The Pedlar of Swaffham
A persistent dream prompts a Norfolk tradesman to walk all the way to London in the hope of bettering his lot.
1699
A persistent dream prompts a Norfolk tradesman to walk all the way to London in the hope of bettering his lot.
1699
The following English folktale is an adaptation of an ancient legend found in ‘The Thousand and One Nights’, and told and retold of places from Cairo to Dundonald Castle in Scotland. This version places it in Swaffham in Norfolk, and is told by antiquarian Abraham de la Pryme.
abridged
THERE lived in former times, in Swaffham in Norfolk a certain pedlar, who dreamed that if he went to London Bridge, and stood there, he should hear very joyful news, which he at first slighted, but afterwards, his dream being doubled and trebled upon him, he resolved to try the issue of it, and accordingly went to London,* and stood on the bridge there two or three days, looking about him, but heard nothing that might yield him any comfort.
At last it happened that a shopkeeper there, hard by, having noted his fruitless standing, seeing that he neither sold any wares, nor asked any alms, went to him, and most earnestly begged to know what he wanted there, or what his business was; to which the pedlar honestly answered, that he had dreamed that if he came to London, and stood there upon the bridge, he should hear good news; at which the shopkeeper laught heartily, asking him if he was such a fool to take a journey on such a silly errand.
A distance of some eighty-four miles as the crow flies.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did the pedlar walk from Swaffham to London?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
A pedlar dreamed he heard good news on London Bridge. He woke. He ignored the dream.