e lions' den, she said, "And there
is good Daniel, and there are those naughty lions, who are going to eat
him all up." Whereupon the dear boy cried out, "O mother, look at that
poor little lion in the corner--he won't get any."

It is from this point of view that such affairs are naturally regarded by
the Rommany.

There is a strange goblinesque charm in Gipsydom--something of nature,
and green leaves, and silent nights--but it is ever strangely commingled
with the forbidden; and as among the Greeks of old with Mercury amid the
singing of leafy brooks, there is a tinkling of, at least, petty larceny.
Witness the following, which came forth one day from a Gipsy, in my
presence, as an entirely voluntary utterance. He meant it for something
like poetry--it certainly was suggested by nothing, and as fast as he
spoke I wrote it down:--

"It's kushto in tattoben for the Rommany chals. Then they can jal langs
the drum, and hatch their tan acai and odoi pre the tem. We'll lel moro
habben acai, and jal andurer by-an'-byus, an' then jal by ratti, so's the
Gorgios won't dick us. I jins a kushti puv for the graias; we'll hatch
'pre in the sala, before they latcher we've been odoi, an' jal an the
drum an' lel moro habben."

"It is pleasant for the Gipsies in the summer-time. Then they can go
along the road, and pitch their tent here and there in the land. We'll
take our food here, and go further on by-and-by, and then go by night, so
that the Gorgios won't see us. I know a fine field for the horses; we'll
stop there in the morning, before they find we have been there, and go on
the road and eat our food."

"I suppose that you often have had trouble with the _gavengroes_ (police)
when you wished to pitch your tent?"

Now it was characteristic of this Gipsy, as of many others, that when
interested by a remark or a question, he would reply by bursting into
some picture of travel, drawn from memory. So he answered by saying--

"They hunnelo'd the choro puro mush by pennin' him he mustn't hatch odoi.
'What's tute?' he pens to the prastramengro; 'I'll del you thrin bar to
lel your chuckko offus an' koor mandy. You're a ratfully jucko an' a
huckaben.'"

_English_--They angered the poor old man by telling him he must not stop
there. "What are you?" he said to the policeman, "I'll give you three
pounds to take your coat off and fight me. You're a bloody dog and a
lie" (liar).

"I suppose you have often taken your coat