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
When he coom hooam at neet, he wor booath tired an' cross; an' after his
Supper he gat a slate an' pencil an' sat daan to write, lukkin' varry
glum. His mother watched him varry anxiously for a while, an' then shoo
sed quietly, "Tha doesn't look varry weel to-neet, Sammy, does ta think
tha'rt goin' to have a spell o' sickness?" "Noa, but awm sick o'
spellin', for t'gaffer's allus agate on me becoss aw connot spell
'which.' Aw've spell'd it wich-whitch-witch-an' which-du' awl goa to
hummer if aw can tell which is which even nah. Aw wish ther worn't a
which."
"Which witch does ta mean, Sammy?"
"Aw can't tell which which, aw wish aw could."
"A'a Sammy," shoo sed, an shoo threw her arms raand his neck, "tha's
taen a load offmy mind!"
"Well, you've putten me one on to mi waistcoit."
"Tak it off, lad, for tha doesn't need it! Tha doesn't know hah thankful
aw am, for when aw wor tawkin' to thi maister yesterday he sed tha wor
troubled wi' witches, an' aw sewed t'horseshoe on to scare 'em."
"Which whiches did he mean?"
"Which witches witch?"
"Aw can't tell which is which."
"Nivver heed which it is, Sammy, soa long as it isn't a witch. If it's
nobbut a difference ov a letter or two aw can't see 'at it means owt.
Goa thi ways to bed, an' dooant let me have to call on thee for a clock
haar before tha frames to get up."
Hard to Pleeas.
"Aa, well! Wonders'll nivver cease! Come thi ways in! Whativver's browt
thee here ov a day like this? It isn't fit to turn a dog aght ot door."
"Noa lass, an' if awd been a dog aw dooant think awst ha turned aght,
but bein' a poor widdy woman my life's war nor a dog's life onny day ith
wick."
"Tak thi bonnet an shawl off an creep up to th' range. Awm sure awm fain
tha's com'd, for aw wor gettin' reight looansum, for my felly an booath
oth lads have gooan to th' taan, an they'll nooan be back afoor neet.
But what is it 'at's made thee turn aght ov a day like this?"
"Tha may weel ax, but aw hardly dar tell thee Nanny, for aw knaw varry
weel 'at them 'at goa a borrowin' goa a sorrowin', an to mak a long
stooary short, awve come to see if tha can leean me ten shillin' wol awr
Harriet Ann's next draw day, for awm behund hand wi mi rent, an tha
knows what sooart ov a chap awr landlord is, for although we've lived i'
yond haase aboon twenty year, he'd think noa moor abaat puttin' th' bums
in, if we were an haar behund wi th' rent, nor he wod o' spittin' aght."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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