Transcript

Bhí dhá ghasúr aon uair amháin in Árainn a bhí ina ndá gcomrádaí mhóra ag a chéile. Agus thug siad... thug siad gealltanas dá chéile cé bith chéad fhear acu gheobhadh bás go dtabharfadh sé... go dtiocfadh sé aríst le scéala a thabhairt don fhear eile goidé mar a bhí an saol úd eile ('na shuidhe).

D'éirigh siad aníos 'na mbeirt fheara agus pósadh iad ar an oileán. Agus fuair fear acu bás darbh ainm Tadhg 'ac Pháidín. Agus tamalt ina dhéidh sin bhí Eoghan Ó Baoill amuigh ag iascaireacht. Oíche amháin agus ag teacht isteach dó 'na[1] chladaigh rinn sé dearmad dena phíopa a d'fhág sé thiar í ar an tafta bheag 'na dhéidh. Agus nuair a bhí an chuid eile 'en fhoirinn ar an tsiúl suas ón bhád, seo isteach aríst é fá choinne a phíopa. Agus ar amhanc an... go toiseach an bhád dó, fuair sé Tadhg 'ac Pháidín 'na sheasamh ann, ina chomórtas mar a bhí sé ar an tsaol seo.

"Tá tú ann," arsa Eoghan.

"Tá," arsa Tadhg. "Níl eagla ort romham?"

"Ní rabh eagla orm romhad beo agus ní bheidh eagla orm romhad marbh."

"Maith thú," arsa seisean, ag inse dó goidé 'ach (f)á dtaobh de chuid dena chomharsa fuair bás le tamalt ama roimhe sin, go rabh cuid acu in Ifreann, cuid acu sna flaithis, agus cuid acu i bPrugadóir.

Leis sin dó, bhí seanbhean as a chomharsain darbh ainm daoithe Máire Ní Chearúill ag goil thart. Agus stánaigh sí in airde ar Eoghan ag caint agus gan duine ar bith le feiceáil aici ag caint leis. Agus thuit sí agus bhris sí cos.

"Tá sí scanraithe romhad," arsa Eoghan le Tadhg.

"Níl," arsa Tadhg. "Ní fheiceann sí mé ar chor ar bith. Ach tchíonn sí tusa ag caint agus gan duine ar bith agad, agus is tusa a scanraigh í. Agus ní bheidh mise ar an tsaol seo ach go dtí tráthnóna amárach. Agus ba mhaith liom i gceart tamalt eile comhráidh[2] a bheith agam leat, dá dtaradh[3] leat é."

D'imigh Eoghan 'na bhaile agus d'ins[4] sé dona bhean agus don teaghlach goidé (a) tharlaigh air an tráthnóna sin. Scanraigh sé iad agus dar leo (gurb shiod) a bhí sé ag goil thairis féin. Agus chuaigh fhad leis an tsagart[5]. Tháinig an sagart fhad le Eoghan agus chuir ceist air goidé a tharlaigh aige... tharlaigh air, agus d'ins sé dó achan seórt. Agus dúirt an sagart gur an diabhal a bhí aige. Dúirt Eoghan narbh é, gur Tadhg a bhí aige mar a bhí sé ar an tsaol seo, bhuel, agus go gcaithfeadh sé choil[6] tráthnóna amárach aríst a chomhrá leis.

"Maith go leor," arsa an sagart, "má chaitheann tú ghoil, seo duid an chailís agus an ribín. Agus más an diabhal atá ann teannfaidh sé amach uaid agus más aingeal as na flaithis atá ann tiocfaidh sé agus pógfaidh sé an ribín agus an chailís."

Bhí... bhí go maith is ní rabh go holc. Tráthnóna lá harna mhárach d'imigh Eoghan síos ar an am a gheall sé dó, ' gheall ar a choil a chomhrá leis. Agus tchíonn sé 'uige san áit chéanna an fear ag tarraingt air an tráthnóna seo aríst.

"Tá eagla orm romhad," arsa Eoghan.

"Ná bíodh eagla ort romham," arsa Tadhg. "Ní théanfaidh[7] mé dochar duid."

