More Tales of the RidingsMoorman, F. W. (Frederic William)
General
More Tales of the Ridings
Moorman, F. W. (Frederic William)
Yorkshire (England) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
"When I gat home I said nowt to t' missus about t' pig, for I couldn't
let on that I'd buried it; shoo'd have reckoned I were a bigger fooil
nor shoo took me for. Shoo gav me a sup o' poddish for my supper, an'
all t' time I were eytin' it I kept thinkin' o' t' fried ham that I'd
missed, an' I were fair mad wi' misen. I went to bed, but I couldn't get
to sleep nohow. You see, I'd bin plagued wi' mowdiewarps up i' t'
'lotment; they'd scratted up my spring onions an' played Hamlet wi' my
curly greens. An' then all of a sudden I bethowt me that t' mowdiewarps
would be sure to find t' pig an' mak quick-sticks o' him afore t'
mornin'. Eh! I gat that mad wi' thinkin' on it that I couldn't bide i'
bed no longer. I gat up 'thout wakkin' t' missus, an' I crept downstairs
i' my stockin' feet, an' went to t' coil-house wheer I kept my spade. I
were boun to dig up t' pig an' bring him home afore t' mowdiewarps sud
find him. But when I'd oppened coil-house door, what sud I see but a
pair o' green eyes glowerin' at me out o' t' darkness. I were that flaid
I didn't know what to do. I dursn't set hand to t' spade, an' efter a
minute I crept back to bed wi' them green eyes followin' me, an' burnin'
hoils i' my back same as if they'd bin two red-hot coils. Sooin as
cockleet com, I gat up, dressed misen an' set off for t' 'lotment, 'an
by t' Mess! what does ta reckon was t' first thing I saw?"
"Had the pig come to life again?" I asked in wonder.
"Nay, 'twere better nor that," replied Abe. "I' t' spot wheer I'd buried
t' pig an' buried t' potate afore that, somebody had belt a house, ay,
an' belt it all i' one neet. It had sprung up like a mushroom. So I went
up to t' house an' looked in at t' windey, an' by Gow! but it were my
house an' all."
"How did you know that it was your house?" I asked.
"Well, you see," Abe rejoined, "I could tell by t' furnitur that were in
it. There was our kitchen-table that I'd bowt at t' sale when t' missus
an' me were wed, an' t'owd rockin'-chair set agean t' fire; ay, an' t'
pot-dogs on t' chimley-piece an' my father's an' muther's buryin'-cards
framed on t' walls; 'twere all plain as life."
"So the lad with the green eyes had carried away your house in the night
and set it down on your allotment?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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