Yorksher Puddin': A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John HartleyHartley, John
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Yorksher Puddin': A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John Hartley
Hartley, John
English language -- Dialects -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Fiction
"Aw hardly know whear to begin, but, hasumiver, aw'll tell thee one
thing: ther's lots o' fowk livin' raand abaght here 'at's been oppen'd
by em, an' to some tune too; an' although aw consider physic an evil at
all times, still my pills must be regarded as a necessary evil. A chap
once coom to see me, an' browt a lot o' oysters, but he wor fast ha to
get into 'em; aw made noa moor to do but just put two or three pills
amang 'em, an' they wor oppen'd in a minit. He sed he'd niver seen sich
a thing afoor. An' if tha con keep a secret, aw'll tell thi summat else
but tha munnot split. One neet just at th' end o' last summer, a
queer-lukkin' chap coom an' sed he didn't feel vary weel, an' he'd come
to me becoss he didn't want tother doctors to know; soa aw axed him who
he wor. He didn't like to tell me for a bit, but at last he sed' he wor
th' Clerk o'th' Weather Office, an' he'd just getten a day off, bi th'
way ov a leetnin'.' 'Well,' aw says, 'aw'll gie yo a box o' pills, an'
yo mun tak two ivery neet.' He thanked me an' went away, an' aw've
niver seen a wink on him sin, but tha may be sure it's them pills 'at we
have to thank for sich a oppen winter as we've had, for as aw sed
befoor, they'll oppen owt."
"Well, Jim, tha fair caps me! Aw wonder tha hasn't made a fortun befoor
nah! But aw dooant think aw want ony pills, tho' aw'm badly enough."
"Why, what does ta ail? Has ta getten th' backwark, or th' heeadwark, or
does ta feel wamly sometimes an' cannot ait?"
"Nawther, John; it's summat else nor that."
"Why, is it summat 'at tha has o' thi mind!"
"Noa, it isn't mi mind, it's mi understandin' 'at's 'sufferin'. Th'
fact is, Jim, aw'm troubled wi' a bunion."
"Let's luk at it," says Jim, "ther's nowt easier to cure nor a bunion."
John took off his shoe an' stockin', an' when Jim saw it he sed, "Oh, aw
see what it wants; it wants bringin' to a heead."
"Well, aw think bi th' rate it's growin', it'll be a heead afoor long,
for it's as big as mi neive already."
"Nah, aw'll tell thee what tha mun do. Tak five or six o' thease pills
ivery neet till tha feels a bit ov a difference, an' when tha gooas to
bed tha mun put thi fooit into a pooltice, an' tha'll find it'll get
better as it mends."
"Well, aw think ther's some sense i' what tha says, soa aw think aw'll
try some; ha does ta sell 'em?"
"If tha buys a box they're a penny, but they corne in cheaper to buy 'em
bi weight, an' as its thee aw'll let thi have a pund for a shillin'; if
it wor onybody else, they'd be sixteen pence."
"Well, aw'll tak a pund, onyway. An' if aw can't tak 'em all misen,
they'll happen be useful to somdy else."
"Tha mun tak 'em all thisen, an' then tha'll feel th' benefit on em,"
sed Jim.
"Well," sed John, when he'd getten 'em teed up in his hankerchy, "aw
wish yo gooid day, an aw'll come an' see yo in a bit to repoort
progress."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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