Ag Marú Róinte ar na Sceirde /
Killing seals on the Skerds
Informant: Colm Ó Caoidheáin
Age: 50
Address: Glinsce, Carna, Co. Galway
Collector: Liam Mac Coisdealbha, National Folklore Collection, UCD
Date of Recording: September 1944
Reference:

NFC 1008: 104

Séamus Ennis taking notes from Colm Ó Caodháin, Glinsce, 1945 [National Folklore Collection, UCD]

Ag Marú Róinte ar na Sceirde

Bhí fear fadó ann agus bhí sé amuigh i Sceirde agus sé’n obair a bhí air ag marú róinte. Agus trioma’ an áit timpeall air agus chonaic sé teach scaitín uaidh agus tháinig sé isteach ins a’ taobh. Agus bhí seanbheainín istigh agus í ag caoineachán. Agus chonaic sé beirt fhear óga sínte leataobh na tine agus naipcín casta ar a gcloigeann. Agus dúirt a’ tseanbhean:

 “An bhfuil náire ortsa anois,” a deir sí, “mar gheáll ar a’ jab atá déanta? ’Bhfeiceann tú mo bheirt mhac, an bhail atá curtha a’d orthab? Tá tú dhá marú ó mhaidin. Nó cén faisean atá a’d-sa ag imeacht a’ marú róinte? Ach tá mé ’rá leat anois ná bíodh tada le déana’ níos mó a’d leo. Gabh ’bhaile. Agus nuair ghóhas tú ag do bhád anois beidh an taoille faoi do bhád, agus téir ’bhaile dhuit fhéin agus ná mara’ níos mó róinte ar mhaithe leat fhéin!”

Killing seals on the Skerds

There was a man long ago and he was out on Skerdmore and his work was to kill seals. And the area around him dried up and he saw a house a little ways from him and he went in through the side. And there was an old woman inside and she was crying. And he saw two young men stretched one side of the fire, with napkins tied around their heads. And the old woman said:

“Are you ashamed now,” she said, “of the job you’ve done? Do you see my two sons, how you’ve treated them? You’ve been killing them since morning. What right do you have to kill seals? I’m telling you now not to have anything to do with them anymore. Go home. And when you get to your boat the tide will be under the boat, so take yourselves home and for your own sake, don’t kill any more seals!”