2 In the meantime myths and legends, having 

 the duckling for their nucleus, began to spread 

 in the neighbourhood. The cottagers thought 

 there was magic in it and were disposed to 

 shake their heads. The gardener's wife said 

 "she'd a-seen no end of ducklings in her 

 time, ah, and wrung the necks of a tidy few 

 ducks, pretty dears, and a very tasty dish they 

 made with sage and onions to flavour 'em. 

 Some made their apple sauce one way and 

 some made it another. She herself used only 

 the best apples. If you couldn't get them it 

 was safest to go without. But this little bit 

 of a duckling was more like a Christian than 

 anything she'd ever set eyes on, follered you 

 about and talked to you. She wouldn't 

 wonder if you found it writing in copybooks 

 next, but for herself she'd never held with all 

 this eddication, no, and never would. All she 

 hoped was there wouldn't be a judgment for 

 taking a dumb thing out o' nature like that." 

 The Vicar, on the other hand, was jocose in 

 a manner befitting a classical scholar. We 

 33 SSmet 