Agus tharraing Eoghan amach an chailís agus an ribín as a phóca, agus tháinig Tadhg chun tosaigh agus phóg sé an chailís agus an ribín. Agus d'ins sé dó achan seórt mar d'fhiafraigh sé dó. Agus d'ins sé dó fosta go rabh sé féin ag goil a fháilt bás fá chionn míosa eile, nach rabh aige ach a'n mhí amháin le bheith beo ar an tsaol seo, agus a tryáil le gnoithe maithe a dhéanamh dá mbabh fhéidir leis é. Agus chroith an bheirt dhá lámh le chéile agus chuaigh Eoghan 'na bhaile. Agus luigh sé agus níor éirigh sé ní ba mhó. Mí ón lá a dúirt an taibhse leis, bhíthear[8] ag iompar a choirp go reilig na hÁranna. Agus cuireadh... cuireadh é agus ba é sin deireadh (an) dá chomrádaí gasúra.

Translation

There were once two boys on Aranmore Island who were great friends with one another. And they... they promised one another whichever one of them died that he would give... that he would return to inform the other one how things were on the other side (?).

They grew into men and married on the island. And one of them, who was called Tadhg 'ac Pháidín, died. And a while after that, Eoghan Boyle was out fishing. One night when he was coming in to the shore he forgot his pipe that he had left behind him on the thwart. And when the rest of the crew were walking away from the boat, he went back again for his pipe. And on seing... when he got to the front of the boat, he found Tadhg 'ac Pháidín standing there, looking just like he did when he was alive.

"There you are," said Eoghan.

"Yes," said Tadhg. "You don't fear me?"

"I didn't fear you alive and I won't fear you dead."

"Good man," he said, telling him all sorts of things (?) about some of the neighbours who had died recently, that some of them were in Hell, some in Heaven, and some in Purgatory.

Just then, an old woman who lived in the neighbourhood called Máire Ní Chearúill was going by. And she stared up at Eoghan talking and no one to be seen talking with him. And she fell and broke a leg.

"She is scared of you," said Eoghan to Tadhg.

"No," said Tadhg. "She doesn't see me at all. But she sees you talking and nobody with you, and you are the one who frightened her. And I will only be in this life until tomorrow evening. And by rights I would like to have some more time to converse with you, if you could manage it."

Eoghan went home and told his wife and family what he happened upon that evening. He frightened them and they thought that he was going mad. And they went to the priest. The priest came to Eoghan and asked him what had happened to him... happened to him, and he told him the whole story. And the priest said it was a devil. Eoghan said it wasn't, that it was Tadhg just as he was in this life, well, and that he would have to go tomorrow evening again to converse with him.

"Very well," said the priest, "if you must go, here are the chalice and the ribbon. And if it is a devil he will draw away from you and if it is an angel he will come and kiss the ribbon and the chalice."

That... that was all very well. The following evening Eoghan went down at the time he had promised him, to go and converse with him. And he sees the man coming towards him in the same place again this evening.

"I'm afraid of you," said Eoghan.

"Don't fear me," said Tadhg. "I won't do you any harm."

And Eoghan pulled the chalice and the ribbon from his pocket, and Tadhg came forward and kissed the chalice and the ribbon. And he told him everything he asked about. And he told him as well that he himself was going to die in another month, that he only had one month left to live in this life and to try to do good deeds if he could. And the two shook hands and Eoghan went home. And he lay down and didn't get up again. A month from the day the ghost said, his body was carried to the graveyard of Aranmore. And he was buried... he was buried there and that was the end of the two boyhood friends.

Footnotes

Commentary

This story contains an international motif, M252 Promise of dying man to bring news of other world. (Or two friends agree that the first to die shall bring news). See Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk literature (rev. and enlarged ed., 6 vols, Bloomington, Ind., 1955-8). The motif of an agreement between people whereby the first one to die will return with news of the otherworld is quite old in Ireland, with examples coming from the Old and Middle Irish period. For example, legends concerning St Mael Suthain employ this motif, as do stories concerning St Fursa. See Eugene O'Curry, Lectures on the manuscript materials of ancient Irish history (Dublin, 1878), 77, and Whitley Stokes, Lives of the saints from the Book of Lismore (Oxford, 1890), x. See also Tom Peete Cross, A motif-index of early Irish literature (Bloomington, Ind., 1952).

It may also be related to an international folktale, ATU 470 Friends in life and death. See Hans Jorg Uther, The types of international folktales: a classification and bibliography (3 vols, Helsinki, 2004). This folktale is not extremely well known in Ireland, but versions were recorded in all four provinces, with most examples coming from the south and west. See Seán Ó Súilleabháin and Rieder Th. Christiansen, The types of the Irish folktale (Helsinki, 1968).

A version of this tale appears in An tUltach 10:8 (1933), 5.