Munachar and Manachar

Two boys among raspberry bushes. Munachar reaches up to pick, with a basket in his other hand. Behind his back his little brother Manachar sits on the grass, eating raspberries with both hands.

The raspberries

Raspberry bushes at the edge of a wood. Munachar reaches up to pick raspberries, with a basket in his other hand. Behind him his little brother Manachar sits on the grass and eats every one. Munachar turns round and sees him, then walks off to find a rod.

Long ago, and a long time ago it was, there lived a Munachar and a Manachar.
They went out together to pick raspberries.
But as many as Munachar picked, Manachar ate. Every one!
“I will find a rod and twist it into a gad,” said Munachar. A gad is a rope made from a green rod.
“And with the gad I will tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
And off he went.

The rod and the axe

A path through a hazel wood. Munachar walks up to a tall green rod growing on the path and touches his cap to it. The rod shakes itself: no. He goes on to an axe stuck in a block of wood, and the axe says no as well. Munachar walks on.

He came to the rod. “God save you,” said the rod. “God and Mary save you,” said Munachar.
“Where are you going?” “Looking for a rod: rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will not get me,” said the rod, “until you get an axe to cut me.”
He came to the axe. “God save you,” said the axe. “God and Mary save you.”
“Where are you going?” “Looking for an axe: axe to cut rod, rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will not get me,” said the axe, “until you get a stone to sharpen me.”

The stone and the water

A stream running over stones in open country. Munachar touches his cap to a flat grey stone on the ground. Then he touches it to the stream itself, and the water leaps up to answer him.

He came to the stone. “God save you,” said the stone. “God and Mary save you.”
“Where are you going?” “Looking for a stone: stone to sharpen axe, axe to cut rod, rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will not get me,” said the stone, “until you get water to wet me.”
He came to the water. “God save you,” said the water. “God and Mary save you.”
“Where are you going?” “Looking for water: water to wet stone, stone to sharpen axe, axe to cut rod, rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will not get me,” said the water, “until you get a deer to swim me.”

The deer and the hound

By the same stream stands a brown deer with tall antlers, and farther on a big grey hound lies on the ground. Munachar touches his cap to each of them in turn. The deer shakes its head, and so does the hound.

He came to the deer. “God save you,” said the deer. “God and Mary save you.”
“Where are you going?” “Looking for a deer: deer to swim water, water to wet stone, stone to sharpen axe, axe to cut rod, rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will not get me,” said the deer, “until you get a hound to chase me.”
He came to the hound. “God save you,” said the hound. “God and Mary save you.”
“Where are you going?” “Looking for a hound: hound to chase deer, deer to swim water, water to wet stone, stone to sharpen axe, axe to cut rod, rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will not get me,” said the hound, “until you get milk to give me.”

The cow and the sieve

A meadow beside a river with a bank of red clay. Munachar touches his cap to a brown and white cow, and a round wooden sieve lies in the grass near her. He carries the sieve to the river and stoops to fill it, but the water runs straight out through the holes.

He came to the cow. “God save you,” said the cow. “God and Mary save you.”
“Where are you going?” “Looking for a cow: cow to give milk, milk to give hound, hound to chase deer, deer to swim water, water to wet stone, stone to sharpen axe, axe to cut rod, rod to make gad, gad to tie Manachar, who ate my raspberries, every one.”
“You will get no milk from me,” said the cow, “until you bring me a drink of water in that sieve.”
Munachar took the sieve down to the river. But every time he filled it, the water ran out through the holes.
If he had been there from that day to this, he could never have filled it.

The crow

Munachar stoops at the river with the sieve. A crow flies over his head, calling. He turns and touches his cap to it, then takes red clay from the bank and rubs it over the bottom of the sieve. Now the sieve holds water.

A crow came flying over his head.
“Daub! Daub!” said the crow. Daub is wet, sticky clay.
“My blessing on you,” said Munachar. “That is good advice.”
He took the red clay from the bank and rubbed it on the bottom of the sieve, until every hole was filled.
And then the sieve held the water.

All the way back

They are all gathered by the stream: the cow, the hound, the deer, the stone, the axe and the rod. Munachar sets the sieve of water down in front of the cow and touches his cap to her. Then, all the way down the row, each one in turn does what was asked of it, and Munachar walks off to fetch the rod.

He brought the water to the cow, and the cow gave him milk.
He gave the milk to the hound, and the hound chased the deer.
The deer swam the water, and the water wet the stone.
The stone sharpened the axe, and the axe cut the rod.

The gad

And Munachar twisted the rod into a gad.
But when he had the gad ready at last, where was Manachar?
You may be sure he was far, far away.

