The Pocket George Borrow | Page 3

interest for me; nothing, however, connected with Gypsy life
ever more captivated my imagination than this patteran system: many
thanks to the Gypsies for it; it has more than once been of service to
me.
* * * * *
'Are you of the least use? Are you not spoken ill of by everybody?
What's a gypsy?'
'What's the bird noising yonder, brother?'
'The bird! oh, that's the cuckoo tolling; but what has the cuckoo to do
with the matter?'
'We'll see, brother; what's the cuckoo?'
'What is it? you know as much about it as myself, Jasper.'
'Isn't it a kind of roguish, chaffing bird, brother?'

'I believe it is, Jasper.'
'Nobody knows whence it comes, brother?'
'I believe not, Jasper.'
'Very poor, brother, not a nest of its own?'
'So they say, Jasper.'
'With every person's bad word, brother?'
'Yes, Jasper; every person is mocking it.'
'Tolerably merry, brother?'
'Yes, tolerably merry, Jasper.'
'Of no use at all, brother?'
'None whatever, Jasper.'
'You would be glad to get rid of the cuckoos, brother?'
'Why, not exactly, Jasper; the cuckoo is a pleasant, funny bird, and its
presence and voice give a great charm to the green trees and fields; no,
I can't say I wish exactly to get rid of the cuckoo.'
'Well, brother, what's a Rommany chal?'
'You must answer that question yourself, Jasper.'
'A roguish, chaffing, fellow; ain't he, brother?'
'Ay, ay, Jasper.'
'Of no use at all, brother?'
'Just so, Jasper; I see--'

'Something very much like a cuckoo, brother?'
'I see what you are after, Jasper.'
'You would like to get rid of us, wouldn't you?'
'Why, no; not exactly.'
'We are no ornament to the green lanes in spring and summer time; are
we, brother? and the voices of our chies, with their cukkerin and
dukkerin, don't help to make them pleasant?'
'I see what you are at, Jasper.'
'You would wish to turn the cuckoos into barn-door fowls, wouldn't
you?'
'Can't say I should, Jasper, whatever some people might wish.'
'And the chals and chies into radical weavers and factory wenches; hey,
brother?'
'Can't say that I should, Jasper. You are certainly a picturesque people,
and in many respects an ornament both to town and country; painting
and lil writing too are under great obligations to you. What pretty
pictures are made out of your campings and groupings, and what pretty
books have been written in which gypsies, or at least creatures intended
to represent gypsies, have been the principal figures. I think if we were
without you, we should begin to miss you.'
'Just as you would the cuckoos, if they were all converted into
barn-door fowls. I tell you what, brother; frequently, as I have sat under
a hedge in spring or summer time, and heard the cuckoo, I have thought
that we chals and cuckoos are alike in many respects, but especially in
character. Everybody speaks ill of us both, and everybody is glad to see
both of us again.'
* * * * *

'People are becoming vastly sharp,' said Mr. Petulengro; 'and I am told
that all the old-fashioned good-tempered constables are going to be set
aside, and a paid body of men to be established, who are not to permit a
tramper or vagabond on the roads of England; and talking of roads,
puts me in mind of a strange story I heard two nights ago, whilst
drinking some beer at a public-house, in company with my cousin
Sylvester. I had asked Tawno to go, but his wife would not let him. Just
opposite me, smoking their pipes, were a couple of men, something like
engineers, and they were talking of a wonderful invention which was to
make a wonderful alteration in England; inasmuch as it would set aside
all the old roads, which in a little time would be ploughed up, and
sowed with corn, and cause all England to be laid down with iron roads,
on which people would go thundering along in vehicles, pushed
forward by fire and smoke. Now, brother, when I heard this, I did not
feel very comfortable; for I thought to myself, what a queer place such
a road would be to pitch one's tent upon, and how impossible it would
be for one's cattle to find a bite of grass upon it; and I thought likewise
of the danger to which one's family would be exposed of being run over
and severely scorched by these same flying fiery vehicles; so I made
bold to say, that I hoped such an invention would never be
countenanced, because it was likely to do a great deal of harm.
Whereupon, one of the men, giving me a glance, said, without taking
the pipe out of his mouth, that for his part, he sincerely hoped