'should lye in my midden-dub, ye's get nae quar‘ ters frae me this night; ' a wheen idle lazy villains
‘ rins a, to be chapmen, comes thro' the kintry ay
‘ fashin fouk seeking quarters ; neisht day ye‘ll be
‘ gaun wi‘ a powdered perriwig an‘ a watch at your
' ballup, an‘ winna let fouk stand afore your shop-door, ye'll be sae fancy.' I hearing this my sentence from the goodman, expected no relief but lye
out, yet I perceived when he came out of the barn he only drew the barn door too behind, and so when
he was gone I slipt into the barn, and by help of one
of the couples climbs up to the mou, and there dived
down among the sheaves, and happed myself all over,
so that I lay as warm as the goodman himself; but
in the morning, long before the break of day, the
two fellows came into the barn and fell a threshin,
that by their disturbance, I could sleep no more ; at
last I got up with all my hair hanging over my
face, and when he that stood on the opposite side
perceived me, I made my eyes roll, and wrayed my
mouth in a frightful manner, so that the poor fellow
thought he had seen the de‘il, or something muckle
warse, gave a roar as if he had been sticket, and oat
he runs and the other
follows after him crying Wow
Johnny man, an' what
did ye see : O Sandy, Sandy,
the de'il on the tap i' the mou shav'ling his mouth at
me, I'll no be sae well this month man, my heart's
out o' its hole. Vow but you be fearfu' like indeed,
says the
other, it would fright ony living creature
out o' their seven senses.
I hearing the fear they were in, cried out to them
not to be frighted, for I was not the de'il, but a poor
chapman who would not get quarters last night. A
foul fa' thy carcase sir, for our ]ack is through the
midden dub, dirt an a' the gither, he who went out
last came back again, but the other ran into the
house and told what he had seen, the goodman and
his wife came running,he with the grape and she with
Page:History of John Cheap the comical chapman.pdf/7
Jump to navigation
Jump to search