KiKKbKAN Folklore. 45 



some parts of (ilerinany, after ti death, not only the mirrors but 

 everything that shines or glitters (windows, clocks, &c.), are 

 covered up, doubtless, because they might reflect a person's image. 

 The same custom of covering up mirrors, or turning them to the 

 wall, after a death, prevails in England, Scotland, and Mada- 

 gascar.' The statement in the last sentence regarding the cus- 

 tom north of the Tweed is confirmed by the late Mr James 

 Napier, in his ' Folk Lore in the West of Scotland.' On page GO 

 of that work he says : — ' After death there came a new class of 

 superstitious fears and practices. The clock was stopped, the 

 looking-glass was covered with a cloth, and all domestic animals 

 were removed from the house until after the funeral.' Mr Napier 

 does not attempt to explain the practice, but the reason given in 

 the ' Golden Bough ' is rj[uite an adequate one." It will be observed 

 that this is no explanation of the stopping of the clocks. With 

 regard to the other custom or belief, it is actually still observed, 

 and has come under my own notice. One night, when present at 

 an " encoffining," a young woman, who was taking her last look 

 at the little child, remarked that it was the first corpse she had 

 ever seen. " Then," remarked another person present, "you must 

 touch it." She did so, and was told that she should draw her 

 hand from head to foot. I afterwards ascertained that it was 

 supposed that the one who saw a corpse for the first time, would 

 dream about it the same night unless he or she touched it in this 

 way. Although there was no " wake " held after the fashion so 

 prevalent in Ireland, a number of years ago, it was the custom for 

 one or more of the neighbours to sit in the apartment in which the 

 corpse lay, or in the adjoining one. This was kept up by day and 

 night until the funeral, which frequently did not take place until 

 eight days after the death. This custom gave an opportu- 

 nity for showing the neighbourly feeling so common in country 

 districts, which is often unseen in ordinary intercourse, but is so 

 apparent in times of sickness and sorrow. The saying, " Happy 

 is the corpse the rain rains on," is sometimes remembered, although 

 in varying words. I have been unable to hear of any superstitions 

 connecting deaths and bees, similar to those spoken of by the late 

 Mr Dudgeon in his paper on " Bee Folklore," which appears in this 

 Society's " Transactions " for the session 1891-92. I have made 

 particular inquiry about these, but no one seems to have heard of 

 them in Kirkbeau. The custom of having a few friends and neigh- 



