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⟨were⟩ so easy and civil, and kept such rattling ⟨houses⟩, and thousands of welcomes;—and there ⟨was⟩ no grinding for rent, and few agents; and ⟨there⟩ was hardly a tenant on the estate that did ⟨not⟩ taste of his landlord’s bounty often and often ⟨in⟩ the year;—but now it’s another thing; no ⟨matter⟩ for that, sir, for I'd better be telling you my ⟨story⟩.
Well, we had every think of the best, and ⟨plenty⟩ of it; and we ate, and we drank, and we ⟨danced⟩, and the young master by the same token ⟨danced⟩ with Peggy Barry, from the Bohereen—⟨a⟩ lovely young couple they were, though they are ⟨both⟩ long enough now. To make a long story ⟨short⟩, I got, as a body may say, the same thing ⟨as⟩ tipsy almost, for I can’t remember ever at all, ⟨no⟩ ways, how I left the place: only I did leave it that's certain. Well, I thought, for all that, in myself, I’d just step to Molly Cronohan’s, the fairy woman, to speak a word about the bracket heifer that was bewitched; and so as I was crossing the stepping stones at the ford of Ballyashenogh, and was looking up at the stars and blessing myself—for why? it was Lady-day—I missed my foot, and souse, I fell into the water. ‘Death alive !’ thought I, ‘I'll be drowned now!’ However, I began swimming, swimming, swimming away for the dear life, till at last I got ashore somehow or other, but never the one of me can tell how, upon a dissolute island.
I wandered and wandered about there, without knowing where I wandered, until at last I got into a big bog. The moon was shining as bright as day, or your fair lady's eyes, sir, (with your pardon for mentioning her,) and I looked east and west, and north and south, and every way, and nothing did I see but bog, bog, bog;—I could
