There was a time, not so very long ago, when country people would sit around the fire at night and tell stories. Gerard Murphy, eminent Irish scholar, collected many of these, translated them into English and, modestly, suggested that they might amuse children. Well, he might have said, children of every age, for the stories contain, under a bland surface, many of the qualities of human nature in the raw. He remarks: "Some of them lead us back, in one way or another, to pre Christian times."
Do not be deceived when some of us are depicted as birds or animals. We are all there. Take, for example, "The Wren and the Yellow Hammer." There was once a wren who had 16 sons. He found it hard to provide for them. His wife Joany told him to go to the yellowhammer.
"Yes "said the father wren, for he has only a small family and may well have food in store." The yellow hammer obliged, and told the wren he could come again if he ran short. The wren did so, again and again. He promised to pay when the 16 sons were big enough to help in the farm. The sons grew up, but not a grain would the wren pay back.
The yellow hammer had a process served on the wren. The bull finch was clerk of the court. He came and found the wren and the 16 sons threshing corn. The bullfinch couldn't tell the father from the sons. His wife Maureen was a clever little woman, and told the bullfinch to go back to the threshing and say that none of the sons could do it like the old man. He did. "Ha ha ha," said the father, and declared that none of the young could equal him. So the bullfinch handed him the process.
The heron, at that time, was the judge, and, after the bullfinch had read out the yellow hammer's accusation, asked the wren what he had to say. Again, Joany, the wren's wife, had told him what to say. "I admit the debt", said the wren, "but I am a poor man and must be given time to pay it."
The heron "though he looked wise, was soft hearted and foolish" and said: "You must pay the debt, but name whatever time you like." To which the wren replied: "I'll pay one half of the debt on the Day of Judgment, and the other half the day after." The heron could do nothing. He had permitted the wren to name whatever time he liked.
A distinctly contemporary ring about many of these stories. Tales from Ireland, re told by Gerard Murphy (Browne and Nolan, 1947). And entirely fitting illustrations by Seamus Mac Neill.