The Tale of Oat Cake Crag (38 page)

Mix the honey and water, then stir in the sugar. Pour over the warm cake.

When Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top Farm in 1905, there were already a number of apple trees on the place. She wrote to Millie Warne the next fall that she was busy with gardening chores, which included “putting liquid manure on the apple trees.” In a letter dated October 6, she drew a picture of herself shoveling manure with a long-handled scoop. “The apples on the old trees prove to be very good cookers,” she added. “We have had some for dinner.” Miss Potter might have liked them baked in this traditional apple pudding.

 

SYRUP

APPLE BATTER

To prepare the syrup: In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, and butter. Stir in the water; cook over low heat until thickened. Pour the mixture into a lightly buttered 10-by-6-inch baking dish. To prepare the batter: In a bowl, combine the sifted flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and brown sugar. Blend in the melted butter and milk, stirring just until dampened. Stir in the sliced apples mixed with brown sugar. Pour the apple batter over the syrup in the baking dish. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Some of the words included in this glossary are dialect forms; others are sufficiently uncommon that a definition may be helpful. My source for dialect is William Rollinson’s
The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition, and Folklore.
For other definitions, I have consulted the
Oxford English Dictionary
(second edition, Oxford University Press, London, 1989).

 

Allus.
Always.

Auld.
Old.

Awt.
Something, anything.

Beck.
A small stream.

Betimes.
Sometimes.

Bodderment.
Trouble.

Dust, dusta, dusnta.
Does, do you, don’t you.

Goosy.
Foolish.

How.
Hill, as in “Holly How,” the hill where Badger lives.

Mappen
. Mayhap, perhaps.

Mebbee.
Maybe.

Nae.
No.

Nawt.
Nothing.

Off-comer.
A stranger, someone who comes from far away.

Pattens.
Farm shoes with wooden soles and leather uppers.

Reet.
Right.

Sae.
So.

Sartin, sartinly.
Certain, certainly.

Scotch, as in “Scotch that aeroplane.”
To damage, crush, destroy something dangerous.

Seed wigs.
Small, oblong tea cakes, flavored with caraway seeds.

Sumbody.
Somebody, someone.

Summat.
Somewhat, something.

Taties.
Potatoes.

Trippers, day trippers.
Tourists, visitors who come for the day.

Verra or varra.
Very.

Worrit.
Worried.

Wudna, wudsta.
Would not, would you.