The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood (38 page)

 
To steam:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Fill the steaming pan to an inch below the rack or trivet with boiling water from a teakettle. Place the wrapped roly-poly on the rack and cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Bring the water back to a boil and boil hard for 10 minutes. Check to see if you need to add more boiling water, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Set the pan, water and all, in the oven, and oven-steam for 2 1/2 hours. Transfer the pudding to a warm plate, open the foil and parchment, and slice. Traditionally served with potatoes and a green vegetable. Serves 4-6.

Glossary

About the Cumbrian dialect, writer Hall Caine remarks (in the preface to his 1895 novel,
A Cumbrian Romance
): “I have chosen to give a broad outline of Cumbrian dialect, such as bears no more exact relation to the actual speech than a sketch bears to a finished picture. It is right as far as it goes.”

For the
Cottage Tales,
I have borrowed Caine’s approach to dialect representation, and attempted only a very broad sketch—right as far as it goes, although it doesn’t go very far. Some of the words included in this glossary are not dialect forms, but are sufficiently uncommon that a definition may be helpful. My main source for dialect is William Rollinson’s
The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition, and Folklore.
For other definitions, I have consulted the
Oxford English Dictionary
(second edition, Oxford University Press, London, 1989).

 
Beck
A small stream (Old Norse
bekkr
).

Brow
The projecting edge of a cliff, standing out over a precipice.

Dray
A cart with low sides built to haul heavy loads, driven by a drayman.

 
Dwelf
A fairy resident of the Land between the Lakes, half elf, half dwarf. Known to be a shape-shifter.

 
Fell
A mountain or a high hill (Icelandic, Danish, Swedish
fjell
).

Folly
A small pleasure-house in a garden.

Gae lot
A great many.

Glisky
Bright, sparkling.

Go
An unexpected turn of events.
A rum go.

Ha’p’orth
Halfpennyworth. The amount that can be bought for a halfpenny, very little.

Hast tha
Have you?
Hast tha a bit o’bread?

Heafed
Herdwick sheep instinctively recognize their native pastures, or heafs; that is, they are heafed to their home meadows.

 
Hobthrush
A hobgoblin or spirit that can do useful work but is just as likely to make mischief.

How
Hill.

Joiner
Carpenter.

Lumbered
To be burdened or encumbered with something.

 
Mappen
Perhaps, likely.
Mappen t’weather’ll be good.

Nae, nay
No (said emphatically).

Nobbut
Nothing but.

Ower-kessen’d
Overcast, cloudy.

Pater familias
Latin for “father of the family,” and used by the Romans to designate the eldest or ranking male in the household.

 
Reet, reetly
Right, proper; rightly, properly.

Rum
Good, fine, excellent, great.

Sett
The system of underground burrows and chambers where a badger colony lives.

 
Tatie pot
A favorite Lake District dish made of mutton, potatoes, carrots, onions, and black pudding (a traditional sausage made of pig’s blood, beef suet, oatmeal, and onions). For a recipe, see
The Tale of Hill Top Farm.

Thick
Excessively disagreeable, too much to tolerate.

Verge
The grassy roadside.

Verra
Very.

Wax
Anger, irritation, pique.

Wudstha
Would you?