Voici l’histoire de la vieille et le taureau noir. Dans l’ancien temps, il y avait une vieille qui demeurait à Gleann-na-mBiorach, dans le comté de Ciarraidh (Kerry). Elle n’avait ni maison, ni logement, mais un trou qui était au pied d’un grand rocher sur un côté de la vallée. Elle était dans cet endroit-là depuis le temps de l’homme le plus vieux du voisinage, et elle n’avait pas changé une miette tout le long de ce temps-là.
The old woman and the black bull
She had no means of existence, and she was never seen a pole opening the hole and people never saw her bring food and drink, but all the people in the place had the idea that she was an old witch. And no one in the world, old or young, for gold or silver, would have walked through Gleann-na-mBiorach in the dark of night. There was not a night in the year when people did not hear a loud barking in the valley, as if there had been hundreds of dogs fighting there.
One day, before sunrise, an old man named Murrchadh Ruadh 0 Conchubhair crossed Gleann-na-mBiorach with a sheaf of oats to give it to a black bull which he had to graze in the valley. As he looked at the opening of the old woman's hole, while crossing, he saw a heron and a large, long eel in its beak; he dropped the eel at the opening of the hole and soon after a white dog came out which brought the eel in with him. Murrchadh Ruadh noticed that the white dog had eight legs and he was taken with a great astonishment and a great fear.
– Sur mon âme, dit-il, l’idée des gens est juste, c’est une vieille sorcière qui est dans ce trou là-bas.
The black bull listened to Murrchadh Ruadh say these words, he pricked up his ears, gave a little bellow, and said:
– Murrchadh Ruadh, n’aie ni étonnement ni crainte, mais écoute mes paroles, car elles sont véridiques. La vieille aux cheveux gris est dans ce trou depuis le temps des Fir-bolg et c’est elle qui a envoyé l’extermination sur les vaches du pays; il est possible que tu n’aies pas entendu parler de l’extermination qu’a faite la même peste. Cette peste-là n’a pas laissé un taureau, une vache ou une génisse dans le pays, sauf moi et la génisse qui était dans cette vallée et c’est de nous que sont venues la plupart des vaches du pays. Il n’y a qu’un seul moyen de détruire la vieille et son fils, le chien aux huit pattes.
Take a quantity of my droppings, you will make a big fire and, when it is dry, make a pile of it at the entrance to the old woman's hole and set it on fire. This will bring her out and with her her son, the eight-legged dog. The heron is the mother of the old woman. Push it aside, or it won't leave an eye in your head. Take a plague with you, do not strike the old woman, but attack the dog and the heron if they approach you, and I will fight the old woman.
– Je te gage que je ferai comme tu m’as dit, dit Murrchadh Ruadh, mais silence! Raconterai-je aux garçons que tu m’as parlé ? dit celui-ci.
– En vérité, cela m’est égal, dit le taureau noir ; car quand j’aurai tué la vieille aux cheveux gris, son fils et sa mère, ma vie terrestre sera a son terme, mais il vaut mieux n’en point parler.
Murrchadh Ruadh was very uncomfortable going home. In the morning, the next day, he called his wife and told her to go and borrow a plague for him.
– Qu’as-tu a faire d’un fléau ? dit la femme, tu n’as ni avoine ni froment a battre.
– Peu t’importe ce que j’en ferai, mais va me le chercher.
Murrchadh then ate a bite, then left for Gleann-na-mBiorach; he gathered a lot of the black bull's droppings, and put it on a large stone to dry.
Then he returned home and asked his wife if she had found the plague.
– Je l’ai trouvé, dit-elle, il est dans le coin, mais je dois le rendre demain si je suis en vie.
– Entendu, dit celui-ci, a moins qu’il ne soit brisé.
The next day he went to Gleann-na-mBiorach and he made a pile of dry droppings at the entrance to the old woman's hole, and he set it on fire; after a short time it caught fire and the smoke went into the hole.
