the man is here. They delight in this enigmatic language. Annancy speaks of himself. He sends word that the man here (himself) is more clever than her (the old lady). Straightforwardness is a quality which the Negro absolutely lacks. If you try to get at the truth of any story he brings, and cross-question him upon it, he will shuffle and change it little by little, and you cannot fix him to any point. Language with him is truly, as the cynic said, the art of disguising thought.
chanice, more usually chalice, challenge.
Boys constantly carry their musical instruments about with them. The Flute, a cheap kind of fife, and the Concertina are the favourites. They play as they walk along the road.
The tune, which is quick, is sung over and over and gets uproariously and deliriously merry; gasps on an inward breath, which there is no time to take properly, doing duty for some of the notes.
The words are fragments of a song referring to fowls and eggs. It runs:—
|
Mother Bonner me hen a lay, turn dem, Them a lay t'ree time a day, turn dem, Turn dem make dem lay, turn dem. |
XVII. MAN-CROW.[42]
Once there was a bird in the wood name Man-crow, an' the world was in darkness because of that bird.