"Ay, that's true! an' yet it's whaur a man may weel be greedy an'
want to hae a'thing: wha has the speerit wad fain hae the letter tu!
But it disna maitter; I s' set to learnin' 't the first thing whan
I gang up the stair--that is, gien it be the Lord's wull."
"Hoots!" said his wife, "what wad ye du wi' Greek up there! I s'
warran' the fowk there, ay, an' the maister himsel', speyks plain
Scotch! What for no! What wad they du there wi' Greek, 'at a body
wad hae to warstle wi' frae mornin' to nicht, an' no mak oot the
third pairt o' 't!"
Her husband laughed merrily, but Donal said,
"'Deed maybe ye're na sae far wrang, guidwife! I'm thinkin' there
maun be a gran' mither-tongue there, 'at 'll soop up a' the lave,
an' be better to un'erstan' nor a body's ain--for it'll be yet mair
his ain."
"Hear til him!" cried the cobbler, with hearty approbation.
"Ye ken," Donal went on, "a' the languages o' the earth cam, or luik
as gien they had come, frae ane, though we're no jist dogsure o'
that. There's my mither's ain Gaelic, for enstance: it's as auld,
maybe aulder nor the Greek; onygait, it has mair Greek nor Laitin
words intil 't, an' ye ken the Greek 's an aulder tongue nor the
Laitin. Weel, gien we could work oor w'y back to the auldest
grit-gran'mither-tongue o' a', I'm thinkin' it wad come a kin o' sae
easy til 's, 'at, wi' the impruvt faculties o' oor h'avenly
condition, we micht be able in a feow days to haud communication wi'
ane anither i' that same, ohn stammert or hummt an' hawt.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64