Page:Comical sayings of Paddy from Cork (6).pdf/2

 Comical Sayings of Paddy from Cork

PART I.

Tom. Good morrow, Sir, this is a very cold day.

Teag. Arra, dear honey, yesternight was a very cold morning.

Tom. Well brother traveller of what nation art thou

Teag. Arra, dear shoy, I came from my own kingdom.

Tom. Why, I know that, but where is thy kingdom i

Teag. Allelieu dear honey, don't you know Cork in Ireland.

Tom. You fool, Cork is not a kingdom but a city.

Teag. Then dear shoy, I'm sure it is in a kingdom.

Tom. And what is the reason you have come and left your own dear country?

Teag. Arra, dear boney, by shaint Patrick, they have got such comical laws in our country, that they be will put a man to death in perfect health; so to be free and plain with you, neighbour, I was obliged to come away, for I did not chuse to stay among such a people that can hang a poor man when they please, if he either steals, robs, or kills a man.

Tom. Ay, but I take you to be more of an honest man, than to steal, rob, or kill a man.

Teag. Honest, I am perfectly honest, when I was but a child, my mother would have trusted me with a house full of mill-stones.

Tom. What was the matter, was you guilty of nothing

Teag. Arra, dear honey, I did harm to nobody but fancied an old gentleman's gun, and afterwards made it my own.

Tom. Very well, boy, and did you keep it so?

Teag. Keep it, I would have kept it with all my heart while I lived, death itself could not have parted us, but the old rogue, the gentlemen, being a justice of peace himself, had me tried for the rights of it, and how I came by it, and so took it again.

Tom. And how did you clear yourself without punishment?

Teag. Arra dear shoy, I told him a parcel of lies,