'You mean the Welsh dukkerin' gillie,' said Sinfi, looking, with an
expression that might have been either alarm or suspicion, into my
face.
'Yes.'
'You've been a-thinkin' all this while, brother, that I don't know
why you asked me about Winnie's favourite places on Snowdon, and why
you wanted me to take my crwth to the camp. But I've been a-thinkin'
about it, and I know now why you did, and I know why you wants me to
play the Welsh dukkerin' gillie here. It's because you heerd me say
that if I were to play that dukkerin' gillie on Snowdon in the places
she was fond on, I could tell for sartin whether Winnie wur alive or
dead. If she wur alive her livin' mullo 'ud follow the crwth. But I
ain't a-goin' to do it.'
'Why not, Sinfi?'
'Because my mammy used to say it ain't right to make use o' the real
dukkerin' for Gorgios, and I've heerd her say that if them as had the
real dukkerin'--the dukkerin' for the Romanies--used it for the
Gorgios, or if they turned it into a sport and a plaything, it 'ud
leave 'em altogether. And that ain't the wust on it, for when the
real dukkerin' leaves you it turns into a kind of a cuss, and it
brings on the bite of the Romany Sap.
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