What about a shiftie?
No, phantasm, have you not sensed the ectoplasm, try to fight the overenthusiasm.
One of my favourite Fairy Tales as a boy was “The shifty Lad”
“How the Shifty Lad was hung on Dublin bridge” Illustration by H.J.Ford
https://i.postimg.cc/dtGg8B3c/the-shifty-lad-andrew-lang.jpg
Some grammar purists might be tempted to correct the picture by HJ Ford by saying it should be called “How the Shifty Lad was hanged on Dublin bridge” but they would be wrong “hanged” means ”Legally executed” by the state, “Hung” means “Suspended” by any means, as in this case it’s by the ankle, so there!
In that illustration the lady holding him up is his betrothed, she is cheating the law who sentenced him to be hung on Dublin bridge, (they weren’t fussy about grammar back then) she offered to do the job herself, and as you can see she is one clever cookie as our American friends might say.
I would love to say that they lived happily ever after, but as it happened, and as you can see by the frantic look on the young fellas face, a train was coming and she couldn’t pull him up in time to save him, the moral there being shifty lads never get away it, they always get their just rewards.
Never too late to learn. x
Are they all waiting to be hung?
Read the last bit Jem, interesting.
No point in learning at my age now, me head is filled up with enough junk as it is, although learning either the Harp or how to stoke a furnace might come in handy depending on where I’m going.
As yes, I had to zoom in to see that bit, RJ is quite an expert on Lewis Carroll’s writings.
Where are you RJ?
Yes, such a shame. I would love to know more about that.
However, I do not live in Lymington.
Looks to me that they have a wonderful community there.
ah be jeezus - he’s a wonderful learned laddie to be sure to be sure - perhaps he’s still collectin cockles by the seashore?
Yes they do look a very happy lot, good luck to them.
I always wondered what myrrh was ever since I heard the story of Bethlehem and the three wise men bringing their gifts to the baby Jesus. I thought I was getting close to the answer when I first saw Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” The Queen, voiced by an actress with a bit of a lisp, looks in the mirror and says “Oh myrrh myrrh on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all”, but that came to nothing, I was still in the dark.
Then along came google and wikipedia, I had to wait all those years to find out what it actually was.
Myrrh (/mɜːr/; from Aramaic, but see §*Etymology) is a natural gum or resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora.[1] Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense, and medicine. Myrrh mixed with wine can also be ingested. Wiki.
How disappointing! I thought it was something special, it’s just a lump of natural gum! And it’s taken from one of the ugliest looking species of tree I ever saw. Gift for a King?, God forgive me but I wouldn’t give it to a tramp.
We have our own natural Gum, and he is sometimes under appreciated. Good job there are a couple unappointed “Wise” men about.
the wise men of scribbles heh? - sounds like a title for a new poem
Maybe, but don’t force it.
Let it flow, just like the pre prostrate years.
Oh my you lot do make me laugh.
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour, on the lamp post over night?
isn’t that’s wot the vicars daughter said to the sailor?
bed post lady bed post - how the hell can ya get ya chewie off the lampost and who would want to? God lonny donny is turning in his grave!
Seriously, I once knew the daughter of a religious stalwart, she was rebellious.
Who posts in bed?