whom my father and my brother stole the cows. They killed one of them, and they got a sack of the meat last night to eat, and the other cow is without in the wood.’
¶6] The old woman of the house rose out of her bed, and she had no light. She groped along the beds, and the bed in which she found only one person she got into. Patrick Mac Bride's son got out of the girl's bed, and he went down to the room. He searched the beds, and the bed in which he found but one person he went into it. He got into the bed of the old man of the house.
¶7] ‘Father’, says he, ‘I heard who stole the cows. I was with the daughter of the house all night, and she told me who stole the cows.’
¶8] ‘You rascal’, said the old man, ‘what made you be with my daughter all night?’
The two began to fight.
¶9] The old woman beyond in the other bed spoke: ‘Wretched must be your way of living’, said she, ‘if that is the way you fight at home.’.
¶10] The old woman thought that it was the father and the son that were fighting.
¶11] ‘Devilish old woman’, said the old man, ‘what brought you over there?’
Quarrelling arose out of it.
¶12] ‘Get up, father’, said Patrick MacBride's son, ‘these are the men that have stolen our cows. They have killed one of them, and the other one is out in the wood. We'll leave them stolen. We'll have them arrested in the morning.’
¶13] The man of the house said that not so should it be, but that they should get the cow that was alive, and the worth of the other cow. They got the cow that was alive, and the worth of the other cow. The two went home.
¶14] That is my story, and may there be a straw in your mouth, and a long yellow buttercake in mine.