Summary

Chapter 1. The narrator, whose voice is written in a distinct dialect, begins Chapter 1 by describing his naming day at age twelve, when he killed a "wyld boar" (Chapter 1, p. 1). In describing his boar attack, the narrator says, "He done the reqwyrt he ternt and stood and clattert his teef and made his rush and there we wer then" (Chapter 1, p. 3). Following his tale of killing the boar, the narrator goes on to relate the story called "Hart of the Wood" (Chapter 1, p. 5).

In the story, a man, wife and child are wandering through the forest starving. They don't know how to catch food and are at the end of their strength when along comes a "clevver looking bloak" (Chapter 1, p. 5). The husband and wife ask the man if he knows how to start a fire and the man replies he does, but he wants something...