the parable of the apocryphal Sammy McFetridge. Sammy had been a fine, upstanding bigot all his life, but on his deathbed the dreadful rumour swept the village that he was turning pape. Fearing that Ahogill was in danger of losing its place amidst the Nations of the Earth, a delegation of elders visited the dying man to enquire how the rumour had spread. With his dying breath, Sammy gasped out: ‘It’s no rumour. It’s the truth – it’s better that one of them goes than one of us.’
