PRACTICES TO OBTAIN CHILDREN 133 



Russians. 1 It is probably traceable to the same reason. 

 The probability is favoured by the substitution in 

 Nurmekond (Esthonia) of a man's coat, which having 

 been worn by a man would, on the principles of 

 reasoning in the lower culture, have absorbed his 

 qualities and thus be eminently calculated to promote 

 the bride's fertility. The Roman bride was made to 

 sit on a sheepskin. These customs strengthen the 

 presumption already mentioned that the aegis taken at 

 Athens to the bride's house was brought into contact 

 with her. 



I referred just now to the Pierre des pouses near 

 Rennes. The bridal custom of jumping on or over a 

 stone has been so fully examined by Mr. William 

 Crooke, 2 that it need not be further discussed here. 

 In a note to his paper he alludes to the story of 

 Arianrod the daughter of Don in the Mabinogion? 

 In that story the maiden was made to step over a 

 magical wand, with the result that two boys were 

 born. The wand possessed fertilising power, though 

 the incident seems to be regarded as a test of chastity 

 Whether or no the story-teller misunderstood it is not 

 clear ; but a similar power is found ascribed in some- 

 what more than a jocular fashion to a broomstick in 

 some parts of England. Mr. Addy, speaking ap 

 parently of Yorkshire and the adjacent country, says 

 " If a girl strides over a besom-handle, she will be 

 mother before she is a wife. If an unmarried woman 

 has a child people say * She's jumped o'er t'besom, 



1 Schroeder, 89. In a Finnish story bride and bridegroom 

 placed on a whale's hide (Castren, Vorles. 323). 



2 F. L. xiii. 226. 



8 Y Llyvyr Coch, 68 ; Mabinogion, 421 ; Nutt's Ed 66 



