“Laugh at a man from the south! No, no; they can’t do that.”
“Why not?” said I; “why shouldn’t the north laugh at the south as well as the south at the north?”
“Why shouldn’t it? why, you talk like a fool. How could the north laugh at the south as long as the south remains the south and the north the north? Laugh at the south! you talk like a fool, David, and if you go on in that way I shall be angry with you. However, I’ll excuse you; you are from the north, and what can one expect from the north but nonsense? Now tell me, do you of the north eat and drink like other people? What do you live upon?”
“Why, as for myself,” said I, “I generally live on the best I can get.”
“Let’s hear what you eat; bacon and eggs?”
“O yes! I eat bacon and eggs when I can get nothing better.”
“And what do you drink? Can you drink ale?”
“O yes,” said I; “I am very fond of ale when it’s good. Perhaps you will stand a pint?”
“H’m,” said the man looking somewhat blank; “there is no ale in the Pandy and there is no public-house near at hand, otherwise—. Where are you going to-night?”
“To Gutter Vawr.”