Cead Fáilte
Welcome back to another episode of Crann na beatha Short Stories and Poetry
I am Terrance Ó Domhnaill, your village scéalaí, returning again this week with more stories and poems from authors around the world.
This week, I have three stories and a lovely poem from my friend in Bulgaria
I am starting a new space opera series today, along with the ongoing story The Gravediggers of Orpheus. My last story is a short story about loneliness, and the poem is about sadness.
So gather round once more and let me read to you under the shade of the crann na beatha, the tree of life. Click the play button above to listen to this week’s selections if you want to hear the audio podcast.
I wish once again to thank the writers that allow me to read their stories and poems to the world. I can’t thank them enough as without them, this little show wouldn’t be possible.
I will also add that this podcast is growing in listeners as more and more people seem to be looking for a little time out from all of the chaos going on. Not only on Substack but through my hosting platform at rss.com, where this show is distributed all over the world. I don’t have many listeners outside of the U.S. but there are a handful so I have hopes that maybe I can reach more people around the world with these stories and poems.
I am sure that some of this is due to the language barrier and I wish there was a way for me to set up a translator for this podcast audiobook so it could be broadcast in multiple languages around the world. I did set up Google Translate on my website at www.crann-na-beatha.com so that people around the world can read what I have there.
I tested it myself when I set it up and it reverted the website to Gaeilge just fine, and back to English again with no troubles at all. There are many more available languages in the translator tool than I can relate here but you get the idea. I put the link dead center of the Home page so you can hardly miss it.
I’m afraid that it only translates the written words though and not the audio in the podcast episodes. That is something I wish I could set up. I wonder if there is an app for that? Does Substack have an option for these posts to be translated into other languages? If so, how does a body check that in the settings?
Wouldn’t it be grand if I could record this podcast and have it translated to the majority of the world’s primary languages? Languages such as French, German, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Hindi, Arabic, Farsi and so many others to be able to name here.
Could you imagine the impact our writings and podcasts would have if more people around the world could read and listen to our words in their native languages?
Sure and I am dreaming big, weighty thoughts here but it’s worth thinking about. I would love to think I can use this podcast to bring the world’s peoples a little closer together for a brief spell every week. God’s know we could all use a time out now and again from all of the world’s troubles.
I will leave everyone who reads this with this thought. Do you think the world would be a better place to live in if we all could move past our differences in language, cultures, the colors of our skin and so on? Imagine a place where there were no more wars and abject poverty to the point of starvation? A world of smiling people all eager to help one another out in trying times? We can dream can’t we.
Go raibh maith agat. Thank you for reading this and listening to the show (hopefully). I hope you enjoyed the variety of stories and poems again this week. If you like the show, please share it with anyone you care to. I offer it for free so everyone that can find it will have an opportunity to listen to the stories and poems, for which I will add links to at the bottom here.
As a Seanchaí, I hope you will allow me to continue delighting you with a story or a poem here under the Crann na beatha. Maybe they will bring you a smile and take you away from your troubles for a time.
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. "May your days bring you peace and contentment and your hearths be welcoming to all who visit your home." Slán go fóill - goodbye for now.
T. Ó Domhnaill - Gaelic Seanchaí
The Gravediggers of Orpheus [8]
You Have to Love Yourself Too
A short story inspired by one of my favorite quotes from “Once Upon a Time”
Silver in the Fleeting Glow
A spiral of sadness
