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/ This is the last of Willie MacQueen's stories. If anybody would like to write to Willie, you could send the letter to me, and then I will then send the letter on to Willie. You can write to me at Charles Larimer PO Box 414 Western Springs, IL 60558-0414 USA I will also collect any emails I have received regarding these stories and forward those on as well to Willie. ======= A Penny's Worth of Broth and Two Spoons Well, Charlie, I'm just about running out of steam. For old age, I can't remember many stories more. I'll tell you one more and then I'm finished. And, I hope you understand them all the way through. But, there was... along Daviot or there about, there was a ploughman going to get married. He came to work in the district with a farmer, you see. And, the usual run of things in those days - that was back in the last century - you would stay for six months and then move onto another farm. But, this one, he was a pretty good worker and I think he came from the islands. So, he stayed on and the time was getting on. He was more than a year and a half with the place. Of course, what really kept him in the district was that he had a girlfriend. So, the time came when he decided he was going to get married. So, the ploughman he asked the farmer if he could get a day off or a part of a day off. It was very hard in those days. They worked from six in the morning to six at night, six days of the week, no holidays at any time of the year. But - he asked the farmer if he could get off. "Oh yes," said the farmer, "you'll get off after 10:00." So, he had to meet the girl and they had to walk to Inverness which was seven or eight miles distant and... Well, they had to go to the registrar, you see. And, they would have to buy a ring and they had other odds and ends to see to. And then they thought they would go to the minister last... And, they thought that they would get some food there, which was reasonable to expect. So, they did all their other business first and then they went to the manse, which was the home of the minister. The minister heard their tale, and he promised to do everything for them. And then, he began to apologize that he just couldn't give them anything to eat because the lady of the manse was having her afternoon nap and she didn' t like to be disturbed. And, the maid was out doing the weekend shopping. So, they just had to leave the manse with empty bellies. There were no places they called restaurants in those days. But, just anybody could stick a sign up in the window and say, "broth" or "mince." And they went into this place where they usually sold mince and potatoes which was done then because it was easy to cook. He hadn't got very much money anyway in those days. Nobody had. They had less. The woman came forward and she said, "Well, my young man, what would you like? Well, we have broth today and we have potatoes and mince. Cabbage to go with it." The young man, he was never in such a business transaction in his life! And, he was quite a bit shocked to think they got nothing to eat at the manse. He just pulled himself together and he called out, "A penny's worth of broth and two spoons! What do I care for expenses when my lover's with me!" ___________ So, that's the end of my stories. Now I hope this'll work. I don't think I'll be able to fill any more tapes. I've tried everybody else, and Andrew Smith just says "Ho, ho." You know Andrew Smith yourself. He's quite willing to talk about cows and sheep and prices. But, he won't put anything on the tape for me. And, there's no old folks in the district. There's only one old man and he's over ninety and I couldn't make out what he's saying anyway. He's so feeble. I'm the oldest person in the district next to him. And, the people of this district are nearly all incomers. And, they know nothing of the history of it, which is a great pity. I regret myself very much that I never did take more notice when I was young and wrote many an anecdote that I heard, because a lot of them were true - maybe a little exaggerated, but very good stories said by the fires of olden times. So, Charlie and Eric, I wish you well for time and eternity. As told by Willie MacQueen to Charlie & Eric Larimer Summer of 1996 Pictures taken summer of 1995 ========= Charlie Fraser Larimer clarimer@prodigy.net