Saturday 28 June 2008

the eejits

To my delight the other day I found some Scots versions of Roald Dahl books. There was a version of Fantastic Mr Fox and also the Idiots called the eejits. I fond an extract on the Waterstone's website.
The Gless Ee. Ye can play hunners o tricks wi a gless ee because ye can tak it oot and pap it back in again ony time ye like. Ye can bet yer life Mrs Eejit kent aw the tricks. Wan mornin she took oot her gless ee and drapped it intae Mr Eejit's joog o ginger when he wisnae lookin. Mr Eejit sat there slowly sookin his juice. The faem made a white ring on the hairs aroond his mooth. He dichted the white faem ontae his sark sleeve and dichted his sark sleeve and dichted his sark sleeve on his breeks. 'Ye're up tae nae guid,' Mrs Eejit said, keepin her back tae him sae he widnae see she had taen her gless ee oot. 'Whenever you haud yer wheesht like that, I ken fine weel that ye're up tae nae guid.' Mrs Eejit wis richt. Mr Eejit wis schemin awa like billy-o. He wis tryin tae think up a honkin trick he could play on his wife the day.
I think it helps if you read it out loud. The very clever man that translated Dahl's books has also written some great books for Preschoolers. I had a chuckle or I should say hoot as I read them.

Where's Katie's moose? There it is noo. Keek-a-boo! See that wee moose Runnin roon the hoose. Where's Katie's bear? There it is noo. Keek-a-boo! See that puir bear Doon there on the flair. "Katie's Moose"
Each page shows Katie looking for the Dug, the Pig, the Bear, the Craw, the Coo and of course the wee Moose.
I'm sorely tempted to get one for Jack and Lily and Scarlett but wonder about the affect on their accents!

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