 | CHAPTER XII A FEW SPECIMENS English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day |  |
SOUTHERN (Group 2): WILTSHIRE.
The following well-known Wiltshire fable is from Wiltshire Tales, by J. Yonge Akerman (1853). I give it as it stands in the Preface to Halliwell's Dictionary; omitting the "Moral."
The Harnet and the Bittle.
A harnet zet in a hollur tree--
A proper spiteful twoad was he;
And a merrily zung while he did zet
His stinge as shearp as a bagganet;
Oh, who so vine and bowld as I?
I vears not bee, nor wapse, nor vly!
A proper spiteful twoad was he;
And a merrily zung while he did zet
His stinge as shearp as a bagganet;
Oh, who so vine and bowld as I?
I vears not bee, nor wapse, nor vly!
A bittle up thuck tree did clim,
And scarnvully did look at him;
Zays he, "Zur harnet, who giv thee
A right to zet in thuck there tree?
Vor ael you zengs so nation vine,
I tell 'e 'tis a house o' mine!"
And scarnvully did look at him;
Zays he, "Zur harnet, who giv thee
A right to zet in thuck there tree?
Vor ael you zengs so nation vine,
I tell 'e 'tis a house o' mine!"
The harnet's conscience velt a twinge,
But grawin' bowld wi' his long stinge,
Zays he, "Possession's the best laaw;
Zo here th' sha'sn't put a claaw!
Be off, and leave the tree to me,
The mixen's good enough for thee!"
But grawin' bowld wi' his long stinge,
Zays he, "Possession's the best laaw;
Zo here th' sha'sn't put a claaw!
Be off, and leave the tree to me,
The mixen's good enough for thee!"
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Just then a yuckel, passin' by,
Was axed by them the cause to try;
"Ha! ha! I zee how 'tis!" zays he,
"They'll make a vamous munch vor me!"
His bill was shearp, his stomach lear,
Zo up a snapped the caddlin' pair!
Was axed by them the cause to try;
"Ha! ha! I zee how 'tis!" zays he,
"They'll make a vamous munch vor me!"
His bill was shearp, his stomach lear,
Zo up a snapped the caddlin' pair!
Notes.--Observe z and v for initial s and f; harnet, hornet; bittle, beetle; zet, sat; proper, very; twoad, toad, wretch; a, he; stinge, sting; bagganet, bayonet. Thuck, that; clim, climb; giv, gave; zet, sit; ael, all. Th' sha'sn't, thou shalt not; mixen, dung-heap. Yuckel, woodpecker; axed, asked; vamous munch, excellent meal; lear, empty; caddlin', quarrelsome.
| CHAPTER XII A FEW SPECIMENS English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day | |