THE FARMER AND HIS WIFE

This was a monetary mission, John Taylor says . . .

DO you ever put something away safely and then, when you want it, you can’t for the life of you remember where you hid it?

Anne and I are both guilty of doing just that.

I was working in the yard when Anne came rushing down.

“John, where did I put those crown pieces?” she asked.

The reason for her urgent query was because a young mother from an adjacent farm had come over to show Anne her first baby and Anne wanted to cross its palm with silver.

Whilst Anne entertained, I found them in a jam jar at the back of the kitchen cupboard.

Several years ago, at breakfast, Anne grabbed the newspaper and turned to the births column.

“Why the interest, dear?” I asked.

“Joan Lancaster’s had a baby boy!”

I heaved a sigh of relief. Now I could read my paper in peace.

“Well, dear,” I returned, “if you’re going to see the baby, you will have to cross its hand with silver.

“Give it a crown piece,” I added.

“John, how original of you! Get me one for tomorrow.”

Where did one get a crown piece?

In Cupar my first call was to the bank.

The young teller didn’t know what one was.

The manager appeared and suggested I try an antiques shop.

Sadly, Cupar didn’t have such a thing, so Anne had to visit the new baby without one.

Soon after this, I had to go to Edinburgh. My knowledge of the capital was limited, but I remembered, as a teenager, seeing an antiques shop under John Knox’s house.

The lady inside the shop explained to me that she didn’t deal with such items, but told me of a place where coins could be purchased.

I went up the Royal Mile to the shop.

There, spread out before me, were crowns from every period.

I bought half a dozen at a cost of more than five shillings each.

Anne, after that, was able to cross the palms of newborns with a silver piece – that is, when she remembered where she’d put them!

I was working in the yard when Anne came rushing down

MORE NEXT WEEK.