“You ignorant gomeral![16] you senseless blockhead! you born idiot!” said Dan, his excitement increasing as he proceeded; “jucks like game-cocks! jucks like the kind o’ game-cocks that should ha’ been there, that were set by my ain hands! haud yer bletherin’[17] tongue. Somebody’s been puggyin’[18] me. If I kent wha dared to tak’ their nap[19] aff me, I wad gi’e them what they wad mind a’ their days; I would fell them!”
[16] Stupid fellow.
[17] Foolish talking.
[18] Playing monkey tricks.
[19] Fun.
A large crowd had now collected in Dan’s garden, and when the new-comers heard the cause of the merriment, they joined in it and kept it up.
LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE.
“What are ye a’ doin’ laughin’ there at, like heeawnies [hyenas]? Out o’ this, every one o’ ye, or I’ll gar some o’ ye laugh on the ither side o’ yer lug [ear]!” said Dan, looking daggers.
“Lock them up, Dan, for fear the witches change them into turkeys,” said one of the crowd.
This made Dan furious: he seized an old spade which lay on the top of his hen-house, and vowed that he “would fell ony man that said another word.”