So, I'm still reading _Rotha Mór an tSaoil_.

I read each section once to get the story, again to look up all the words I'm not sure of, and finally, I read it out loud in English to my wife (who doesn't know any Irish, but loves the stories). This seems to give me a good understanding, and I recommend it as a learning technique.

But I did run across one sentence that, try as I might, I couldn't be certain of.

Here's the whole sentence, which provides pretty good context:

Shílinn go mbiodh achan duine ag amharc orm nuair a bhinn ar mo bhealach le bascóid mnór uibheacha, ach in áit mar bhí sin bhí fir sheanchrionna á dtabhairt, agus is dóigh liom go rabh oiread fuatha agam air seo agus go rithfinn caol direach an bhaile ach go bé fear an tsiopa a bheith ina cheann comh maith domh agus a bhí.

Here's my translation:

I thought everybody was looking at me when I was on my way with the big basket of eggs, *but instead, it was only old men sinking toward their ends*, and I probably hated it enough that I would have run straight home had the man at the shop ahead not been as good to me as he was.

The part between asterisks is the part I'm completely unsure of. It seems to me that "á dtabhairt" must be "dhá dtabhairt" (per Ó Siadhail), but that interpretation of "tabhair" seems dicey, at best.

Of course, I may be wrong about the rest of it, too....

Can anybody offer a better idea?

Go raibh maith agaibh,

--Al Evans

Does anyone know how to spell erin in gaelic?