All our party ate with a good appetite, except myself, who, feeling rather melancholy that day, had little desire to eat.  I did not, like the others, partake of the pork, but got my dinner entirely off the body of a squirrel which had been shot the day before by a chal of the name of Piramus, who, besides being a good shot, was celebrated for his skill in playing on the fiddle.  During the dinner a horn filled with ale passed frequently around, I drank of it more than once, and felt inspirited by the draughts.  The repast concluded, Sylvester and his children departed to their tent, and Mr. Petulengro, Tawno, and myself getting up, went and lay down under a shady hedge, where Mr. Petulengro, lighting his pipe, began to smoke, and where Tawno presently fell asleep.  I was about to fall asleep also, when I heard the sound of music and song.  Piramus was playing on the fiddle, whilst Mrs. Chikno, who had a voice of her own, was singing in tones sharp enough, but of great power, a gypsy song:—­

   POISONING THE PORKER. 
   BY MRS. CHIKNO.

   To mande shoon ye Romany chals
   Who besh in the pus about the yag,
   I’ll pen how we drab the baulo,
   I’ll pen how we drab the baulo.

   We jaws to the drab-engro ker,
   Trin horsworth there of drab we lels,
   And when to the swety back we wels
   We pens we’ll drab the baulo,
   We’ll have a drab at a baulo.

   And then we kairs the drab opre,
   And then we jaws to the farming ker
   To mang a beti habben,
   A beti poggado habben.

   A rinkeno baulo there we dick,
   And then we pens in Romano jib;
   Wust lis odoi opre ye chick,
   And the baulo he will lel lis,
   The baulo he will lel lis.

   Coliko, coliko saulo we
   Apopli to the farming ker
   Will wel and mang him mullo,
   Will wel and mang his truppo.

   And so we kairs, and so we kairs;
   The baulo in the rarde mers;
   We mang him on the saulo,
   And rig to the tan the baulo.

   And then we toves the wendror well
   Till sore the wendror iuziou se,
   Till kekkeno drab’s adrey lis
   Till drab there’s kek adrey lis.

   And then his truppo well we hatch,
   Kin levinor at the kitchema,
   And have a kosko habben,
   A kosko Romano habben.

   The boshom engro kils, he kils,
   The tawnie juva gils, she gils
   A puro Romano gillie,
   Now shoon the Romano gillie.

Which song I had translated in the following manner, in my younger days, for a lady’s album.

   Listen to me ye Roman lads, who are seated in the straw about the
   fire, and I will tell how we poison the porker, I will tell how we
   poison the porker.

   We go to the house of the poison monger (i.e. the apothecary), where
   we buy three pennies’ worth of bane, and when we return to our people
   we say, we will poison the porker; we will try and poison the porker.