| |A Scottish folktale ||
A shoemaker once engaged an apprentice. A short time after the apprenticeship began the shoemaker asked the girl what she would call him in addressing him.
“Oh, I would just call you master,” answered the apprentice.
“No,” said the master, “you must call me master above all masters.”
Continued the shoemaker, “What would you call my trousers?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call them trousers.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call them donkers. And what would you call my wife?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call her mistress.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call her the Fair Lady Permoumadam. And what would you call my son?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call him Johnny.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call him John the Great. And what would you call the cat?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call him kitty.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call him Great Carle Gropus. And what would you call the fire?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call it fire.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call it Fire Evangelist. And what would you call the peat stack?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would just call it peat stack.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call it Mount Potago. And what would you call the well?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call it well.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call it the Fair Fountain. And, last of all, what would you call the house?”
Apprentice: “Oh, I would call it house.”
Shoemaker: “No, you must call it the Castle of Mungo.”
The shoemaker, after giving this lesson to his apprentice, told her that the first day she had occasion to use all these words at once, and was able to do so without making a mistake, the apprenticeship would be complete.
It wasn’t very long before the occasion presented itself. Early one morning, the cat accidentally caught its tail on fire, landed in the peat stack, which caught fire.
The apprentice hurried and woke up the bewildered master and cried out, “Master above all masters!”
“Start up and jump into your donkers, and call upon Sir John the Great and the Fair Lady Permoumadam, for Carle Gropus has caught hold of Fire Evangelist, and he is out to Mount Potago. If you don’t get help from the Fair Fountain, the whole of Castle Mungo will be burned to the ground!”
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