Characters
In France, we dug trenches ten miles long. We took earth from here and made hills there. We moved entire fields. You wouldn't believe what we did. It's possible. It's just hard work.
— Johnny Shellshocked • The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker boasts of impossible-sounding feats in France: trenches ten miles long, earth carried from one place to build hills elsewhere, whole fields shifted. They tell the listener disbelief is understandable, then land on a plain moral: it can be done, and it simply takes hard work.
Context reviewed