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The Scots have a peculiar musical instrument called a bagpipe. It’s a bag made of a pig’s skin and it has a pipeto blow it up as you would a balloon, and there are several horns attached to the bag. The player puts the bag under his arm, keeps blowing it up to keep air in it, and at the same time squeezes out the air with his arms sothat it blows the horns, making a peculiar squeaky music like a “dying pig.”

Some of the greatest ships in the World such as those that cross the ocean are made in Scotland, at a place calledGlasgow on the River Clyde, on the west side. Glasgow is the second largest city on the island, but the capital of Scotland is on the other side, the east coast. It is called Edinburgh. The Presbyterian Church started in Scotlandand most of the people in Scotland are Presbyterians, just as those in England are Episcopalians.

We call white potatoes “Irish” because they raise and eat so many potatoes in Ireland, the island to the westof Great Britain. In fact, Ireland is shaped something like an Irish potato. But they had no potatoes at all in Ireland and no one there had ever seen or heard of a potato before Columbus discovered America. Potatoes wereborn in South America and were brought over and raised in Ireland.

The island of Ireland is divided into two parts. The small northern part is called Northern Ireland and is part ofthe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That means the King of England is king of Northern Ireland as well as of England, Scotland, and Wales.

The Irish are great story tellers and fairy-tale tellers, and they say that once upon a time long ago a giant inthe north of Ireland built a magic bridge from Ireland all the way across to Scotland; and to prove the story true they show you thousands of stone posts from the shore out into the sea—all there is left of the bridge—thatlook as if they had been driven down into the sea by a pile driver. These stone posts running out into the sea are called the Giant’s Causeway, which means the Giant’s Bridge.

Have you a handkerchief in your pocket? Is it made of linen or cotton? If it’s a “party” handkerchief it isprobably made of linen and came from Ireland. Linen is made from the fiber of a plant called flax. Flax is much stronger and more silky than cotton, but it costs more. Flax grows especially well in the country around Belfast,which is the capital and chief city of Northern Ireland. In Belfast, they make more linen, and especially fine linen, than anywhere else —handkerchiefs, napkins, and table-cloths.

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苏格兰人有一种很独特的乐器叫做风笛。风笛的主要部分是一个用猪皮做成的气囊，上面有一根管子，可以向气囊里吹气，让它鼓起来，就像你给气球吹气一样，有几个喇叭连接在气囊上。演奏者把气囊夹在胳膊下，不停地用嘴给它充气，同时用胳膊挤出空气，这样气流就吹响了喇叭，发出一种奇特的短促而尖厉的音乐声，就像“垂死的猪”在尖叫。

世界上一些最大的轮船，比如那些越洋轮船，是在苏格兰一个叫做格拉斯哥的地方造的，格拉斯哥位于克莱德河之滨，在苏格兰的西侧。格拉斯哥是岛上的第二大城市，但苏格兰的首府在苏格兰的另一侧，位于东海岸，叫做爱丁堡。长老会起源于苏格兰，苏格兰大部分人都是长老会教徒，就像英格兰大部分人都是圣公会教徒一样。

我们把白马铃薯叫做“爱尔兰人”，因为爱尔兰人种植很多马铃薯，也吃掉很多马铃薯，爱尔兰是位于大不列颠岛以西的一个岛屿。实际上，爱尔兰的形状看起来就像一个爱尔兰马铃薯。但在哥伦布发现美洲大陆以前，爱尔兰根本没有马铃薯，爱尔兰人也从来没有看过或听说过马铃薯。马铃薯原产于南美洲，后来被带到爱尔兰，当地人才开始种植马铃薯。

爱尔兰岛分为两部分。北部较小的那一部分叫做北爱尔兰，它是大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国的一部分。那意味着英国国王不仅管辖着英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士，也管辖着北爱尔兰。

爱尔兰人很会讲故事，也很会编童话，他们说很久以前，爱尔兰北部有个巨人，建造了一座有魔力的大桥，从爱尔兰一直通到苏格兰；为了证明故事是真实的，他们会指给你看从海岸一直延伸到大海里的数千根岩柱——大桥现在只剩下这些了——岩柱看起来就好像是打桩机打到海里去的。这些延伸到海里的岩柱被叫做“巨人堤道”就是“巨人桥”的意思。

你口袋里有手帕吗？是亚麻的还是棉的呢？如果是块“宴会”手帕，很可能就是爱尔兰产的亚麻手帕。亚麻布是用一种叫做亚麻的植物的纤维做成的。亚麻比棉更结实、更柔软光洁，但也更贵。贝尔法斯特四周乡村的亚麻长得尤其好，贝尔法斯特是北爱尔兰的首府也是它最重要的城市。贝尔法斯特的亚麻布产量是世界上最高的，尤其是优质亚麻布——亚麻织品有手帕、餐巾和桌布。