Being gratified at my noting down this original narrative from his own lips, my excellent old friend informed me, with cheerfulness not unmingled with the dignified pride characteristic of erudition, and of the possession of deep and darksome lore, that he also knew the story of Samson. And thus spake he:—
“Samson was a boro mush, wery hunnalo an’ tatto at koorin’, so that he nashered saw the mushis avree, an’ they were atrash o’ lester. He was so surrelo that yeckorus when he poggered avree a ker, an’ it had a boro sasterni wuder, he just pet it apré his dumo, an’ hookered it avree, an’ jalled kerri an’ bikin’d it.
“Yeck divvus he lelled some weshni juckals, an’ pandered yāgni-trushnees to their poris and mukked ’em jāl. And they nashered avree like puro bengis, sig in the sala, when sār the mushis were sūtto, ’ūnsa parl the giv puvius, and hotchered sār the giv.
“Then the krallis bitchered his mushis to lel Samson, but he koshered ’em, an’ pāsh mored the tāt of ’em; they couldn’t kurry him, and he sillered ’em to praster for their miraben. An’ ’cause they couldn’t serber him a koorin’, they kaired it sidd pré the chingerben drum. Now Samson was a seehiatty mush, wery cāmmoben to the juvas, so they got a wery rinkeni chi to kutter an’ kuzzer him. So yuv welled a lāki to a worretty tan, an’ she hocussed him with drab till yuv was pilfry o’ sutto, an his sherro hungered hooper side a lācker; an’ when yuv was selvered, the mushis welled and chinned his ballos apré an’ chivved him adrée the sturaben.
“An’ yeck divvus the foki hitchered him avree the sturaben to kair pyass for ’em. And as they were gillerin’ and huljerin’ him, Samson chivved his wasters kettenus the boro chongurs of the sturaben, and bongered his kokerus adrée, an sār the ker pet a lay with a boro gudli, an’ sār the pooro mushis were mullered an’ the ker poggered to bitti cutters.”
“Samson was a great man, very fierce and expert at fighting, so that he drove all men away, and they were afraid of him. He was so strong that once when he broke into a house, and it had a great iron door, he just put it on his back, and carried it away and went home and sold it.
“One day he caught some foxes, and tied firebrands to their tails and let them go. And they ran away like old devils, early in the morning, when all the people were asleep, across the field, and burned all the wheat.
“Then the king sent his men to take Samson, but he hurt them, and half killed the whole of them; they could not injure him, and he compelled them to run for life. And because they could not capture him by fighting, they did it otherwise by an opposite way. Now Samson was a man full of life, very fond of the girls, so they got a very pretty woman to cajole and coax him. And he went with her to a lonely house, and she ‘hocussed’ him with poison till he was heavy with sleep, and his head drooped by her side; and when he was poisoned, the people came and cut his hair off and threw him into prison.
“And one day the people dragged him out of prison to make sport for them. And as they were making fun of him and teasing him, Samson threw his hands around the great pillars of the prison, and bowed himself in, and all the house fell down with a great noise, and all the poor men were killed and the house broken to small pieces.
“And so he died.”