Lavengro : $b The Scholar; The Gypsy; The Priest, Vol. 2 (of 2)Borrow, George
General
Lavengro : $b The Scholar; The Gypsy; The Priest, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Borrow, George
England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
I am in the dingle making a petul; {267} and I must here observe, that
whilst I am making a horse-shoe, the reader need not be surprised if I
speak occasionally in the language of the lord of the horse-shoe--Mr.
Petulengro. I have for some time past been plying the peshota, or
bellows, endeavouring to raise up the yag, or fire, in my primitive
forge. The angar, or coals, are now burning fiercely, casting forth
sparks and long vagescoe chipes, {268a} or tongues of flame; a small bar
of sastra, or iron, is lying in the fire, to the length of ten or twelve
inches, and so far it is hot, very hot, exceeding hot, brother. And now
you see me, prala, {268b} snatch the bar of iron, and place the heated
end of it upon the covantza, {268c} or anvil, and forthwith I commence
cooring {268d} the sastra as hard as if I had been just engaged by a
master at the rate of dui caulor, or two shillings, a day, brother; and
when I have beaten the iron till it is nearly cool, and my arm tired, I
place it again in the angar, and begin again to rouse the fire with the
pudamengro, which signifies the blowing thing, and is another and more
common word for bellows; and whilst thus employed I sing a Gypsy song,
the sound of which is wonderfully in unison with the hoarse moaning of
the pudamengro, and ere the song is finished, the iron is again hot and
malleable. Behold, I place it once more on the covantza, and recommence
hammering; and now I am somewhat at fault; I am in want of assistance; I
want you, brother, or some one else, to take the bar out of my hand and
support it upon the covantza, whilst I, applying a chinomescro, or kind
of chisel, to the heated iron, cut off with a lusty stroke or two of the
shukaro {268e} baro, or big hammer, as much as is required for the petul.
But having no one to help me, I go on hammering till I have fairly
knocked off as much as I want, and then I place the piece in the fire,
and again apply the bellows, and take up the song where I left it off;
and when I have finished the song, I take out the iron, but this time
with my plaistra, or pincers, and then I recommence hammering, turning
the iron round and round with my pincers: and now I bend the iron, and,
lo and behold! it has assumed something of the outline of a petul.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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