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True Stories of an Irish Upbringing and Other
lies by Dan Daneen
Price $ 17.00>> 
 Poaching,
Stealing and Borrowing
“Your Honour, I did not steal it!” This was a common
statement in Irish courts and it was truly believed by all the
parties that heard it. There is a very fine line between stealing,
borrowing, poaching or whatever you would like to call it. If
forethought went into the action, that does make a difference, as
many of us plan to borrow something from a friend or neighbour,
and just forget to return it. Similar logic applies to somebody who
is going to poach a fish or a bird. The same can be said for
stealing, so it was not uncommon for these events to appear in
court. Most of the people I associated with in Ireland did not
consider poaching a crime, only a way to borrow a fish or a bird,
which they would somehow return if need be.
Fairly close to my parents lived a rich lady, who owned a very
large and successful private fishery made up of a river and
several lakes. She had often discussed with my mother the
best way to cook salmon. It was inevitable that she should be
invited to dinner to sample my mother’s culinary expertise when
it came to cooking salmon. As the appointed day drew near, my
parents found that there was no salmon available in the shops. It
was a simple matter for my father to make it known that he
required a salmon in two days. On the appointed day a salmon
miraculously arrived at our house and was paid for. The salmon
had a few unusual net marks on its body but this was not
considered a major problem as cooking would remove them. I
think my parents were well aware that the salmon had been
poached from their guest’s river the previous night. This did not
seem to bother them, as they had not done it!
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