It is unnecessary to render this jingle into English, but it serves to convey the sound of this curious language, for I have recorded it phonetically, exactly as spoken, and in common with much of the verse beloved of the bedouin Arab this specimen is more forcible than elegant.
During the same evening I heard a girl recite a rhyme which must be very old; it has been printed many times, and is fairly well known to the student of Romany; nevertheless, one seldom hears it at the present day and I was pleased to know it had not been lost, as many old gypsy verses have been. The words were as follows and they differ in one respect only from those which have been printed, the last word being pronounced cosh, not cost:—
“Can you rokkra Romany?
Can you play the bosh?
Can you jal adrey the staripen?
Can you chin the cosh?”
In this, the real significance of the questions lies, not so much in their literal meaning as in their idiomatic interpretation; instead of the questions being simply—
Can you speak the Romany?
Can you play the fiddle?
Can you go into the prison?