` Only as far as Rye , once , ' Dan answered . ` Ah , that 's but the edge . Back behind of her there 's steeples settin ' beside churches , an ' wise women settin ' beside their doors , an ' the sea settin ' above the land , an ' ducks herdin ' wild in the diks ' -LRB- he meant ditches -RRB- . ` The Marsh is justabout riddled with diks an ' sluices , an ' tide-gates an ' water-lets . You can hear 'em bubblin ' an ' grummelin ' when the tide works in 'em , an ' then you hear the sea rangin ' left and right-handed all up along the Wall . You 've seen how flat she is -- the Marsh ? You 'd think nothin ' easier than to walk eend-on acrost her ? Ah , but the diks an ' the water-lets , they twists the roads about as ravelly as witch-yarn on the spindles . So ye get all turned round in broad daylight . ' ` That 's because they 've dreened the waters into the diks , ' said Hobden . ` When I courted my woman the rushes was green -- Eh me ! the rushes was green -- an ' the Bailiff o ' the Marshes he rode up and down as free as the fog . ' ` Who was he ? ' said Dan . ` Why , the Marsh fever an ' ague . He 've clapped me on the shoulder once or twice till I shook proper . But now the dreenin ' off of the waters have done away with the fevers ; so they make a joke , like , that the Bailiff o ' the Marshes broke his neck in a dik . A won ` erful place for bees an ' ducks 't is too . ' ` An ' old , ' Tom went on . ` Flesh an ' Blood have been there since Time Everlastin ' Beyond .
Well , now , speakin ' among themselves , the Marsh men say that from Time XXXXX ' Beyond , the Pharisees favoured the Marsh above the rest of Old England .
Everlastin Tom daylight diks fevers grummelin herdin left settin witch-yarn