The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"Borrow, George
General
The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"
Borrow, George
Adventure stories; England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
industrious basket-maker, was an out and out thief, as was also his son,
and, indeed, every member of his family. They used to make baskets
during the day, and thieve during a great part of the night. I had not
been with them twelve hours, before old Fulcher told me that I must
thieve as well as the rest. I demurred at first, for I remembered the
fate of my father, and what he had told me about leaving off bad courses,
but soon allowed myself to be over-persuaded, more especially as the
first robbery I was asked to do was a fruit robbery. I was to go with
young Fulcher, and steal some fine Morell cherries, which grew against a
wall in a gentleman’s garden; so young Fulcher and I went and stole the
cherries, one half of which we ate, and gave the rest to the old man, who
sold them to a fruiterer ten miles off from the place where we had stolen
them. The next night old Fulcher took me out with himself. He was a
great thief, though in a small way. He used to say, that they were
fools, who did not always manage to keep the rope below their shoulders,
by which he meant, that it was not advisable to commit a robbery, or do
anything which could bring you to the gallows. He was all for petty
larceny, and knew where to put his hand upon any little thing in England,
which it was possible to steal. I submit it to the better judgment of
the Romany Rye, who I see is a great hand for words and names, whether he
ought not to have been called old Filcher, instead of Fulcher. I shan’t
give a regular account of the larcenies which he committed during the
short time I knew him, either alone by himself, or with me and his son.
I shall merely relate the last:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account