Tales of Dunlichity - The Stories of Willie MacQueen Copyright © 1997, William MacQueen, Charles F. Larimer To see pictures of Willie MacQueen visit my web site at http://pages.prodigy.net/clarimer/ The Beggar and the Beggar's Wife Now, I'll tell you another story - true story, perhaps not in every detail or the way it was said, but it's the truth. There were hawkers that used to come around this part. There was a large family of them. I'm talking about the early 1920s. We remember them quite well. Chrissie, my wife and I remember them quite well. And, they used to come here and there and go around begging and the man himself, he begged for himself. He wasn't bad for begging. But, he would be asking "tobacco" of anybody. And now he had camped along the roadside there on this special occasion. And, there was a man coming along the road in the morning and he knew that beggar was out. And, he knew he would be asking for a bit of tobacco. And, sure enough when the man came up to him, he asked him for a bit of tobacco. "Oh" said the man "the very thing I was going to ask you for. I hadn't a smoke today" which was the truth, of course. "Oh" said the beggar, "You should never feel like that." And, he pulled a tin out of his pocket and there were about 12 pieces in it, that his family and wife and him must have been mooching - begging around the strath in previous days. And, there the beggar was with plenty of tobacco and looking for more! Now, I think it was the next day to my grand aunt, where my son is now, the beggar woman called there to peddle her wares. And, my grand aunt - Mary Smith was her name - she was busy baking girdle scones. Remember the girdle scones? Maybe you never saw them in America, but those used to be very good. And, the beggar woman opened the door and walked in. There wasn't such a thing as knocking or ringing the bell, there were no bells anyway. And, she came in and when she saw the girdle scones she said, "Oh, what would my family give to get a scone like that for the bairns (children)." So my grand aunt wrapped half a dozen scones in a piece of paper and handed it to the beggar woman. But, of course she was a real beggar. She had a little pail, a flaggon* she called it and "I wonder what about some milk for the flaggon because the bairns [children] have nothing. And, the bairns were off mooching somewhere else you see. Oh, the beggar woman gets that, then she wanted a little meal - oatmeal. And then she gets that and then she wanted a few salt herring to spare. She was very pleased to get that. And then, she wanted a few potatoes. And then the beggar woman she asked if she had a bit salt meat in the barrel, which used to be a common thing in the Highland crofts. So, there was no end to her asking. And of course, whenever she was done of asking, then she tried to sell something out of the basket she had. It could be needles or pins or thread or dishes, bowls or cups... And of course, I should have told you that the bairns were out looking in any dumps to see if they could get old syrup tins, and the beggar woman's husband Angie, he was a kind of a tinsmith and he used to put handles on them and go back around selling them to the people for pennies, you know? But of course, when Woolworth stores came to Inverness that finished all that trade. But, back to the story - and, then the beggar woman was wanting, wanting, wanting and she said, "Oh, I was wanting to get a sheaf for my horse - haven 't a thing for the horse." "Oh," my aunt said, "you see, my brothers outside." She was keeping house to two brothers, you see. She was a spinster. Old in years. So, the tinker was just outside the door and back in she comes. And she says, "Oh, I wonder would your brothers manage to give me a bit of tobacco for the man. He didn't have a smoke today!" But of course, my grand aunt knew the story from yesterday. And, my grand aunt lost her temper and she said to her, "What else are you going to be asking? The more you get, the more you want." And my grand aunt said, and to the bargain. "I see you're expecting another bairn [child]." "Oh yes," said the beggar's wife. "I am indeed, but we have to fill our bellies with something." *A flaggon was a little tin pail that kept 1-2 pints liquid. ========= Charlie Fraser Larimer clarimer@prodigy.net