Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/148

 136 Superstitions. against the other, and was holden 'un fast, too. So I quietly broke the necks of both, and carried em home." "The grapes are sour" is in Cornwall often changed to " Lev-un go ! he's dry eaten after all," as the old man said when he couldn't catch the hare. Sailors and fishermen have naturally many weather proverbs, of which I will give a few : — "A north wind is a broom for the Channel." "A Saturday's moon is a sailor's curse." "A Saturday's and Sunday's moon Comes once in seven years too soon." " Between twelve and two you'll see what the day will do." "A southerly wind with a fog bring an easterly wind in 'snog' (with certainty)." " Friday's noon is Sunday's doom." " Friday and the week are never alike." " There's never a Saturday in the year But what the sun it doth appear," etc. " Weather dogs " are pillars of light coloured like the rainbow, which appear on the horizon generally over the sea in unsettled weather, and always foretell storms. The inland dwellers of Corn- wall have also their wise sayings on this subject. Rooks darting around a rookery, sparrows twittering, donkeys braying, are signs of rain. Cats running wildly about a house are said to bring storms on their tails. Some of their omens are simply ludicrous, such as "We may look for wet when a cat, in washing its face, puts its paw over its ear," or when " hurlers " (small sparks) play about the bars of a grate. A cock crowing on a stone is a sign of fine weather ; on the doorstep, of a stranger. But here it is well known " That fools are weather-wise," and "That those that are weather-wise are rarely otherwise." In West Cornwall, not very long ago farmers, before they began to break up a grass field or plough for sowing, always turned the faces of the cattle attached to the plough towards the west and solemnly said, "In the name of God let us begin," and then with the sun's course proceeded on their work. Everything in this