Murrchadh grabbed his flail and stepped away from the opening of the hole in the valley; it was not long before he heard barking and coughing in the hole. Shortly after, the old woman and the white dog came out. The black bull knew they were coming. He came at full speed and attacked the eight-legged dog. The old woman clapped her hands and cried:
– Saisis-le, mon toutou, saisis-le ou tu seras supprimé et moi avec toi; ce taureau qui est devant toi est Domblas Môr, un ennemi fort que j’ai persécuté depuis le temps de la peste des vaches.
– Oui, vieille horrible, tu as tué des milliers de vaches et tu as laissé des centaines et des milliers de personnes dans le besoin, sans beurre ni viande, dit le taureau noir.
The dog then jumped up and thought to grab the bull's nostrils; but the bull lowered its two horns, threw it in the air, as you would throw a pebble, and, as it descended, Murrchadh drew its flail and struck it between the two eyes which split its skull. But the eight-legged dog was not dead. He attacked the bull for the second time, and he thought he was leading it to the edge of the hole, but the bull was too cunning for him; he tossed it into the air again, higher than the first time, and as it descended, Murrchadh was about to give it another blow, but as he threw the blow, the heron arrived and thought to give it a beak in 1 'eye1, but it wasn't in the eye that he hit him, it was on the forehead, and he knocked him upside down. The old woman ran up, grabbed him, and shook him and suffocated him so that she thought he would die. She would have killed him if the black bull hadn't come, and given the old woman a kick that sent her across the valley. She came back quickly and she said to the black bull:
– Laisse le combat entre moi et Murrchadh.
– Je suis satisfait, dit Murrchadh, mais tu as eu l’avantage sur moi, lorsque j’étais à terre par suite du coup de bec de ta sorcière de mère.
Thereupon he drew his flail and struck her on the forehead, so that she uttered a cry which was heard seven miles from the valley. The eight-legged dog was stretched out as if he were dead, but when he heard the cry of the old woman, he stood up, jumped, grabbed Murrchadh by the throat and was going to choke him when the black bull came with its mouth open. ; he grabbed the dog and made a mush of all the bones in his body.
– Je vous donne la victoire et mes sept mille malédictions avec, dit la vieille, et elle tomba morte par-dessus le chien aux huit pattes.
The heron came screaming, and he tried to strike Murrchadh, but he was on his guard, he broke his neck with a blow from the plague, and the heron fell dead on the heap formed by the other two. .
– Sur ma parole, tu es un bon champion, dit le taureau, suis moi et je te montrerai un trésor d’or et d’argent.
Murrchadh followed him into the old woman's hole and things as he saw, no eye had ever seen before him. There was a large yellow gold table in the middle of the room, and on it was a pile of gold and silver coins.
– Maintenant, dit le taureau noir, emporte avec toi d’or et d’argent tout ce dont tu auras besoin pendant ta vie et si l’on te fait des questions à ce sujet, dis que tu m’as vendu cher, car personne ne me verra à partir d’aujourd’hui.
– En vérité, cela me fait de la peine, tu étais un bon ami, mais puisque je ne puis rien à ce qui est arrivé, je te donne mille bénédictions, dit Murrchadh.
– Il y a une bourse de cuir sous la table, remplis-la vite et va t’en, dit le taureau noir.
Murrchadh did so and when he was out he fell at the opening of the hole a mass of earth which blocked him completely.
It was late when Murrchadh returned home. The rod of the plague was broken.
– Où as-tu été, ou comment as-tu brisé le fléau de Pâidin, le fils de Seumas ? dit la femme.
– J’ai brisé la verge en frappant mon méchant taureau; un seigneur de Connaught est venu et je lui ai vendu mon taureau; je suis trop vieux et trop faible pour le corriger.
– Combien l’as-tu vendu ? dit-elle.
He took out the big purse and said:
– Vois, cette bourse est pleine d’or et d’argent. C’est le prix le plus élevé qu’on ait jamais trouvé d’un taureau.
– Tu es l’amour de coeur, dit-elle, nous sommes riches pour toujours.
Murrchadh and his wife led a happy life as a result, but when he knew that his death was near, he sent for a friend and told him the story from the beginning to the end; the story went from mouth to mouth so that my grandmother heard about it and I got it from her.
