The original' says Mr. Halliwell, ' is in the Chaldee language, and it may be mentioned that a very fine Hebrew manuscript of the fable, with illuminations, is in the possession of George Otter, Esq., of Hackney.' Mr. Halliwell gives the interpretation of the story on p. 291.
I could wish that the two first specimens of dialect had been more elegant, or had presented a more pleasing picture of English life and manners. They are, however, as good and characteristic as anything I could find in Bywater's book. If people in Sheffield had been free from the idea that acquaintance with a provincial dialect is a thing to be ashamed of, better specimens might have been available, and more attention would have been given to most interesting remains of early language. How strongly marked the dialect must have been less than fifty years ago may be learnt from a statement made by an old cutler to a friend of mine. The cutler came, when a boy, from a village in Mid-Derbyshire to live at Crookes in the parish of Sheffield. He says that he lived there many months before he could converse with people whose dialect differed so essentially from his own.
The absence of p or th in the definite article is remarkable in the Sheffield dialect. Thus people say 'he went intot house' for 'he went into the house,' the t affixed to the word 'into' exactly representing the sound of the article. The most remarkable feature in the dialect is the predominance which the vowel a holds over the other vowels. Thus people say verra for 'very,' Tomma for 'Tommy,' ma for 'me,' the a being short as in the Latin penna. Again we have thah for 'thou,' hahse for 'house,' thahsand for 'thousand,' &c.
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