The Triads of Ireland (Trecheng Breth Féne)

As examples, I select the following two triads:

Three are the vigorous ones original: bacheriosi (?)—a difficult Latin term, likely meaning youthful or spirited: a terrifying armed warrior ready for battle, a lion from a cave when it devours its prey, and a wild boar from the forest when it rushes at someone in a rage. original Latin: "Tres bacheriosi (?) sunt: terribilis bellator armatus promptusque ad praelium, leo de spelunca quando praedam devorat, aper ferus de silva quando furore in aliquem irruit."

There are three imperfect people who can never reach the perfection of a disciplined life; for they only turn away from vices when they are no longer able to do evil: an old sailor who for many years, having deceived everyone, was able to buy and sell; an old charioteer who, having abandoned God, meditates on and occupies himself with vain concerns and talk about chariots and horses; and an old maidservant who craftily gives a poor return to her mistress in all the daily tasks she performs. original Latin: "Tres sunt imperfecti qui numquam ad perfectionem vitae disciplinae pervenire possunt; tunc enim a vitiis recedunt, quando mala facere non possunt. Antiquus nauta qui multis annis seductis omnibus emere et vendere poterat; senex auriga qui in curribus et in equis Deo derelicto vana cura atque conversatione meditatur atque utitur; vetula ancilla quae dominae suae subdole in omnibus rebus quae cottidiano ministerio perficiuntur male retribuit."

Triads occur sporadically in the literature of most other nations and have occasionally been collected. But I am not aware that this kind of composition has ever attained the same popularity elsewhere as in Wales and Ireland, where the creation of triads seems at times almost to have become a sport.

The wittiest triads are undoubtedly those in which the third item contains an anticlimax. Two perfect examples of this kind were composed by the poet Heinrich Heine when he tells the foreigner visiting Germany that he need only know three words of the language: Bread, Kiss, Honor original German: Brot, Kuss, Ehre; and in his often quoted witticism: The Frenchman loves freedom like his bride, the Englishman like his wife, and the German like his old grandmother. original German: Der Franzose liebt die Freiheit wie seine Braut, der Engländer wie seine Frau, der Deutsche wie seine alte Grossmutter.