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Eochair, Mac Rí in Éirinn

The beginning of the longest folktale recorded in Ireland, collected by Liam Mac Coisdeala from Éamonn a Búrc, Aill na Brón, Cill Chiaráin, Co. Galway, in January 1939, a tale that took three nights to tell (National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, 589:438).

Bhí ann fadó agus fadó bhí. Dhá mbeinnse an uair sin ann ní bheinn anois ann. Dá mbeinn anois agus an uair sin ann, bheadh scéal úr nó seanscéal agam, nó bheinn gan scéal ar bith. Mar bhí sin rí agus bantiarna anseo in Éirinn fadó, agus phós siad. Agus chinn Dia leothab ná raibh acub ach aon mhac amháin. Agus badh é an t-ainm a thugadar air Eochair. Bhí sé ag fás suas nó go raibh sé ocht mbliana déag d’aois; agus ina theacht suas, ó bhí sé sna déaga chor ar bith badh é a cheird ó dhubh maidne go dubh na hoíche ag fiach.

[There was a long ago and long ago it was. If I were alive that time I would not be alive now. If I were alive now and that time, I would have a new story or an old story or I would be without any story. For there was a king and a noblewoman here in Ireland long ago, and they married. And God decided that they only had one son. And the name they gave him was Eochair. He was growing up until he was eighteen years of age; and as he was growing up, once he had reached the teens, it was his craft from dark morning to dark night to be hunting.]

The beginning of the longest folktale recorded in Ireland, collected by Liam Mac Coisdeala from Éamonn a Búrc, Aill na Brón, Cill Chiaráin, Co. Galway, in January 1939, a tale that took three nights to tell (National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, 589:438).