22 2 pFant "bore, "beqeT^b/, and. "hi-jnaf. 



Apple. In Sicily, when a young man is in love, he presents the 

 objecH: of his affecftions with a love Apple. At Mount San Giuliano, 

 in Sicily, on St. John's Day, every young girl throws from the 

 window of her room an Apple into the street, and watches to see 

 who picks it up: should a woman do so, it is a sign that the maiden 

 will not be married during the year ; if the Apple is only looked at 

 and not touched, it signifies that the maiden, after her marriage, 

 will soon become a widow : if the first person passing is a priest, 

 the young girl will die a virgin. In Montenegro, the mother-in- 

 law presents an Apple to the young bride, who must try and 

 throw it on the roof of her husband's house: if the Apple falls on 

 the roof, the marriage will be blest, that is to say there will be 

 children. At Taranto, in Southern Italy, at the wedding breakfast, 

 when the Apples are introduced, each guest takes one, and having 

 pierced it with a knife, places a piece of silver money in the 

 incision : then all the Apples are offered to the young bride, who 

 bites each, and takes out the money. 



In a Roumanian legend, the infant Jesus, in the arms of the 

 blessed Virgin, becomes restless, will not go to sleep, and begins 

 to cry. The Virgin, to calm the Holy Child, gives Him two Apples. 

 The infant throws one upwards, and it becomes the Moon ; He 

 then throws the second, and it becomes the Sun. After this exploit, 

 the Virgin Mary addresses Him and foretells that He will become 

 the Lord of Heaven. 



In old pictures of St. Dorothea, the virgin martyr is repre- 

 sented with a basket containing Apples and Roses : this is in 

 allusion to the legend of her death, which tells that as Dorothea 

 was being led forth to martyrdom, Theophilus, a lawyer, mockingly 

 bade her send him fruits and flowers from Paradise. Dorothea, in- 

 clining her head, said, " Thy request, O Theophilus, is granted ! " 

 Whereat he laughed aloud with his companions, but she went on 

 cheerfully to death. Arrived at the place of execution, she knelt 

 down and prayed ; and suddenly there appeared at her side a 

 beautiful boy, with hair bright as sunbeams. In his hand he held 

 a basket containing three Apples and three fresh-gathered and 

 fragrant Roses. She said to him, " Carry these to Theophilus, 

 and say that Dorothea hath sent them, and that I go before him 

 to the garden whence they came, and await him there." With 

 these words she bent her neck, and received the death-stroke. 

 Meantime, the angelic boy sought Theophilus, and placed before 

 him the basket of celestial fruit and flowers, saying, " Dorothea 

 sends thee these," and vanished. Struck by the marvellous inci- 

 dent, Theophilus tasted of the heavenly fruit, and commenced a 

 new life, following in Dorothea's footsteps, and eventually obtaining 

 the crown of martyrdom. 



Mr. Dyer quotes the following from 'Notes and Queries': — 

 " In South-east Devon and the neighbourhood, a curious legend is, 

 we learn, current among the farmers respecting St. Dunstan a,nd 



