A defense of non-conformism, deceptively simple in tone and construction, and only slightly political, it is the story of a loner . . . who stays in bed on Bastille Day and ignores the military parade . . . the good people don't like it when you take a path different from theirs, when you march to the beat of a different drum.

lower a bucket into a well

No need to get dressed. Since I'm here, we can do a little something something.”

[I]t's his temper as has saved his life; he's the best-temperdest cretur as ever trod shoe leather.