School: Baile Uí Mhurchadha, Borris

Location:
Ballymurphy, Co. Carlow
Teacher:
Michael Ó Seachnasaigh
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0904, Page 129

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0904, Page 129

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Baile Uí Mhurchadha, Borris
  2. XML Page 129
  3. XML “The Three Questions”

Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.

On this page

  1. Once upon a time there was a King in Ireland who had three nephews living in the palace with him and they were orphans, One night he dreamt that his 3 nephews were to cause his death. The next day he put them off from his palace. When they were gone some distance, they came to a wood which their father owned. Then they began a sham-fight because they said that when the King would hear it he might come and bring them back. A stranger that was passing ran back and told the King that his three nephews were fighting. The King hurried to the wood and when he came they were fighting away. He asked them what they were fighting about and they said that they were fighting as to which of them owned the wood. The eldest said that he should own it because his father left him all that was crooked and straight in it, the second said that he was left all that was green and withered in it, and the youngest said he was left all that was under and over the ground in the wood. The King said that he was puzzled and that he would give the wood to whichever of them was the smartest. Well then says the eldest it's mine because Im the smartest. "Tell us how smart you are says the King." I am so smart that if there was a
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Folktales index
    AT0950: Rhampsinitus
    AT1950: The Three Lazy Ones
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Shelia Mc Gee
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Ballybrack, Co. Carlow