For grown-ups

Where it comes from

Douglas Hyde took his tales down in Irish, word for word, mostly among the Irish speakers of Roscommon and Galway. His own English of this one, “translated literally from the Irish”, was first printed in 1888, in W. B. Yeats’s Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, and that is what we worked from. Joseph Jacobs printed it again in 1892 and mixed it with a Scottish telling, in which Manachar bursts at the end. In Hyde’s he is only far away.

What we changed

It is about half the length of the old telling.
In the old telling Munachar wants the gad to hang Manachar. Here he wants it to tie him.
The chain is shorter. The butter, the cat, the threshers and the miller are gone: the hound asks for milk, and the cow herself asks for the water in the sieve.
The hound chases the deer. In the old telling he hunts it.
The stone is a flag in the old telling, which is a flat stone for putting an edge on an axe.

Age

For the smallest: four and up.

Words

A gad is a rope made by twisting a green rod, of willow or hazel. The Irish word is the same: gad.
Daub is wet clay for plastering. In Irish the crow says “Dóib! Dóib!”, which is the word for it and the sound of a crow as well.
“God save you” and “God and Mary save you” are the old greeting and its answer: Dia duit, and Dia is Muire duit.
Hyde says that some tell it of a gull, not a crow, and that the gull says “cuir cré rua leis”: put red clay to it.

The tale as Douglas Hyde put it into English, printed in 1888

There once lived a Munachar and a Manachar, a long time ago, and it is a long time since it was, and if they were alive then they would not be alive now. They went out together to pick raspberries, and as many as Munachar used to pick Manachar used to eat. Munachar said he must go look for a rod to make a gad (a withy band) to hang Manachar, who ate his raspberries every one; and he came to the rod. "God save you," said the rod. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the rod, "until you get an axe to cut me." He came to the axe. "God save you," said the axe. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for an axe, an axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the axe, "until you get a flag to edge me." He came to the flag. "God save you," says the flag. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for an axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," says the flag, "till you get water to wet me." He came to the water. "God save you," says the water. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for water, water to wet flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the water, "until you get a deer who will swim me." He came to the deer. "God save you," says the deer. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for a deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the deer, "until you get a hound who will hunt me." He came to the hound. "God save you," says the hound. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for a hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the hound, "until you get a bit of butter to put in my claw." He came to the butter. "God save you," says the butter. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the butter, "until you get a cat who shall scrape me." He came to the cat. "God save you," said the cat. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for a cat, cat to scrape butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get me," said the cat, "until you will get milk which you will give me." He came to the cow. "God save you," said the cow. "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for a cow, cow to give me milk, milk I will give to the cat, cat to scrape butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get any milk from me," said the cow, "until you bring me a whisp of straw from those threshers yonder." He came to the threshers. "God save you," said the threshers. "God and Mary save ye." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for a whisp of straw from ye to give to the cow, the cow to give me milk, milk I will give to the cat, cat to scrape butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get any whisp of straw from us," said the threshers, "until you bring us the makings of a cake from the miller over yonder." He came to the miller. "God save you." "God and Mary save you." "How far are you going?" "Going looking for the makings of a cake, which I will give to the threshers, the threshers to give me a whisp of straw, the whisp of straw I will give to the cow, the cow to give me milk, milk I will give to the cat, cat to scrape butter, butter to go in claw of hound, hound to hunt deer, deer to swim water, water to wet flag, flag to edge axe, axe to cut a rod, a rod to make a gad, a gad to hang Manachar, who ate my raspberries every one."

"You will not get any makings of a cake from me," said the miller, "till you bring me the full of that sieve of water from the river over there."

He took the sieve in his hand and went over to the river, but as often as ever he would stoop and fill it with water, the moment he raised it the water would run out of it again, and sure, if he had been there from that day till this, he never could have filled it. A crow went flying by him, over his head. "Daub! daub!" said the crow. "My soul to God, then," said Munachar, "but it's the good advice you have," and he took the red clay and the daub that was by the brink, and he rubbed it to the bottom of the sieve, until all the holes were filled, and then the sieve held the water, and he brought the water to the miller, and the miller gave him the makings of a cake, and he gave the makings of the cake to the threshers, and the threshers gave him a whisp of straw, and he gave the whisp of straw to the cow, and the cow gave him milk, the milk he gave to the cat, the cat scraped the butter, the butter went into the claw of the hound, the hound hunted the deer, the deer swam the water, the water wet the flag, the flag sharpened the axe, the axe cut the rod, and the rod made a gad, and when he had it ready—I'll go bail that Manachar was far enough away from him.