Once in the creation, when men had no names, the Lord went walking.
How was that? Listen, my child, I will sing it to you:—
Many a year has passed away
Since the world was first begun,
That the great Lord went out one day
To see how men's lives went on.
As he walked along he saw three men by the roadside, waiting till
some man would give them names; and they asked the Lord to name them.
See! the first man was white, and the Lord called him Gorgio. Then he
adapted himself to that name, and adorned himself with jewelry and fine
clothes, and went gorgeous. And the other man was black and the
Lord called him Nigger, and he lounged away [nikker, to lounge,
loiter; an attempted pun], so idle and foul; and he is always lounging
till now in the sunshine, and he is too lazy [kalo-kalo,
black-black, or lazy-lazy, that is, too black or too lazy] to work
unless you compel and punish him. And the third man was brown, and he
sat quiet, smoking his pipe, till the Lord said, Rom! [gypsy, or
“roam"]; and then that man arose and said, very politely, “Thank you,
Lord, for your kindness. I'd be glad to drink your health.” And he
went, Romany fashion, a-roaming {319b} with his romni [wife], and never
troubled himself about anything from that time till to-day, and went
through the world, and never rested and never wished to until the Lord
speaks the word. That is all as true as your eyes, my dear!