The Irish have always had a good sense of humor, and that definitely came out in their stories. After hard days in the fields, often all a farmer wanted was a pint and a light story to take his mind off his troubles. Shanachies and other storytellers obliged these desires with amusing stories about animals, mishaps, and the fools we call humans.

Why Cats Sleep Inside

There's a story about why cats get to stay inside by the fire while dogs have to sleep out in the cold. Long ago, there were a cat and a dog who argued over who would get to stay inside. Their owner overheard the argument and decided to settle the matter.

“We'll have a race,” he said. “You'll start five miles from the house, and whoever gets to the house first gets to stay inside the house from then on. The other can look after the place outside.”

So the next day the two animals went to the place where the race was to start. They both ran as fast as they could. The dog, with his longer legs, got far ahead of the cat. But an old beggar saw the dog running at him with his mouth open, and he thought the dog was going to bite him. The beggar hit the dog with a stick. The dog was angry, so he barked at the man and tried to bite him for satisfaction.

When the dog finally got to the house, the cat was licking her paws by the fire. From that day on, cats have stayed inside the house while dogs have slept outside in the cold.

The Legacy Continues

Today, the Irish storytelling tradition has died out in some ways, but it has been reborn in others. Although few people these days are interested in eking out a living as a shanachie, the old stories have found a form of greater permanence in the many books written on Irish folklore and in the collections of the Irish Folklore Commission. Elements of the traditional stories have inspired a number of modern writers, such as Yeats, Joyce, and Seamus Heaney.