[5] Poverty = poor, possibly confused with paltry, is very common among English Gypsies. [↑]
[7] Cf. Noah Young’s name for elder, mi-duvel’s kandlo ruk (‘God’s stinking tree’); some other Gypsies, including Isaac Herren, call it wuzén. Oliver Lee’s name for ivy is chirikléskro ruk (‘bird’s tree’), because it was the tree brought back by the dove into the ark, and this is the reason that birds are fond of clustering round it. Holly is mi-duveléskro ruk (‘God’s tree’; cf. Cornish Aunt Mary’s Tree); and Gypsies pitching their tent against a holly-bush are under divine protection.—J. S. [↑]
[8] ‘As cunning as a bushel o’ monkeys’ is a favourite figure of a Gypsy friend of mine. [↑]
[9] Cf. also Hahn, Nos. 22, 70, 98, and i. 308. [↑]