Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
page 31 of 550 (05%)
page 31 of 550 (05%)
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you, Christian?"
"Thirty-one last tatie-digging, Mister Fairway." "Not a boy--not a boy. Still there's hope yet." "That's my age by baptism, because that's put down in the great book of the Judgment that they keep in church vestry; but Mother told me I was born some time afore I was christened." "Ah!" "But she couldn't tell when, to save her life, except that there was no moon." "No moon--that's bad. Hey, neighbours, that's bad for him!" "Yes, 'tis bad," said Grandfer Cantle, shaking his head. "Mother know'd 'twas no moon, for she asked another woman that had an almanac, as she did whenever a boy was born to her, because of the saying, 'No moon, no man,' which made her afeard every man-child she had. Do ye really think it serious, Mister Fairway, that there was no moon?" "Yes. 'No moon, no man.' 'Tis one of the truest sayings ever spit out. The boy never comes to anything that's born at new moon. A bad job for thee, Christian, that you should have showed your nose then of all days in the month." |
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