Paddy O' Leary had lived in the town of Bundoran for nigh on thirty years. He was a jovial fellow whom everyone liked, they always shouted out a cheery good morning or how d'ya do to him.

However, they rarely lingered for a chat because no one could understand a single word he uttered.
There was nothing wrong with Paddy at all except that he came from county Cork in the south of Ireland as far as one could possibly get from Donegal. As well as the accent, he had a propensity to talk really fast as if he were constantly in a hurry to get to his next sentence.

So, often townsfolk had signed up for some tiresome chore by agreeing to do something instead of refusing.

For example, Tommy had offered to service his car for free at his garage, Robbie had agreed to go out with his niece, Maeve, who was the opposite of Paddy having virtually no conversation at all which lead to a most tedious night out.
Sam had agreed to help Paddy build a new barn in his week off work when he had been looking forward to a quiet bit of fishing.

The problem was, Paddy was such a lovable fellow that no one wanted to tell him about this and hurt his feelings.

One unusually balmy lunchtime at the end of summer, Callum O' Connor was having a pint in the beer garden of the Kicking Donkey when Paddy sat down beside him.

Callum sighed inwardly, this meant a conversation, he was trapped and got ready to nod a yes or no or say mmmm if he wasn't sure, which was always to be honest.
Paddy rambled on as Callum supped his guiness and ate his lunch.

Then suddenly, Paddy arose from his chair slapping Callum on the back, shouting, 'Good man!' the only two words he had understood in the entire conversation.

After Paddy had left, Callum struggled to try and remember what he had agreed to, from Paddy's loud response he knew he had agreed to something, but what!?

Days passed and Callum was getting more and more on edge, he had no idea what was coming to pounce upon him. He started to become irritable and snapping at his poor wife, Dolly, who rarely lost her patience,'For the love of God Callum, go ask the man what he wants! I can't stand this mood any longer!'
'Ach, how can I ask him, it's stupid I'll look now' he replied, frowning into his cup of tea in their bright, homey kitchen.

'Well, ye are stupid if ye ask me, agreeing to something without knowing what it is-God's sake , ask him or I will! Then ye'll really look stupid!' she retorted with a huff and puff as she cleared the breakfast things.

So, Callum went to Paddy's little house on the edge of town, it was quite a remote place, a bit isolated for such a jolly fellow, Callum thought to himself.
Callum knocked, there was no response from inside the house, he knocked again and called out to Paddy, still no answer.
Where could he be, he thought, he must be in the town.

Callum decided to go around the back into the garden, he knew Paddy enjoyed gardening and spent many hours tending his vegetable plot and his two chickens there.

As he turned the corner, he was greeted by silence-not even the hens were clucking as they usually did. As he approached the hen house, Callum saw to hishorror that a huge hole had been torn in the hen house and feathers were strewn all other the place. A fox! But, why hadn't Paddy noticed and where was he?

At that moment, Jimmy Reilly walked into the garden, Jimmy was the only one who understood Paddy since his own wife Mary was from there too. On seeing the mess and exclaimed, 'Mother of God what's happened here!?'

'Looks like a fox Jimmy, must have taken them in the night, I don't understand how Paddy missed this and I can't find him any place to be sure!'

' What are ye gabbin' about man, ye know Paddy is in the hospital, I just popped round to collect some things to take to him. He told me ye were coming in to feed his chickens while he was away, havent ye been doing so man?'

'Oh saints preserve us, that's what I agreed to do!?' Callum looked crestfallen.

Jimmy shook his head sadly, ' Paddy is going to be real upset when he hears about this, I can tell ye!' he said, shaking his head and muttering about stupidity.

'Oh Jimmy, I feel like a right eejit and a complete and utter shite now, please let me sort something out before he comes home, I can't hurt the little fellow like this.

'Well, ye better get a move on, he's coming home in two days,' Jimmy looked at Callum with a look of disbelief on his face.

Callum set to work repairing the hen house and went on the search for two hens identical to Paddy's, this wasn't too hard as they were just ordinary brown hens, nothing special.

By the time Paddy arrived home, greeted by Callum and Dolly who had baked him a huge fruit cake, all was well and nothing suspected.

Callum breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't understand Paddy, true enough, but he had a soft spot for the old fellow.

A few days later, he was walking down the high street when he bumped in to Jimmy.
'Ah, Jimmy,what a relief that Paddy never noticed that his hens had disappeared eh?' said Callum,breathing a sigh of relief.

'Oh aye ,' grinned Jimmy,'on the contrary , he was highly surprised to see four hens on his return instead of two, a miracle he said it was for sure! His hens must have been hiding from the fox with him away and when they saw him back home, they ran back,' chuckled Jimmy.

'Well,' roared Callum, 'I say that calls for a couple of pints, what do ye say Jimmy,'
'Can't argue with that mo chara!' grinned Jimmy as they made their way to the pub, laughing all the way.''