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The neighbouring woods echo with the calls of cuckoos and willow warblers, while swallows dart and dive through the air, skimming the verdant grass being nibbled by Jo's leading ladies and top tups.

For example, a toddler might say “tup” instead of “cup.”

“You mean that that thing down there,” she groped for words, her mouth working silently for a moment, “is going to try and tup our campfire?”

Often we joke about the way Lily would beg, “Up, up, up,” or for her “tippy tup” and Emma, the strict sister, would bark orders at Lily, a Disney princess.

At one point in “The Shepherd’s Life,” he describes a male sheep, or tup, as looking like Russell Crowe in “Gladiator,” and the comparison seems entirely reasonable.