Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
Next morning, very early, Jemmy rose and dug a hole, four or five feet
deep and six or seven feet long, just under that part of the garden wall
where the sweetheart had clambered over the night before, and covered it
all over with thin laths and brown paper, and then sprinkled mould over
it, so that it had all the appearance of solid earth. A small stream of
water ran through his garden into the river. Jemmy cut a small grip from
it to the hole he had dug, and filled the hole with water; then choked
the grip up and went into his house, laughing to himself at what would
probably happen that night.
Stationing himself at nightfall in the garden where he could not be
seen, he had not long to wait before he saw a head rising above the
wall, then the body of a man, and in another moment the expectant lover
had cleared the wall, and dropped on the covering of the pitfall. The
laths and brown paper yielded to his weight, and he plunged up to his
neck in water. The unfortunate young man screamed with fright, and Jemmy
and Mary rushed to the spot.
"Holloa, my man! what's the matter? What art a' doing i' yond water-pit?
Hast a' come to steal my apples and pears?"
Then turning to Mary, he asked if she knew him. The poor girl hesitated,
but at last confessed that the young man was her sweetheart. "Well,
then," said Jemmy, "help him out and get him into t' house, and let us
change his clothes, for I reckon he's all over muck."
The young man was brought in dripping like a water-rat.
"Now, then," said Jemmy, "thou mun have a dry suit. Which wilt a'
have--a pair o' my list breeches and rabbit-skin coat, or my old
housekeeper's petticoats and gown?"
The young man ungallantly chose the former, thinking if he must be made
ridiculous before the eyes of Mary, he would be less so in male than
female attire. Jemmy gave him a glass of hot brandy-and-water, kept him
talking by the kitchen fire till his clothes were dried, and then
dismissed him with permission to come to the house openly, and visit
Mary as often as he liked. The young fellow became in time a great
favourite with the old man, and when he married Mary, Jemmy gave him £50
to start life with.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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