164 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 41. 



The present popular and only German name of 

 the mistletoe, the parent of our English denomina- 

 tion, is Mistel, which is evidently only Meist-heyl 

 (most heal, or healing), the superlative of the 

 above Gut-heyl, and both wonderfully agreeing 

 with the name which Pliny says is bore in his time. 

 Omnia sanans. William Bell, Ph. D. 



■FOLK LORE. 



Folk Lore of South Northaviptonsliire . — ISTo. 2. 



Mice. — A sudden influx of mice into a house, 

 hitherto free from their ravages, denotes approach- 

 ing mortality aiumig its inhabitants. A mouse 

 running over a person is considered to be an infal- 

 lible sign of death, as is also the squeaking of one 

 behind the bed of an invalid, or the ajipearance or 

 1 apparition of a white mouse running across the 

 room. To meet with a shrew-mouse, in going a 

 journey, is reckoned ominous of evil. The country 

 people have an idea that the harvest-mouse is un- 

 able to cross a path wliicli has been trod by man. 



VVhe 

 my 



enever they attempt, they are immediately, as 

 informant expressed it, " struck dead." This, 

 they sav, accounts for the numbers which on a 

 smnmer's evening may be found lying dead on the 

 verge of the field footpaths, without any external 

 wound or apparent cause for their demise. 



Snakes. — There is a very prevalent belief that 

 a snake can never die till the sun is down. Cut 

 or hack it as you will, it will never die till sunset. 

 This idea has evidently its source in the amazing 

 vitalitv common to the species. 



Poultry. — The crowing of a hen bodes evil, and 

 is frequently followed by the death of some mem- 

 ber of the family. When, therefore. Dame Partlet 

 thus experiments upon the note of her mate, she 

 pays her head as the price of her temerity, a com- 

 plete severance of the offending member being 

 supposed to be the only way of averting the 

 threatened calamity. No house, it is said, can 

 thrive whose hens are addicted to this kind of 

 amusement. Hence the old proverb often quoted 

 in this district : 



" A whi^tlinij woman and a crowing hen, 

 Is neithei' fit for God nor men." 



According to Pluquet, the Normans have a 

 similar belief, and a saying singularly like the 

 English one : — 



" Un poule qui chante le coq, et une fille qui siffle, 

 portent malheur dans la maison." 



Before the death of a farmer his poultry fre- 

 quently go to roost at noon -day, instead of at the 

 usual time. When the cock struts up to the door 

 and sounds his clarion on the threshold, the house- 

 wife is warned that she may soon expect a stran- 

 ger. In what is technically termed "setting a 

 hen," care is taken that the nest be composed of 



an odd number of eggs. If even, the chickens 

 would not prosper. Each egg is always marked 

 with a little black cross, ostensibly for the purpose 

 of distinguishing them from the others, but also 

 supposed to be instrumental in producing good 

 chickens, and preventing any attack from the 

 weasel or other farm-yard marauders. The last 

 egg the hen lays is carefully preserved, its posses- 

 sion being supposed to operate as a charm upon 

 the well- doing of the poultry. In some cases, 

 though less connnonly, the one laid on Good Friday 

 is preserved, from the same reason. When a baby 

 is first taken out to see its friends, it is customary 

 for them to give it an egg : this, if preserved, is 

 held to be a source of good fortune to the future 

 man. (Vide Brand, ii. p. 48.) The first egg laid 

 by a pullet is usually secured by the shepherd, in 

 order to present to his sweetheart, — the luckiest 

 gift, it is believed, he can give her. 



CroiL's. — To see a crow flying alone is a token 

 of bad luck. An odd one, perched in the path of 

 the observer, is a sign of wrath. 



Otvls. — The ominous screech of this, the most 

 ominous of all birds, is still heard with alarm; and 

 he remains with us, as in Chaucer's days, 



" The oule eke that of doth the bode bringeth." 



When, as sometimes happens, he exchanges the 

 darkness of his ivy bush for the rays of the sun at 

 noon-day, his presence is looked upon as indicative 

 of bad luck to the beholder. Hence it not infre- 

 quently happens that a mortal is as much scared 

 by one of these occasional flights as the small bird 

 denizens of the tree on which he may happen to 

 alight. 



Cuckoos. — When the cry of the cuckoo is heard 

 for the first time in the season, it is customary to 

 turn the money in the pocket, and wish. If within 

 the bounds of reason, it is sure to be fulfilled. In 

 reference to the pecuniary idea respecting the 

 cuckoo, the children sing, — 



" Cuckoo, cuckoo, cherry tree, 

 Catch a penny and give it to me." 



Robins and WrcJis. — The robin is considered a 

 sacred bird : to kill one is little less than sacrilege, 

 and its eggs are free from the destroying hand of 

 the bird-nester. It is asserted that the respect 

 shown to it by man is joined in by the animals of 

 the wood. The weasel and wild cat, it is said, will 

 neither molest it, nor eat it when killed. The high 

 favour in which this bird is held is usually attri- 

 buted to the ballad of The Babes in the Wood. 

 Few, however, among the peasantry of this dis- 

 trict have even heard of it ; and, however much 

 that beautiful tale may have tended to popularise 

 the belief, it is evident that we must trace the 

 origin to a more remote source. One cause for the 

 veneration in which it is held may be the supersti- 

 tion which represents liira as the medium through 

 which mankind are warned of approaching death. 



