Read Online The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo - Free Book Online

one the putty, one a bucket of water, one the trowel, and another the sponge. It took two days for the five of them to replace the pane.
    These are, of course, ancient Gothic habits of idleness born of serfdom, just as Creole indolence is born of slavery, which nowadays are disappearing everywhere under the friction of progress, in the Channel Islands as in other countries, but perhaps more rapidly there than elsewhere. In these industrious island communities active work, which is an essential element of honesty, is increasingly becoming the law of labor.
    In the archipelago of the Channel certain things belonging to the past can still be seen. This, for example: “Fief court held in the parish of St. Ouen, in Monsieur Malzard’s house, on Monday, May 22, 1854, at noon. Presided over by the seneschal, with the provost on his right and the serjeant on his left. Also present the noble squire, seigneur of Morville and other places, who possesses part of the parish in vassalage. The seneschal called on the provost to take the oath, in these terms: ‘You swear and promise, by your faith in God, that you will well and faithfully perform the duties of provost of the fief and seigneurie of Morville and preserve the rights of the seigneur.’ And the said provost, having raised his hand and bowed to the seigneur, said: ‘I swear so to do.’ ”
    The Norman archipelago speaks French, but with some variants, as we shall see.
Paroisse
(parish) is pronounced
paresse.
You may have
un mâ à la gambe qui n’est pas commun
(“a sore leg, which doesn’t often happen”). “How are you?” “
Petitement. Moyennement. Tout à l’aisi
”: that is to say, poorly, fairly well, well. To be sad is to “have low spirits”; to smell bad is to have a
mauvais sent;
to cause damage is
faire du ménage;
to sweep your room, wash the dishes, etc., is
picher son fait;
a bucket, which is often filled with refuse, is a
bouquet.
A man is not drunk, he is
bragi.
You are not wet, you are
mucre.
To be a hypochondriac is
avoir
des fixes.
A girl is a
hardelle;
an apron is a
tablier;
a tablecloth is a
doublier;
a dress is
un dress;
a pocket is a
pouque;
a drawer is an
haleur;
a cabbage is a
caboche;
a cupboard is a
presse;
a coffin is a
co fret à mort;
New Year gifts are
irvières;
the roadway is the
cauchie;
a mask is a
visagier;
pills are
boulets.
“Soon” is
bien dupartant.
If stocks are low in the market hall and there is little on sale they say that fish and vegetables are
écarts
(scarce). Early potatoes are
temprunes
on Guernsey and
heurives
on Jersey. Going to law, building, traveling, running a house, having people to dinner, entertaining friends are all
coûtageux
(costly; in Belgium and French Flanders they say
frayeux
). A girl does not allow a young man to kiss her for fear of coming home
bouquie,
with her hair disarranged.
Noble
is one of the words most frequently heard in this local variant of French. Anything that has been successfully achieved is a
noble train.
A cook brings back from the market a
noble quartier de veau.
A plump duck is a
noble pirot.
A fat goose is a
noble picot.
The language of justice and the law also has a Norman flavor. Case papers, petitions, and draft laws are “lodged with the clerk of court.” A father whose daughter marries is no longer responsible for her while she is
couverte de mari.
    In accordance with Norman custom, an unmarried woman who becomes pregnant indicates the father of her child. She sometimes makes her own choice, and this may have inconvenient consequences.
    The French spoken by the older inhabitants of the archipelago is not perhaps entirely their fault. Some fifteen years ago a number of Frenchmen arrived in Jersey, as we have already noted. (We may remark in passing that people could not understand why they had left their country: some of the inhabitants called them
ces biaux révoltés,
these handsome