Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 16 (nat, ningle, chould, numps, terry, dery…). Matches are highlighted.
a crab in the fire to rost for Lambswool; what shall we have a game at Trump or Ruff to driven away the time, how say you? Come on my Lad, thou shalt take thy unnatural rest with me.
Full speech
What am I? Why I am Clunch the Smith, what are you, what make you in my ter ritories at this time of the night? Well Master's it seems to me you have lost your way in the wood: in conside ration whereof, if you will go with Clunch to his Cottage, you shall have house room, and a good fire to fit by, although we have no bedding to put you in. For your further entertainment, it shall be as it may be, so and so. Hark this is Ball my Dog that bids you all welcome in his own language, come take heed for stumbling on thethreshold, open door Madge take in guests. Enter old woman. Well Master's if you will eat no thing take away: Come, what do we to pass away the time? Lay a crab in the fire to rost for Lambswool; what shall we have a game at Trump or Ruff to driven away the time, how say you? Come on my Lad, thou shalt take thy unnatural rest with me.
Plot summary
Plot — The Old Wives Tale
PLOT Lost in the woods, three pages encounter Clunch the smith, and accept the hospitality of his cottage. One of them goes to bed with him while his wife, Madge, tells the others a tale. Delia, the daughter of the King of Thessaly, has been abducted by the sorcerer Sacrapant, who can only be killed by a dead man, and whose power depends on a light in a glass which can only be broken by a woman who is neither wife, widow, nor maid. Delia's two brothers come to England in search of her, and meet Erestus. They give him alms and he prophesies to them. He too is a victim of Sacrapant, who has transformed him into an old man by day and a bear by night, and driven his betrothed lady, Venelia, out of her mind. The brothers enter Sacrapant's domain, but are imprisoned by Furies and set to work digging for gold. Delia, forgetting her identity under the influence of a potion, is appointed as their overseer. Others are also searching for Delia. One is the wandering knight Eumenides, another the braggart Huanebango; the former gives generous alms to Erestus, but the latter refuses. Eumenides happens upon a fight between Wiggen and the parish officials, who are refusing to bury Wiggen's dead brother Jack; Eumenides resolves the dispute by giving all his remaining money to pay for the funeral. Huanebango attempts to force his way into Sacrapant's cell, and is ejected by the Furies; Sacrapant strikes him deaf and Corebus blind. Lampriscus has two daughters, one ugly in looks and the other in temperament. Erestus advises that they should fetch water from the well of life and there see their fortune. Zantippa, the ill-tempered one, maltreats the well's spirit, a head, but finds the unconscious, newly deaf Huanebango lying beside it: her future husband will be unable to hear her shrewish words. Celanta, the ill-faced one, becomes the blind Corebus' wife. She treats the head in the well better, and is rewarded with corn and gold. The despairing Eumenides meets Jack, and accepts him as a companion. At a tavern, the knight will not eat because he cannot pay, but finds his purse miraculously full of money. He vows to give Jack a half share in everything he gets on his travels. Jack renders Eumenides resistant to Sacrapant's magic by stopping his ears, then invisibly takes the enchanter's sword and garland. Sacrapant falls dead. Eumenides digs up the glass light, but is unable to break it; that falls to Venelia, who, being betrothed but unwed, is neither maid nor wife, and so…