Gipsy Life: Being an account of our Gipsies and their children, with suggestions for their improvementSmith, George
History
Gipsy Life: Being an account of our Gipsies and their children, with suggestions for their improvement
Smith, George
Romanies -- Great Britain
“Whirl fiery circles, and the moon is full:
Imps with long tongues are licking at my brow,
And snakes with eyes of flame crawl up my breast;
Huge monsters glare upon me, some with horns,
And some with hoofs that blaze like pitchy brands;
Great trunks have some, and some are hung with beads.
Here serpents dash their stings into my face,
All tipped with fire; and there a wild bird drives
His red-hot talons in my burning scalp.
Here bees and beetles buzz about my ears
Like crackling coals, and frogs strut up and down
Like hissing cinders; wasps and waterflies
Scorch deep like melting minerals. Murther! Fire!”
Cries the Gipsy, as he rolls about on his bed of filthy litter, in a tent
whose only furniture is an old tin bucket pierced with holes, a soap-box,
and a few rags, with a poor-looking, miserable woman for a wife, and a
lot of wretched half-starved, half-naked children crying round him for
bread. “Give us bread!” “Give us bread!” is their piteous cry.
The Gipsy in Hungary is a being who has puzzled the wits of the
inhabitants for centuries, and the habits of the Hungarian Gipsies are
abominable; their hovels, for they do not all live in tents and
encampments, are sinks of the vilest poverty and filth; their dress is
nothing but rags, and they live on carrion; and it is in this pitiable
condition they go singing and dancing to hell. Nothing gives them more
pleasure than to be told where a dead pig, horse, or cow may be found,
and the Gipsies, young and old, will scamper to fetch it; decomposition
rather sharpens their ravenous appetites; at any rate, they will not
“turn their noses up” at it in disgust; in fact, Grellmann goes so far as
to say that human flesh is a dainty morsel, especially that of children.
What applies to the Hungarian Gipsies will to a large extent apply to the
Gipsies in Spain, Germany, France, Russia, and our own country. There is
no proof of our Gipsies eating children; but if I am to believe their own
statements, the dead dogs, cats, and pigs that happen to be in their way
run the risk of being potted for soup, and causing a “smacking of the
lips” as the heathens sit round their kettle—which answers the purpose of
a swill-tub when not needed for cooking—as it hangs over the coke fire,
into which they dip their platters with relish and delight. What becomes
of the dead donkeys, mules, ponies, and horses that die during their
trafficking is best known to themselves. No longer since than last
winter I was told by some Gipsies on the outskirts of London that some of
their fraternity had been seen on more than one occasion picking up dead
cats out of the streets of London to take home to their dark-eyed
beauties and lovely damsels. Only a few days since I was told by a lot
of Gipsies upon Cherry Island, and in presence of some of the Lees, that
some of their fraternity, and they mentioned some of their names, had
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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