The first time I read the book, I got stuck at the very first sentence so gloriously and illegibly reproduced there in Morris's own setting. Whilom, as tells the tale, was a walled cheaping town hight Utterhay. I thought that "Whilom" was the name of the town. What a "cheaping" town might be, I had no idea, and the last two words of the sentence didn't parse at all.
Now I know it means "Once upon a time there was a walled market town called Utterhay," and I'm trying to bite my tongue and not say, "Then why didn't he say so?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-12-03 10:23 pm (UTC)Now I know it means "Once upon a time there was a walled market town called Utterhay," and I'm trying to bite my tongue and not say, "Then why didn't he say so?"