School: Gortnacart (roll number 15554)

Location:
Gortnacart Glebe, Co. Donegal
Teacher:
León Ó hÚallaigh
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1042, Page 24

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1042, Page 24

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  3. XML “The Forty Thieves”

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  1. Once upon a time there lived two brothers in a certain part of this parish. One was very rich and the other was very poor. The first one was so rich that he did not need to work, and the other brother was a poor woodcutter.
    One day while he was cutting wood he saw a large number of horsemen approaching a big rock that was near by. In those days robbers used to kill people and steal their money, so he climbed up a tree near a rock. The horsemen stopped their horses and the captain shouted Open Sesame and a big door in the rock opened and the robbers went in. For hours he waited in the tree and at last they came out and the captain shouted shut Sesame and the door closed, and the robbers went away.
    When they were out of sight he came down the tree and went over to the rock and said Open Sesame, and the door opened and he went in and he was astonished to see all the gold that was inside. He took as much of the gold as he could and went away. When he reached home his wife was angry with him for being so long but her anger disappeared when she saw the gold. They wanted to count it but they knew it would take too long to do that. He sent to his brother for the lend of a measure. His brother was anxious to know what he was doing with the measure, so he put grease on the bottom of it. When they had measured the gold
    [Please turn back to page 23]
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Folktales index
    AT0676: Open Sesame
    Language
    English
    Informant
    James Mc Devitt
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    60
    Occupation
    Farmer
    Address
    Clonconwal, Co. Donegal