Page:Merry tales of the wise men of Gotham (6).pdf/20

20 would not marry them. The man was instructed by others how to do, and was afterwards married. And thus the breed of the Gothamites has been perpetuated even unto this day.

TALE XVIII.

THERE was a Scotsman who dwelt at Gotham, and he took a house a little distance from London, and turned it into an inn, and for his sign he would have a boar's, head accordingly he went to a carver, and said, Can you make me a bare head? Yes, said the carver. Then said he, make me a bare head, and thou'se hae twenty shillings for thy hire. I will do it, said the carver, on St Andrew's day, before Christmas, (called Yule in Scotland,) the Scot came to London for his boar's head. I say, speak, said the Scotsman, hast thou made me a bare head? Yes, said the carver. He went and brought a man's head of wood that was bare, and said, Sir, there is Your bare head. Ay, said the Scot the meikle de'il! is this