1888,] 67 (Crane, 
ber of years more. On her dying bed she refused to confess, saying it was 
unnecessary as she should live five years, and when she grew too weak to 
Speak she uttered the sound of the cuckoo five times, and finally held up 
her five fingers and died (Pauli, 289). In regard to unfavorable omens, 
Etienne de Bourbon cites a story from Jacques de Vitry about a king of 
Castile, who, while advancing against the Saracens, met a flock of crows. 
Some of the soldiers urged the king to return, but he very sensibly said 
that the crows were not older than four years, whereas he had fought 
more than twenty against the Saracens, and knew more about the way to 
fight them than the crows did. He advanced and beat his enemies (No. 
353). In another story (No. 355), from the same source, an innkeeper de- 
tained a countryman in his tavern by making a noise with a bladder which 
the latter said was a bad omen. Fortune-tellers flourished then as now— 
one had a house divided into several parts, in one of which he received 
those coming to consult him, but overheard from an adjoining part what 
they said among themselves. The inquirers were then led by a round- 
about way to that very part where the diviner addressed them by name, 
and answered their questions (No. 857). Another fortune-teller, an old 
Woman, sent her son to steal the cattle of a rich peasant who lived 
at some distance, and tie them to a tree in the forest. The owner was 
then told by the son that in a certain town there was a good fortune-teller, 
Who could inform him where his cattle were. This the old woman did, and 
earned great fame thereby (No. 358). The most interesting story of this 
kind, however, is one describing an event of which Etienne himself was 
“0 eye-witness (No. 860). We give it in his own words: ‘““When I was a 
Student in Paris, on Christmas Eve, while our companions were at Vespers, 
4 Certain notorious thief entered our lodging, and opening the room of one 
of our comrades, carried away several volumes of law books. When the 
Owner wanted to use them after the holiday, he found they were gone, and 
hastened to the fortune-tellers (malificos). After many had deceived him, 
©ne conjured up some evil spirits and made the student look into a mirror, 
in which he saw, among other things, that a certain comrade of ours, a 
relative of his, and whom we believed the most honest of our number, had 
Stolen his books. The owner accused him of the theft not only among the 
Students, but also among his friends. When, however, the aforesaid thief 
had stolen some other things, and had been detected, he took refuge in the 
belfry of a church, and told every one who asked him, what’he had stolen, 
and where it was. After some students who lived near us had discovered 
in this way a wallet (mantica), which had been stolen, the one who had 
lost. hig law books reluctantly consented to go to the thief, and inquire 
about them, The thief told him when and where he had stolen them, and 
designated the dwelling of the Jew to whom he had pawned them, and 
where the owner found them.’’ Even the clairvoyants of the present day 
have their counterparts in the old women who had the dresses or girdles 
of the sick brought them, in order to divine the diseases of the owners 
(No. 363). Those were also the days of witchcraft (No. 364, 366, 367), 
