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Jamaican song and story

Part 3 — CVI.

Reading edition

Here we have a reference to the too common practice of stealing, which is treated more as a joke than a crime:—

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Drill him, Constab, drill him; Drill him, Constab, drill him; She tief her mother shilling fe go buy Sapadilla. Buy Sapadilla, buy Sapadilla; You go an' tief the shilling fe go buy Sapadilla. Wheel him, Constab, wheel him; Wheel him, Constab, wheel him; Him tief him mother shilling fe go buy Sapadilla.

A girl is the delinquent and the "Constab" (constable, pronounce con as in constant) is inside the ring with her, lightly beating her with a twig or pocket-handkerchief. When one has been marched round and wheeled, he "sends her out" and takes another.

Sapadilla is really a fruit something like a medlar, but the name is given to all sorts of fruit, notably Granadilla.

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