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The Black Dwarf-Part3_WALTER SCOTT(1771-1832)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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short rents, I'm thinking."

Here my WORTHY AND LEARNED patron again interposed, and observed,



"that he could never perceive any material difference, in point

of longitude, between one sheep and another."



This occasioned a loud hoarse laugh on the part of the farmer,

and an astonished stare on the part of the shepherd.



"It's the woo', man,--it's the woo', and no the beasts themsells,

that makes them be ca'd lang or short. I believe if ye were to



measure their backs, the short sheep wad be rather the langer-

bodied o' the twa; but it's the woo' that pays the rent in thae



days, and it had muckle need."

"Odd, Bauldie says very true,--short sheep did make short rents--



my father paid for our steading just threescore punds, and it

stands me in three hundred, plack and bawbee.--And that's very



true--I hae nae time to be standing here clavering--Landlord,

get us our breakfast, and see an' get the yauds fed--I am for



doun to Christy Wilson's, to see if him and me can gree about the

luckpenny I am to gie him for his year-aulds. We had drank sax



mutchkins to the making the bargain at St. Boswell's fair, and

some gate we canna gree upon the particulars preceesely, for as



muckle time as we took about it--I doubt we draw to a plea--But

hear ye, neighbour," addressing my WORTHY AND LEARNED patron, "if



ye want to hear onything about lang or short sheep, I will be

back here to my kail against ane o'clock; or, if ye want ony



auld-warld stories about the Black Dwarf, and sic-like, if ye'll

ware a half mutchkin upon Bauldie there, he'll crack t'ye like a



pen-gun. And I'se gie ye a mutchkin mysell, man, if I can settle

weel wi' Christy Wilson."



The farmer returned at the hour appointed, and with him came

Christy Wilson, their difference having been fortunately" target="_blank" title="ad.幸运地">fortunately settled



without an appeal to the gentlemen of the long robe. My LEARNED

AND WORTHY patron failed not to attend, both on account of the



refreshment promised to the mind and to the body, ALTHOUGH HE IS

KNOWN TO PARTAKE OF THE LATTER IN A VERY MODERATE DEGREE; and the



party, with which my Landlord was associated, continued to sit

late in the evening, seasoning their liquor with many choice



tales and songs. The last incident which I recollect, was my

LEARNED AND WORTHY patron falling from his chair, just as he



concluded a long lecture upon temperance, by reciting, from the

"Gentle Shepherd," a couplet, which he RIGHT HAPPILY transferred



from the vice of avarice to that of ebriety:

He that has just eneugh may soundly sleep,



The owercome only fashes folk to keep.

In the course of the evening the Black Dwarf had not been



forgotten, and the old shepherd, Bauldie, told so many stories of

him, that they excited a good deal of interest. It also



appeared, though not till the third punch-bowl was emptied, that

much of the farmer's scepticism on the subject was affected, as



evincing a liberality of thinking, and a freedom from ancient

prejudices, becoming a man who paid three hundred pounds a-year



of rent, while, in fact, he had a lurking belief in the

traditions of his forefathers. After my usual manner, I made



farther enquiries of other persons connected with the wild and

pastoral district in which the scene of the following narrative



is placed, and I was fortunate enough to recover many links of

the story, not generally known, and which account, at least in



some degree, for the circumstances of exaggerated marvel with

which superstition has attired it in the more vulgar traditions.



[The Black Dwarf, now almost forgotten, was once held a

formidable personage by the dalesmen of the Border, where he got



the blame of whatevermischiefbefell the sheep or cattle. "He

was," says Dr. Leyden, who makes considerable use of him in the



ballad called the Cowt of Keeldar, "a fairy of the most malignant

order--the genuine Northern Duergar." The best and most



authentic account of this dangerous and mysterious being occurs

in a tale communicated to the author by that eminent antiquary,



Richard Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth, author of the HISTORY OF THE

BISHOPRIC OF DURHAM.



According to this well-attested legend, two young Northumbrians

were out on a shooting party, and had plunged deep among the






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