Transcript:
Do bhí fear fadó ann agus bhí sé bocht. Agus bhí go leor muintearais aige. Ach ní
raibh aon mhéin acu (a dhéanamh) aon mhaitheasa dhó. Agus do shuigh
sé síos lá dhá laethanta. "Muise," a dúirt sé,
"Tréigeann an fhéile agus fuaraíonn an grá,
Ní héifeacht éinne gan gustal 'na láimh,
Agus níl gaol ag éinne le duine gan aird."

Commentary:
Sa bhéaloideas, is éard is brí le caismirt mhagaidh ná insint i bhfoirm próis agus véarsaíochta faoi seach. Tugtar rannscéal ar leagan áirithe den saghas seo scéil atá an-choitianta agus ina bhfaightear véarsa i ndiaidh an phróis agus a dhéanann achoimre ar na heachtraí nó a chuireann conclúid leo, ar bhealach glic go minic. Tá an-tóir orthu sa traidisiún Gaelach, agus de ghnáth is le filí agus le filíocht á cumadh gan ullmhú a bhaineann siad. Féach Donald Haase (eag.), The Greenwood encyclopedia of folktales and fairytales (3 iml., Westport, Ct., 2008), iml. 1, 158. Is cosúil go raibh tóir ar leith orthu i measc na bhfaisnéiseoirí as cúige Mumhan atá i mbailiúchán Deogen. Tá leagan den scéal seo, dar teideal 'Fear a bhí ruite bocht', cláraithe in Séamus Ó Duilearga, Leabhar Stiofáin Uí Ealaoire (BÁC, 1981), 294.

Translation:
There was a man long ago and he was poor. And he had many relations. But none of them
had any mind to do any good for him. And he sat down one of the days. "Well," he
said,
"Hospitality is forsaken and love cools,
Someone without wealth in his hand is no good,
And no-one is related to an unheeded person."

Commentary:
The cante fable in folkloristic terms is a narrative that
contains alternating prose and verse. A very popular variation of this type of story
is known as a stave anecdote, whereby there is a verse at the end of a prose
narrative that sums up or concludes the events, often in a clever way. They are very
popular in Gaelic tradition, and usually concern poets or extempore composition of
verse. See Donald Haase (ed.), The Greenwood encyclopedia of
folktales and fairytales (3 vols, Westport, Ct., 2008), vol. 1, 158. They
appear to be particularly popular amongst the Munster informants in the Doegen
collection. A version of this story, entitled 'Fear a bhí ruite bocht', is recorded
in Séamus Ó Duilearga, Leabhar Stiofáin Uí Ealaoire (Dublin,
1981), 294.