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The Zincali-Part5_George Borrow(1803-1881)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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is, but the reader may be excused for asking what is Gypsy law.



Gypsy law divides itself into the three following heads or

precepts:-



Separate not from THE HUSBANDS.

Be faithful to THE HUSBANDS.



Pay your debts to THE HUSBANDS.

By the first section the Rom or Gypsy is enjoined to live with his



brethren, the husbands, and not with the gorgios (13) or gentiles;

he is to live in a tent, as is befitting a Rom and a wanderer, and



not in a house, which ties him to one spot; in a word, he is in

every respect to conform to the ways of his own people, and to



eschew those of gorgios, with whom he is not to mix, save to tell

them HOQUEPENES (lies), and to chore them.



The second section, in which fidelity is enjoined, was more

particularly intended for the women: be faithful to the ROMS, ye



JUWAS, and take not up with the gorgios, whether they be RAIOR or

BAUOR (gentlemen or fellows). This was a very important



injunction, so much so, indeed, that upon the observance of it

depended the very existence of the Rommany sect, - for if the



female Gypsy admitted the gorgio to the privilege of the Rom, the

race of the Rommany would quickly disappear. How well this



injunction has been observed needs scarcely be said; for the

Rommany have been roving about England for three centuries at



least, and are still to be distinguished from the gorgios in

feature and complexion, which assuredly would not have been the



case if the juwas had not been faithful to the Roms. The gorgio

says that the juwa is at his disposal in all things, because she



tells him fortunes and endures his free discourse; but the Rom,

when he hears the boast, laughs within his sleeve, and whispers to



himself, LET HIM TRY.

The third section, which relates to the paying of debts, is highly



curious. In the Gypsy language, the state of being in debt is

called PAZORRHUS, and the Rom who did not seek to extricate himself



from that state was deemed infamous, and eventually turned out of

the society. It has been asserted, I believe, by various gorgio



writers, that the Roms have everything in common, and that there is

a common stock out of which every one takes what he needs; this is



quite a mistake, however: a Gypsy tribe is an epitome of the

world; every one keeps his own purse and maintains himself and



children to the best of his ability, and every tent is independent

of the other. True it is that one Gypsy will lend to another in



the expectation of being repaid, and until that happen the borrower

is pazorrhus, or indebted. Even at the present time, a Gypsy will



make the greatest sacrifices rather than remain pazorrhus to one of

his brethren, even though he be of another clan; though perhaps the



feeling is not so strong as of old, for time modifies everything;

even Jews and Gypsies are affected by it. In the old time, indeed,



the Gypsy law was so strong against the debtor, that provided he

could not repay his brother husband, he was delivered over to him



as his slave for a year and a day, and compelled to serve him as a

hewer of wood, a drawer of water, or a beast of burden; but those



times are past, the Gypsies are no longer the independent people

they were of yore, - dark, mysterious, and dreaded wanderers,



living apart in the deserts and heaths with which England at one

time abounded. Gypsy law has given place to common law; but the



principle of honour is still recognised amongst them, and base

indeed must the Gypsy be who would continue pazorrhus because Gypsy



law has become too weak to force him to liquidate a debt by money

or by service.



Such was Gypsy law in England, and there is every probability that

it is much the same in all parts of the world where the Gypsy race



is to be found. About the peculiar practices of the Gypsies I need

not say much here; the reader will find in the account of the



Spanish Gypsies much that will afford him an idea of Gypsy arts in

England. I have already alluded to CHIVING DRAV, or poisoning,



which is still much practised by the English Gypsies, though it has

almost entirely ceased in Spain; then there is CHIVING LUVVU ADREY



PUVO, or putting money within the earth, a trick by which the

females deceive the gorgios, and which will be more particularly



described in the affairs of Spain: the men are adepts at cheating

the gorgios by means of NOK-ENGROES and POGGADO-BAVENGROES



(glandered and broken-winded horses). But, leaving the subject of

their tricks and Rommany arts, by no means an agreeable one, I will






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