Page:Comical sayings of Paddy from Cork (5).pdf/16

 16 Tom. And what was that, Pady? Teag. To go down among the fiſhes and become a whale; then I would have lived at eaſe all my days, having nothing to do but to drink ſalt water, and eat caller oyſters. Tom What Pady, was you like to be drown'd again? Teag. Ay, ay, drown'd, as cleanly drown'd as a fiſh, for the ſea blew very loud, and the wind ran ſo high, that we were all caſt away ſafe on ſhore, and not one of us drown'd at all. Tom Where did you go when you came on ſhore? Teag. Arra, dear honey, I was not able to go any where, you might caſt a knot on my belly, I was ſo hollow is my middle, ſo I went into a gentleman's houſe and told him the bad fortune I had of being drown'd between Ireland and the foot of his garden where we came all ſafe aſhore. But all the comfort I got from him was a word of truth. Tom. And what was that, Pady? Teag. Why he told me, if I had been a good boy at home, I needed not to have gone ſo far to puſh my fortune with an empty pocket; to which I anſwered, and what magnifies that, as long as I am a good work man at no trade at all. Tom. I ſuppoſe, Pady, the gentleman 'would make you dine with him? Teag. I really thought I was, when I ſaw them roaſting and ſkinning ſo many black chickens which was nothing but a few dead crows they were going to eat; ho, ho, ſaid I, them is but dry meat at the beſt, of all the fowls that flee, commend me to the wing of a ox: but all that came to my ſhare was a piece of boil he and a roaſted potatoe, that was the fire bit o bread I ever eat in England. Tom. Well. Pady, what buſineſs did you follow after in England when you was ſo poor? Teag, What fir, do you imagine I was poor when I came over on ſuch an honourable occaſion as of lift, and bring myſelf to no preferment at all As