Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent: Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border CountiesGibson, Alexander Craig
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Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent: Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border Counties
Gibson, Alexander Craig
English language -- Dialects -- England -- Cumberland -- Texts
Ya het foorneun, when we war oa’ gaily thrang at heàm, an oald
gentleman mak’ of a fellow com’ in tul ooar foald an’ said, whyte
nateral, ’at he wantit somebody to gà wid him on’t fells. We oa’
stopt an’ teuk a gud leuk at him afoor anybody spak; at last fadder
said, middlin’ sharp-like—(he ola’s speaks that way when we’re owte
sa thrang, does fadder)—“We’ve summat else to deu here nor to gà
rakin ower t’fells iv a fine day like this, wid nèabody kens whoa.”
T’gentleman was a queerish like oald chap, wid a sharp leuk oot, grey
hair and a smo’ feàce—drist i’ black, wid a white neckcloth like a
parson, an’ a par of specks on t’top of a gay lang nwose at wasn’t
set varra fair atween t’ e’en on him, sooa ’at when he leuk’t ebbem
at yan through his specks he rayder turn’t his feàce to t’ya side. He
leuk’t that way at fadder, gev a lal chèarful bit of a laugh an’ said,
iv his oan mak’ o’ toke, ’at he dudn’t want to hinder wark, but he wad
give anybody ’at ken’t t’fells weel, a matter o’ five shillin’ to gà
wid him, an’ carry two lāl bags. “’Howay wid tha, Joe,” sez fadder to
me, “it’s a croon mair nor iver thou was wūrth at heàm!” I meàd nèa
words aboot it, but gat me-sel’ a gud lūmp of a stick, an’ away we set,
t’oald lang nwos’t man an’ me, ebbem up t’ deàl.
As we war’ climmin’ t’fell breist, he geh me two empty bags to carry,
meàd o’ ledder. Thinks I to me-sel’, “I’s gān to eddle me five shillin’
middlin’ cannily.” I niver thowte he wad finnd owte on t’ fells to full
his lal bags wid, but I was misteàn!
He turn’t oot to be a far lisher oald chap nor a body wad ha’ thowte,
to leuk at his gray hair and his white hankecher an’ his specks. He
went lowpin owre wet spots an’ gūrt steàns, an’ scrafflin across craggs
an’ screes, tul yan wad ha’ sworn he was sūmmat a kin tul a Herdwick
tip.
Efter a while he begon leukin’ hard at oa’t steàns an’ craggs we com’
at, an’ than he teuk till breckan lūmps off them wid a queer lal
hammer he hed wid him, an’ stuffin t’ bits intil t’ bags ’at he geh me
to carry. He fairly cap’t me noo. I dudn’t ken what to mak o’ sec a
customer as t’is! At last I cudn’t help axin him what meàd him cum sèa
far up on t’fell to lait bits o’ steàns when he may’d finnd sèa many
doon i’t deàls? He laugh’t a gay bit, an’ than went on knappin’ away
wid his lal hammer, an’ said he was a jolly jist. Thinks I to me-sel’,
thou’s a jolly jackass, but it maks nèa matter to me if thou no’but
pays me t’ five shillin’ thou promish’t ma.
Varra weel, he keep’t on at this feckless wark tul gaily leàt at on i’t
efter-neun, an’ be that time o’ day he’d pang’t beàth o’t ledder pwokes
as full as they wad hod wid bits o’ steàn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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