A farmer returning home late at night, found a man standing beside the house with a lighted lantern in his hand. "What are you doing here?" he asked, savagely, suspecting he had caught a criminal. For answer came a chuckle, and - "It's only mee, zur."
The farmer recognized John, his shepherd.
"It's you, John, is it? What on earth are you doing here this time o' night?"
Another chuckle. "I'm a-coortin' Ann, zur."
"And so you've come courting with a lantern, you fool. Why I never took a lantern when I courted your mistress."
"No, zur, you didn't, zur," John chuckled. "We can all zee you didn't, zur."
