NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



gist— which injure various plants. They are thus bene- 

 factors of men and not to be destroyed. Now, in those 

 rude days when economic entomology w^as unknown, 

 fire was the accredited instrument to destroy aphides, 

 and when the torch was to be applied the useful lady 

 bird must be set free from the fire-peril. 



In England and Scotland the lady bird was reputed 

 wise in divining one's lover and future mate, a dignity 

 which it shared with the gypsy queen. A Norfolk tradi- 

 tion knows this beetle as "Bishop Barnabee," and the 

 girls thereabout would hold it in their palms watching 

 the direction of its flight while they crooned the ditty: 



" Bishop, Bishop Barnabee, 

 Tell me when my wedding be: 

 If it be to-morrow day 

 Take your wings and fly away! 

 Fly to the east, fly to the west, 

 Fly to him that I love best!" 



The Scotch gave this beetle the same prophetic in- 

 sight, but varied the song of enchantment and the name. 



"Lady, Lady Lanners; Lady, Lady Lanners, 

 Tak' up your elowk aboot your head 

 An' flee awa' to Flan'ers. 

 Flee ower firth, an' flee ower fell, 

 Flee ower pule, an' rinnan well, 

 Flee ye east and flee ye west. 

 Flee til him that lo'es me best!" 



These illustrations, which could be greatly extended, 

 should include at least a reference to the cricket's power 

 to mould human destiny. Dickens, in liis charming 

 story The Cricket on the Hearth, has embodied a super- 

 stition almost universal among Anglo-Saxons. America 



298 



