Irish Short Story Month III
March 1 to March 31
A Little Black Ass
Please consider joining us for the event. All you need to do is complete a post on any Irish Short Story and let me know about it. I will publicize your post and keep a master list. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. You can also do a guest post on The Reading Life, maybe on a short story that means a lot to you or a writer you admire.
(My apologies to anyone offended by the title of this story but it was written in a different time where words meant something different.) 
Padraic Conaire (1881 to 1928, County Galway). His father owned two pubs in Galway but both of his parents died while he was very young and he was raised by an aunt who lived in an Irish speaking area and learned to speak and write the language fluently. He was involved in the work of the Gaelic league and was an important part of the Irish Literary Revival. My research indicates that he and Patrick Pearse are considered the most important writers of Irish language short stories during the first two decades of the 20th century."My Little Black Ass" is right out of the Irish short story teller's tradition. It is told in the first person by a man who sees a very nice looking black donkey He is in need of some transportation so he finds the owner, who turns out to be a tinker with twelve children, each very dirty and unkempt and "wild looking red haired wife". I know this is a prejudiced treatment of an Irish ethnic group but it was the stock and trade of the time. The man asks the tinker (now called Travelers) how much he wants for the animal. The tinker says five pounds and goes into a long lyrical account of the wonderful qualities of the beast. They would never consider selling him but they need money. The man counters with one pound and a hilarious bargaining process begins which I really enjoyed read. They come to terms on the donkey and he does turn out to be a wonderful animal and the man really ends up loving him.
This is a simple easy to follow story. It seems to mock the tinkers but it shows great respect for their bargaining ability and their verbal skills. It was a lot of fun to read.
I read it in The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories edited by William Trevor.
I agree with you about the title - definitely unfortunate. And you'd have to wonder about the translating powers of whoever chose it. But maybe they wanted their little joke?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, glad you liked O'Conaire.