When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake – not a very big one. … They were having a fine tug-of-war with it, and its rattling days were over. The sow had it by the neck, and the shoat had the tail.
– Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

A golden-headed duck, startled from its slumber in the reeds, paddled off downstream as fast as if a stoat were on its tail …
– Kate Furnivall, The Russian Concubine

Phoebe felt muzzy and depressed as she sipped her first cup of morning coffee.
– Susan Elizabeth Phillips, It Had to Be You

And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale, the sacred river ran,
Then reach’d the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
– Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream

Oh, why does man pursue the smelt?
It has no valuable pelt,
It boasts of no escutcheon royal,
It yields no ivory or oil,
Its life is dull, its death is tame,
A fish as humble as its name.
Yet take this salmon somewhere else.
And bring me half a dozen smelts.
– Ogden Nash

Spelt, an ancient whole grain and kind of wheat that's long been popular in Italy and Germany, is making a comeback among American consumers. The grain, which has a nutty flavor, contains significantly more protein than wheat. Among other benefits, some gluten-sensitive people have been able to eat spelt without experiencing digestive problems. The grain fell out of favor in North America decades ago because its tough hull, or husk, made it more difficult to process. But this tough hull also protects the kernel, as well as helps retain its nutrients and freshness. Spelt was reintroduced to the market in 1987.
– Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Feb. 1, 2007 (ellipses omitted)

"So that’s your idea of gratitude?" he screamed. "So that’s how you feel after everything I’ve done for you? Everyone told me that crudeness and selfishness was all I could expect for lifting a cheap little alley cat by the scruff of her neck!"
– Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

"What is it you wanted to see me about?” While Sir Claude tried to remember, the Queen had time to notice the thin reef of dandruff that that gathered beneath his coat collar, the egg stains on his tie and the drift of scurf that lay in his large pendulous ear.
– Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

More than once, according to Felice, the Captain had taken a bullwhip to his lady, and more than once, she had taken the same bullwhip to him-not to mention quirts, buggy whips, or anything else that lay to hand.
– Larry McMurtry, Comanche Moon

quote:

v. t. 1. To twirl; to turn or wind round; to coil; as, to querl a cord, thread, or rope.
n. 1. A coil; a twirl; as, the qwerl of hair on the fore leg of a blooded horse.

Unaware of the wiles of the snake in the grass
And the fate of the maiden who topes,
She lowered her standards by raising her glass,
Her courage, her eyes and his hopes.

quote:

tope – to habitually drink alcohol excessively

The issue began as a result of complaints from Balsam Road residents April and Joe Comazzolo, who say they have spent five years dealing with backyard flooding after a neighbour blocked a drainage swale that runs through the neighbourhood.
– Welland (Canada) Tribune, Jan. 28, 2008

Now they … entered a new residential section that skirted a substantial wood with tall trees and paths through it. Blackthorne found it vastly enjoyable to be out of the streets, the well-tended sward soft underfoot, the track wandering through the trees.
– James Clavell, Shogun

quote:

Originally posted by wordcrafter:
Two kinds of land today, the swale and the sward.

swale – 1. moist or marshy low land 2. a shallow trough-like depression (as along a roadside) that carries overflow water¹

SWALE. There is a beautiful area in North Yorkshire (Englands biggest and arguably best county) called SWALEDALE. The local advertisers describe it: [QUOTE] Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Here you will find Nature at its best. There are high mountains at the head of these valleys whose evocative names such as Blea Barf, Great Shunner Fell and Rogan's Seat echo the voices of the Vikings who settled here over 1,000 years ago.

Sparkling moorland streams cascade down the valley sides through pastures touched by a thousand shades of green. The River Swale, England's fastest flowing river, threads its way through a maze of fields dotted with stone barns.

Over generations the people of these Dales have shaped the landscape and left a legacy of history, folklore and legend. The language of the Vikings can still be heard all around in the local dialect and the village place-names.

The book [XI of the Iliad] opens with a marvelous description of him putting on his armor: greaves with silver clasps, a magnificent breastplate covered in gold and tin and adorned with twin serpents of blue enamel, a sword decorated with silver and gold, and a shield of blue steel crowned with a terrifying Gorgon’s head – a warrior’s haute-couture dream.
– Elizabeth D. Samet, Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point

I looked down the lists to the king. His squire was stripping him of his heavy armor. … They unstrapped the greaves from his legs and the guards from his arms …
– Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

Off in the ocean to the north-northeast, he picked out a skerry where, in 1950, a boat heading in to Heimaey had lost its power and crashed on the rocks.
– John McPhee, The Control of Nature

[The actors] simulated agonized death throes, rolling around on the ground, twisting their bodies into grotesque shapes and making hideous faces.
– Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:
I agree, pearce, Personally I prefer the slightly more rugged beauty of the Lakeland National Park, but as it's not in Yorkshire I can understand your preference for Swaledale.