— In your village, Caitríona. He used to be in your village for certain. In your village, indeed.
— But which house? …
— Faith then, I don’t know that, Caitríona …
— But you know if he left his own house on account of the leaking roof or something …
— Some say he’s in Nell’s house. Some say he’s in Pádraig’s house. Many a thing is said that …
— But he’s not in his own house? … Do you hear? Tomás Inside is not in his own house? …
— Tomás Inside in his own house? In his own house … Tomás Inside in his own house. Faith then, he could well be, indeed. He could indeed. Only a wise person would say …
— You silly blabberer, for that’s what you are, Red-haired Tom! Who has Tomás Inside’s land?
— Tomás Inside’s land? Faith then, he has land. Tomás Inside has land, definitely. Tomás Inside indeed has land. He has land …
— But who has his land now? Does Tomás himself still have it, or does our Pádraig have it, or does Nell have it? …
— Pádraig, Nell, Tomás Inside? Yes now, Pádraig, Nell …
— On the devil’s tracks to hell with you, and tell me who has Tomás Inside’s land! …
— Some say Pádraig has it. Some say Nell has it. Many a thing is said without a grain …
— But you are sure that Tomás Inside himself doesn’t have the land? … You are sure, Red-haired Tom, that Tomás Inside himself doesn’t have the land? …
— Tomás Inside himself, if he has the land? Faith then, he could have, so he could. It’s a wise man could say who has Tomás Inside’s land …
— You useless shit! What a present I got: Red-haired Tom! A heap of disease! It was the epidemic brought you here. Only for that you wouldn’t come till you’d rot. Indeed, nobody would murder you on account of your tongue, anyhow! What an asset to the graveyard, you red-haired rubbish! Be off! Ugh! …
3
— … I fell off a stack of oats …
— … A white-faced mare …
— … May the devil take yourself and your useless verses!
Can’t you see I have enough on my mind, not knowing if my old lady at home might give the holding to the eldest son …
— … I had a patch of ground at the top of the village …
— … “Mártan Sheáin Mhóir had a daughter,
And she was as broad as any man …”
— … Monsieur Churchill a dit qu’il retournerait pour libérer la France, la terre sacrée. Mon ami, the French Gaullistes and les Américains and les Anglais will capture la France. That is promis by Messieurs Churchill et Roosevelt … That is a prophétie … Prophétie … Prophecy, je crois en Irlandais …
—“Foretelling” is what we call it on the fair plains of East Galway. That is the correct Old Irish …
— Oh! Listen to her again! …
— It was prophesied that the glen would be as high as the hill.4 I remember the time when the people were afraid not to touch their hat to the Earl’s bailiffs and stewards, not to mention the Earl himself. Nowadays, it’s the people who expect the Earl to touch his hat to them. Upon my soul, I myself saw him one day bowing to Nell Pháidín.
— The pussface! The cocky little lump! She used to give him socks and chickens for nothing, to get the road built for her. There were no flies on that one. She knew it would benefit himself too, for the fowling …
— I saw him one day bowing to Nóra Sheáinín …
— The Earl is a cultured person. Honest …
— Honest, your rump, you Mangy-Feet Nóirín …
— … The “malicious egg” was in the prophecy. That was the mine that killed us …
— … That an Antichrist would come before the end of the world and that three parts of the people would convert to him. I really think we’re close to it now. And the state the world is in: people on the dole gobbling meat on Friday as ravenously as any black heretic …
— … Before the end of the world comes, that there’ll be a miller somewhere down the country with two heels on one of his feet. He’ll be called Peadar Risteard. I’ve often heard it said. I was talking to the Small Master, shortly after he came to our school. I mentioned it to him. “Faith then,” he said, “that man lives where I come from.” He told me the name of the place too, if only I could remember it. Somewhere down the country, anyhow. “He does, upon my soul,” he said. “I know him well, and there isn’t a word of a lie in that story: he has two heels on one of his feet. He’s a miller, and he’s called Peadar Risteard …”
— … That everybody would have to dip his bread in the sweat of his own brow. And don’t they?
— Not at all! Look at Billyboy the Post dipping it in the Big Master’s sweat, and do you think Nell Pháidín’s son, who managed to come by hundreds of pounds, is dipping it in his own sweat? And Tomás Inside is forever dipping it in the sweat of Caitríona Pháidín and Nell. Very soon now Nell will be dipping her bread in Baba’s sweat …
— Ababúna! May she not live to see it! …
— … That a man called the Devil-Air5 would rule over Ireland. And doesn’t he?
— Arrah, that’s not Columkille’s prophecy you have at all …
— You’re a liar! It is Columkille’s prophecy I have …
— Don’t believe Columkille’s prophecy unless you get the right book. Only one book is true …
— That’s the one I have: The True Prophecies of Saint Columkille.
— Hold on now. Allow me to speak. I’m a writer. The True Prophecies of Saint Columkille was a book written to deceive the public …
— You’re a liar, you old puff-ball!
— He is indeed, and a barefaced liar!
— I’m a writer …
— If you had written as much as would cover the whole sky and more, you’re telling lies. A holy man like Columkille to go writing a book to deceive the public! …
— Exactly! A holy man. You’re insulting the faith. You’re a heretic. No wonder there’s an Antichrist close at hand indeed. Do you even know there’s a God?
— The oldest inhabitant of the graveyard here. Permission to speak …
— Only one man has the true prophecy of Columkille now: Seán Chite in Donagh’s Village …
— What a coincidence! Your own first cousin …
— The Redman in Donagh’s Village has it too …
— It seems the prophets migrated to the nettly groves of Donagh’s Village, and it’s now their Holy Ground …
— At least the true prophecy of Columkille is to be found there, which can’t be said of the flea-ridden hillocks of your village …
— Liam in our village is a great prophet. I’d spend my whole life listening to him. His prophecy makes great sense to me, and some of it has already come true …
— The false prophecy of Liam of Sive’s Rocks.
— Not a false prophecy at all. It is the unadulterated prophecy of Columkille, the last prophecy he made. But Liam often used to say that only a third of it would come true, as Columkille left two-thirds of his prophecy false …
— You’re a liar! A holy man like Columkille …
— Oh! Don’t be surprised if you see an Antichrist approaching any minute now!
— Have a bit of sense, yourself and your Columkille! In our village we have the prophecy of the Mischievous Elf …
— We have the prophecy of Conán in our village …
— The prophecy of the Son of Murrough Sock on Hole is the one we have in our village …