School: Beitheach (Beagh) (roll number 14001)

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   “A long time ago there lived a shoemaker whose wife had died. He had an only daughter...”

   

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   A long time ago there lived a shoemaker whose wife had died. He had an only daughter & one day her father sent her to the shop on an errand. When coming home she met an old widow from the neighbourhood & this old widow had also a daughter.
   The widow asked the girl tell her father to marry her & if he did she said she would give her white bread every day and her own daughter would get Indian meal bread.
   When the girl went home she told all this to her father. He gave her an old shoe with a hole in it & said if the shoe would keep in water he would marry the widow. The girl took the shoe & filled it with everything she thought would keep in water & then the shoemaker knew that the girl had sense, so the widow and the shoemaker were married. But after a while the woman forgot her promise to the girl & gave her Indian meal bread while she gave her own daughter wheaten bread.
   Winter came & snow fell & the woman gave the shoemaker's daughter a paper suit & sent her out to gather blackberries. She walked on till she came to a little house in the wood where she went in. In the house were three little men no bigger than three turf. She sat down at the door and began eating her piece of Indian bread.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Folktales index

   AT0480: The Spinning‑Women by the Spring. The Kind and the Unkind Girls.

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Daniel Martin

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   65

   Address

   Sandfield, Co. Donegal