AN SEABHAC. An Sotach ‟s a Mháthair. An téacgs iomlán ar n-a chur i n-eagar do An Seabhac. SIGNED BY AN SEABHAC

Áth Cliath: Reprinted from Béaloideas Éireann, n.d. pp. [ii], 16. Green printed wrappers. Bound in at end is another printing of sixteen pages of An Siota „s a Mháthair [16pp]. Inscribed on upper cover „Ón Seabhac,‟ presumably to his brother Micheál who has signed it on title. Some tanning to cover, otherwise a good copy. An Sotach ’s a Mháthair (The Rascal and his Mother) the complete text edited by An Seabhac. “ The text I have here of „The Rascal and His Mother‟ is the best version I was able to choose and put together from nearly twenty versions, both oral and manuscript, that I have come across for thirty-five years [past]. It was a common piece among old people in my native parish when I was a lad. I wrote it down from two of them - from Joseph Garvey and from Seán (Bánach) O‟Connor, a neighbour of mine. I heard it and found it throughout Munster after that. Old people had some, or most of it, depending on whether their memory was weak or good. In almost any part of it that people had on their tongues all the words were almost identical. I also came across written versions of the poem. Those writings were usually not very neat, and I don‟t think I saw any of them that did not show clear signs of having been written down from oral sources (I got three versions from An Craoibhín [Douglas Hyde] that he had found in the West).”

[L3 3B]