School: Cnocán Mhichíl Naofa (Clochar)

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1. A Funny Story (continued)

   

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   and he knew where it was. During that time a beggar man came to the boy for a charity. The boy told they had no food or money but he could give him buttons. He gave the pot of buttons. The beggar was delighted with the gold so he went off with it.
   When the mother came she was vexed to find her gold gone. When the boy told her what happened she lashed and bet him upside down. She went out after the beggar-man and took the gold of him. After that she killed him and buried him in the garden at the back of the house. She knew that if anyone came looking for the beggar the boy would surely tell. That night she got up and dug another grave. She killed a goat. She took up the body of the beggar-man and put it into the grave she was after digging. She put the dead goat into the other grave and closed them up.
   The very next day she was out in some of the neighbors houses. The beggar-man's wife came looking for her husband and she asked the boy did he see him. The boy told told her that his mother killed him. He brought her out to the grave. She told him to open it for a proof. When he had it open, what did he see but the goat, and he said to the woman, "had your husband four legs" and she answered "no". "Had your husband a beard" and she answered "no"- "had you husband horns", and she said, "leave him there-it must be the devil himself that is in it."

   I heard this story from a Ganger near Castlebar

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. genre
      1. verbal arts (~1,483)
         1. jokes (~6,086)

   Folktales index

   AT1600: The Fool as Murderer

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Delia Connolly

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Claremorris, Co. Mayo