“Never had Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne had so many people to watch them; never had they dug so fast and so well; and never had the sun seemed to go down so fast.”
“Everyone knows Tin was born to burrow, he was born to the task like a hare or one of those white blind hairless moles that comes into the world itching to get its claws into the safety of the ground.”
“Tin. You’re only small, you’re only a boy and not much use for anything, but I know something about you. You like the dark and you can dig. You can do it good and well.”
“Anancy walked on, carrying the gourd of water. He came to a family digging their land, making earth mounds and planting yams in them. Everyone sweated -the young man, the young woman, the mother, the father. Anancy gave the sweating family the gourd of water.”
“One morning a mosquito saw an iguana drinking at a waterhole. The mosquito said, ‘Iguana, you will never believe what I saw yesterday.’ ‘Try me,’ said the iguana. The mosquito said, ‘I saw a farmer digging yams that were almost as big as I am.’ ‘What’s a mosquito compared to a yam?’ snapped the iguana grumpily. ‘I would rather be deaf than listen to such nonsense!’ ”
“When I was young I told a tale of buried gold, and men from leagues around dug in the woods. I dug myself. But why? I thought the tale of treasure might be true.”
“The Spirits that haunted the trees sat combing their long hair, and on the north side of the tree trunks, baby mice dug tunnels amongst the snowflakes. ‘Happy Spring!’ said an elderly Earthworm.”
At the Seaside
When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore,
My holes were empty like a cup,
In every hole the sea came up
Till it could come no more