Other proofs of the great influence of the Old Norse tongue on the language of East Riding folk are seen in their liking for the sound of K where modern standard English demands that of CH. The words _benk_ (or _bink_), _birk_, _breeks_, _caff_, _kirk_, _kist_, _pickfork_, and _thack_, are commonly heard used in place of the Southern English forms bench, birch, breeches, chaff, church, chest, pitchfork, and thatch. So also _hask_ or _’ask_ is the East Riding pronunciation of harsh, and _brig_ is universally used for the different meanings of the word bridge. * * * * * In the Rev. M. C. F. Morris’s history of Nunburnholme the author gives an amusing example of the East Riding Folk-Speech. But it is really something more than this. For we can see from it very clearly how much truer English is spoken by the East Yorkshire farm-labourer than by the fine fellow who prides himself on his knowledge of the English language. Let us take Mr. Morris’s story—the Fable of ‘The Bear and the Bees’—in two forms. Here is one of them:— ‘A bear happened to be stung by a bee, and the _pain_ was so _acute_ that in the madness of _revenge_ he ran into the _garden_ and overturned the hive. This _outrage_ _provoke_d their anger to a high _degree_, and brought the _fury_ of the whole swarm upon him. They _attack_ed him with such _violence_ that his life was in _danger_, and it was with the utmost _difficulty_ that he made his _escape_, wounded from head to tail. ‘In this _desperate_ _condition_, _lament_ing his mis_fortunes_ and licking his sores, he could not forbear _reflect_ing how much more _advisable_ it had been to have _acquiesce_d _patient_ly under one _injury_ than thus by an un_profitable_ _resentment_ to have _provoke_d a thousand.’ Now this version of the fable contains just over eighty different words; and, if we turn over the pages of a French dictionary, we shall find that twenty-one of the twenty-five words printed in italics were not originally English words at all, but are words introduced into our language from the French. Some of them ‘came over with the Conqueror’ undoubtedly. Others were introduced in more recent times. The remaining four words—_acute_, _desperate_, _reflect_ing, and _acquiesce_d—are purely Latin words. Let us now take the East Yorkshireman’s account of what happened:—