Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/163

 Charms, etc. 151 " Christ was born in Bethlehem, Baptised in the river Jordan ; There he digged a well, And turned the water against the hill, So shall thy blood stand still : In the name," etc. There are other versions all much alike. A prose one runs thus : " Baptised in the river Jordan when the water was wild, the water was good, the water stood, so shall thy blood. In the name," etc. -T. Q. C. The Rev. S. Rundle says a charmer once told him the charm for staunching blood consisted in saying a verse from the Psalms ; but she could not read, and he was inclined to believe the form was, "Jesus came to the river Jordan, and said, 'Stand,' and it stood; and so I bid thee, blood, stand. In the name," etc. For bleeding at the nose, a door-key is often placed against the back. Cuts are plugged with cobwebs, flue from a man's hat, tobacco leaves, and occasionally filled with salt. Club-moss is considered good for eye diseases. On the third day of the moon, when the thin crescent is seen for the first time, show it the knife with which the moss for the charm is to be cut, and repeat, "As Christ healed the issue of blood. So I bid thee begone : In the name of, " etc, Mr. Robert Hunt says, " Do thou cut what thou cuttest for good ! " " At sun-down, having carefully washed the hands, the club-moss is to be cut kneeling. It is to be carefully wrapped in a white cloth, and subsequently boiled in water taken from the spring nearest its place of growth. This may be used as a fomentation. Or the club-moss made into an ointment with butter made from the milk of a new cow." A " stye" on the eye is often stroked nine times with a cat's tail ; with a wedding ring taken from a dead woman's, or a silver one