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 Bankers (not on the tape - this was from a letter Willie wrote to me) Regarding the boy and the pig, his people for generations were looked upon as the meanest in the district and were nicknamed "the bankers." To make a penny by hook or by crook (did you ever hear that phrase?) was their motto. A ploughman was engaged as was the custom in those days for six months and was only paid at the end of the six months. If they left before then they got no pay. They, the bankers, engaged a man and at the end of the six months he made up a very long poem about them. (Remember, this was 100 years ago or more.) I just heard it rhymed when I was young and remember two verses. The porridge that we get my boys it is so awful thin if you put it on a sliding board it would slide to Craggie Inn.* Up at six in the morning at the turning of the hay.** You get a piece of barley bread that would frighten the de'il [devil] away. * Craggie Inn was about 9 miles distant. ** Hay was turned by hand in those days. ========= Charlie Fraser Larimer clarimer@prodigy.net