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Mar a fhuair amadan às le ceannaiche a mhurt 's e a' smaoine...

Date June 1957
Track ID 32904
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1957.42.B4

Original Tape ID

SA1957.042

Summary

How a fool got away with murdering a pedlar he thought stole something from him.

A widow's son went to sell a cow. He was a fool. On the way he met a drover who asked what he wanted for the cow. "Something," he replied. The drover spat in the boy's hand and told him to take that home to his mother.

One his way home he fell and lost the spit. He met a pedlar, who spat. The boy thought that was his "something". He choked the pedlar and took the spit from his mouth.

He went home and told his mother what had happened and she told him to go and get the pedlar. They buried his body in the garden. Later, the old woman replaced it with a dead goat.

The police came searching for the pedlar and the boy, Dan, told them what happened, but they thought he was a fool. He opened the grave to show them. He picked up the goat and said, "Did the pedlar have horns?" The police went away none the wiser.

Item Notes

'Char' in Gaelic is an alternative for 'chaidh'.

Recording Location

County - Sutherland

Parish - Farr

Village/Place - Armadale

Language

English, Gaelic

Genre

Story

Collection

SoSS

Classification

AT1600

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good