The Pocket George Borrow | Page 3

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 that it would take effect; and if it did no other good than stopping the rambles of gypsies, and other like scamps, it ought to be encouraged. Well, brother, feeling myself insulted, I put my hand into my pocket, in order to pull out money, intending to challenge him to fight for a five-shilling stake, but merely found sixpence, having left all my