All The Preparation I Had Made For Alms Has
Been Given Away, For I Have Relieved Thirteen Unfortunates This
Blessed
Morning - so may the Virgin help ye, good woman!' 'Give me
an alms,' said the Beanvore, with a
Louder voice than before, 'or
it will be worse for you.' 'You must excuse me, good mistress,'
says I, 'but I have no more meal in the house. Those thirteen
measures which you see there empty were full this morning, for what
was in them I have given away to unfortunates. So the Virgin and
Child help you.' 'Do you choose to give me an alms?' she shrieked,
so that you might have heard her to Londonderry. 'If ye have no
meal give me something else.' 'You must excuse me, good lady,'
says I: 'it is my custom to give alms in meal, and in nothing
else. I have none in the house now; but if ye come on the morrow
ye shall have a triple measure. In the meanwhile may the Virgin,
Child, and the Holy Trinity assist ye!' Thereupon she looked at me
fixedly for a moment, and then said, not in a loud voice, but in a
low, half-whispered way, which was ten times more deadly:-
"'Biaidh an taifrionn gan sholas duit a bhean shilach!'
Then turning from the door she went away with long strides. Now,
honey, can ye tell me the meaning of those words?"
"They mean," said I, "unless I am much mistaken:
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