the maps they've completed can't be printed without these names. So London screams at Lancey and Lancey screams at me. But I wasn't intimidated.
[MANUS emerges from upstairs and descends.]
'I'm sorry, sir,' I said, 'But certain tasks demand their own tempo. You cannot rename a whole country overnight.' Your Irish air has made me bold. [To MANUS.] D O you want us to leave?
MANUS Time enough. Class won't begin for another half-hour. YOLLAND Sorry?sorry? OWEN Can't you speak English?
[MANUS gathers the things off the clothes-line, OWEN returns to the map. ]
8. 'Burn' is an Ulster-Scots word for river.
.
25 10 / NATION AND LANGUAGE
OWEN We now come across that beach . . . YOLLAND Tra?that's the Irish for beach. [To MANUS.] I'm picking up the odd word, Manus.
MANUS SO. OWEN ... on past Burnfoot; and there's nothing around here that has any
name that I know of until we come down here to the south end, just about
here . . . and there should be a ridge of rocks there . . . Have the sappers
marked it? They have. Look, George. YOLLAND Where are we? OWEN There. YOLLAND I'm lost. OWEN Here. And the name of that ridge is Druim Dubh. Put English on that,
Lieutenant. YOLLAND Say it again. OWEN Druim Dubh. YOLLAND Dubh means black. OWEN Yes. YOLLAND And Druim means . . . what? a fort? OWEN We met it yesterday in Druim Luachra. YOLLAND A ridge! The Black Ridge! [To MANUS.] You see, Manus? OWEN We'll have you fluent at the Irish before the summer's over. YOLLAND Oh I wish I were. [To MANUS as he crosses to go hack upstairs.] We
got a crate of orange from Dublin today. I'll send some up to you. MANUS Thanks. [To OWEN.] Better hide that bottle. Father's just up and he'd
be better without it. OWEN Can't you speak English before your man? MANUS Why? OWEN Out of courtesy. MANUS Doesn't he want to learn Irish? [To YOLLAND.] Don't you want to learn
Irish? YOLLAND Sorry?sorry? I?I? MANUS I understand the Lanceys perfectly but people like you puzzle me. OWEN Manus, for God's sake! MANUS [Still to YOLLAND.] HOW'S the work going? YOLLAND The work??the work? Oh, it's?it's staggering along?I think?[To
OWEN.]?isn't it? But we'd be lost without Roland. MANUS [Leaving.] I'm sure. But there are always the Rolands, aren't there? [He goes upstairs and exits.]
YOLLAND What was that he said??something about Lancey, was it? OWEN He said we should hide that bottle before Father gets his hands on it.
YOLLAND Ah .
OWEN He's always trying to protect him.
YOLLAND Was he lame from birth?
OWEN An accident when he was a baby: Father fell across his cradle. That's
why Manus feels so responsible for him. YOLLAND Why doesn't he marry? OWEN Can't afford to, I suppose. YOLLAND Hasn't he a salary? OWEN What salary? All he gets is the odd shilling Father throws him?and
that's seldom enough. I got out in time, didn't I?
[YOLLAND is pouring a drink.]
.
FRIEL: TRANSLATIONS, ACT 3 / 25 11
Easy with that stuff?it'll hit you suddenly. YOLLAND I like it. OWEN Let's get back to the job. Druim Dubh?what's it called in the jury
lists? [Consults texts.] YOLLAND Some people here resent us. OWEN Dramduff?wrong as usual. YOLLAND I was passing a little girl yesterday and she spat at me. OWEN And it's Drimdoo here. What's it called in the registry? YOLLAND D O you know the Donnelly twins? OWEN Who? YOLLAND The Donnelly twins. OWEN Yes. Best fishermen about here. What about them? YOLLAND Lancey's looking for them. OWEN What for? YOLLAND He wants them for questioning. OWEN Probably stolen somebody's nets. Dramduffy! Nobody ever called it
Dramduffy. Take your pick of those three. YOLLAND My head's addled. Let's take a rest. Do you want a drink? OWEN Thanks. Now, every Dubh we've come across we've changed to
Duff. So if we're to be consistent, I suppose Druim Dubh has to become
Dromduff.
[YOLLAND is now looking out the window.]
You can see the end of the ridge from where you're standing. But D-r-u-m
or D-r-o-m? [Name-Book.] Do you remember?which did we agree on for
Druim Luachra? YOLLAND That house immediately above where we're camped?
OWEN Mm?
YOLLAND The house where Maire lives.
