Tags:
Drama,
Fiction,
General,
english,
Scottish,
irish,
Welsh,
Kerry,
Man from Clare,
Many Young Men of Twenty,
Durango,
Brian Dennehy,
The Field,
Sive,
Moll,
Big Maggie,
Richard Harris,
John B. Keane,
Keane,
High Meadow,
Bull McCabe,
Listowel,
Chastitute
McCabe] Will you have one?
Mrs McCabe: Not for me.
Dandy: Iâll have the same again, Leamy. [Lifts hammer] Thereâs a hammer that never drove a nail. Ladies and gentlemen. I have here for sale, one prime farmerâs wife, fifteen hands high, sound in wind and limb and steady as a butcherâs table. Do I hear a bid ⦠Do I hear a bid for this prime specimen of womanhood ⦠[To Leamy] You, sir! You look a decent sort of a man. Do I hear a bid â¦? She has two medals for making toast and four for making pancakes. She has a gold cup for drinking sour milk and a certificate for snoring.
[Suddenly Dandy stops dead and looks towards the doorway. Enter the Bull McCabe, followed by Tadhg, followed by the Bird OâDonnell. Dandyâs Wife gets up immediately and stands near her husband]
Bull: You came, Dandy. Blood is thicker than water.
Dandy: [Subdued, cautious] Howâs the Bull? How are you, Tadhg ⦠Bird?
[Leamy quietly withdraws a little behind grocery counter. Maimie comes from behind counter]
Maimie: Your receipt, Dandy.
Dandy: Thanks, Maimie.
Bull: You got the word?
Dandy: Yes, Bull.
Bull: You know thereâs a man in the village whoâs here to wrong me?
Dandy: Yes, Bull! Yes!
Bull: Sit down! ⦠All of you, sit down! Whereâs himself, Maimie?
[Enter Mick Flanagan]
Mick: Right behind you, Bull. Sorry Iâm late.
Bull: [Generously] A good man is never late, Mick.
[All sit ⦠Mick, the Bird, Tadhg, Dandy and his Wife. Maimie goes forward and sits a little apart independently. Bull sees Leamy behind the counter]
Bull: Whatâs he doinâ up? Shouldnât he be in bed?
Maimie: Heâs just going.
Bull: No ⦠No ⦠Let him up. Heâs no fool. He knows enough. Sit down, boy ⦠out here, boy.
[Leamy takes a seat near his mother]
Bull: Iâm a fair man and I want nothing but whatâs mine! I wonât be wronged in my own village, in my own country by an imported landgrabber. The sweat Iâve lost wonât be given for nothing. A total stranger has come and he wants to bury my sweat and blood in concrete. Itâs agâinâ God anâ man anâ I was never the person to bow the head when trouble came and no man is goinâ to do me out of my natural-born rights. Now this robber comes from nowhere and heâs nothing less than a robber ⦠And you all know the cure for a robber ⦠he must be given a fright and a fright heâs goinâ to get. But people forgets old friends when thereâs danger and if this man gets a fright and a bit of a beatinâ, weâll have the civic guards goinâ around askinâ questions. Now, you know the kind civic guards is ⦠What is friends for, I ask, unless âtis to pull one another out of hoults. What is neighbours and relations for unless âtis to âlove ye one anotherâ says the Gospel. So, when the civic guards come with their long noses, all of you will remember that Tadhg and myself were in this pub at the time that robbinâ gazebo got his dues ⦠Weâll give him just enough to teach him a lesson. Now, Iâll want a promise, wonât I, to show we can trust one another. Dandy, youâll take an oath on the Holy Ghost.
Dandy: Sure, Bull. Sure. And donât worry about the Missus.
Bull: Sound man, Dandy. I knew I could trust you. What about you, Bird?
Bird: OK, but Iâm not swearing by the Holy Ghost.
Bull: And what have you got against the Holy Ghost, you little caffler, you?
Bird: âTis wrong! âTis wrong!
Bull: Did he ever give you a fright?
Bird: A fright?
Bull: Yes, a fright. Any other ghost youâll meet will frighten the life outa you. But the Holy Ghost never gave anyone a fright. Come on, swear!
Bird: Sure, Bull. Sure.
Bull: Mick?
Mick: OK, Bull, but donât overdo it.
Bull: A good fright and no more. Put up a bottle of whiskey for my friends. Maimie ⦠Maimie!