Once there was a poor and generous old man from Ballaghaderreen who has a dream. In it he is told to make a journey at the end of which he will find a pot of gold. In this case the old man has to leave Balla and travel a good way to Dublin and there, when he crosses one of the bridges over the River Liffy, he will find a pub, and there he will find his treasure. The old man follows the dream map and when he sees the pub that was in his dream he looks around but there's no place he can dig for a hidden treasure,
so he stands beside the door and waits. He waits all day and at nightfall the publican comes out and asks,
What are you standing here for all day long?
I had a dream that told me to come here.
A dream? I think you must be a daft old man to follow dreams. I, myself, had a dream a month ago and it told me to go to some poor old sod's cottage on the crossroads from French Park to Ballaghaderreen and if I did, I would find a pot of gold in his front yard. Do you think I would go traipsing all over the countryside because of a dream? It's cold. You should go home.
Indeed I should and will, said the old man.
And when he got home he dug in his front yard and found the treasure and wasn't he himself and all the others the better for it. And if he hasn't given it all away we might share a bit with them.
~ Irish Folk Tale
summarized here by Gioia Timpanelli
photo above by erin at photographs from a white space
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