Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/175

 Charms, etc. 163 saying " Nettles won't sting this month." When the children were stung and complained, the retort was, " I never said they would not sting you." The blue scabious in Cornwall is never plucked. It is called the devil's bit, and the superstition is handed down from one generation of children to another that, should they transgress and do so, the devil will appear to them in their dreams at night. But anyone who wishes to dream of the devil should pin four ivy-leaves to the corners of his pillow. Flowers plucked from churchyards bring ill-luck, and even visitations from spirits on the plucker. Wrens and robins are sacred in the eyes of Cornish boys, for " Hurt a robin or a wran, Never prosper, boy nor man." A groom who had, when a lad, shot a robin and held it in one of his hands told me that it shook ever after. But they always chase and try to kill the first butterfly of the season ; and, should they succeed, they will overcome their enemies — I suppose, in football, etc. "To hear the first cuckoo of spring on the right ear is lucky, on the left unlucky ; as many times as it repeats its notes will the number of years be before the hearer is married. The cuckoo song — ' In April, come he will, In May, he sings all day, In June, he alters his tune, In July, he prepares to fly. Come August, go he must' — is known all over the county, with additions and slight variations, such as — ' In March, he sits upon his perch. In Aperel, he tunes his bell.' " — South-east Cornwall, W. Pengelly. "A bat in Cornwall is called an 'airy-mouse;' village boys address it as it flits over their heads in the following rhymes— ' Airy-mouse, airy-mouse ! fly over my head. And you shall have a crust of bread. And when I brew, or when I bake, You shall have a piece of my wedding cake.' " — Folperro, T. Q. Couch.