Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/307

 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides. 267

at the bottom of it, according to current opinion. He had a capital pony; and a few days after the cow's death one of his parishioners, looking at the pony, began to dispraise it in no measured terms, of course with the notion of warding off the attention of the Powers of Evil. Another advised him to put his new cow in a park [anglice paddock) at some dis- tance from the chapel, on Sundays, so that it might not run the risk of being " overlooked" by any of the worshippers.

Much may, moreover, be done by right selection of days for any purpose.

Monday is a good day for changing one's residence^ pro- vided it be from north to south.

Tuesday is a good day to get married, or for setting the warp in the loom, or for shearing, which means cutting the corn, not the sheep.

The Devil cannot touch what is done on a Tuesday.

There was a man who had no son to help him with the harvest; and when one day a fine looking young man offered himself as a servant, he was glad to accept him. The terms were that he was to have one load for his wages. The farmer saw with whom he had to deal, and felt sure the load would be of large proportions; and he consulted a wise man who told him to address his assistant thus:

" Tuesday I sowed, And Tuesday I mowed, And Tuesday I carried my first load, And let it not be among thy deeds, O Demon, To take with thee what is done in the Lord."

The new " hand " went off in a flame of fire.

When All Saints is on a Wednesday the men of the earth are under affliction.

Thursday is St. Columcille's Day. There is a rhythmical saying:

" Thursday, the day of kind Cille Coluni. A day for setting sheep apart for luck, For arranging the thread in the loom, And for getting a wild cow to take to its calf."