Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/229

 Miscellanea. 217

heals sores, but must be gathered on the north side of a hedge. Butter is better for making ointment with than lard, because cows feed on herbs, and all herbs are good for something.

Mrs. T.'s mother used herbs very extensively, and many people used to come to her for bitters, ointments, dried herbs, and also to ask her to say a certain prayer for the sick. This prayer can only be taught by a man to a woman, or a woman to a man, otherwise it loses its efficacy. On one occasion the friends of a man came to her, he being so violently ill with some inflam- matory complaint, that he was with difficulty held down in his bed. She said the prayer, and on their return they found him lying perfectly quiet. Here is a prayer for a burn —

" There was two angels came from the West, One blowed fire, the other frost. Out fire, In frost, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

There are many people still who can stop bleeding by just saying " something." A man here stopped a wound bleeding only a week or so before the account was given to me. His wife said that he was sent for in the middle of the night to a friend of his because a blood vessel had burst inside his head, and he stayed the blood before the doctor came. He also stopped the bleeding from a bad cut in a boy's foot quite lately. The foot was stretched out on a stool before him and he just put his hands out over it and said something— of course, not allowing any of the standers- by to hear what he said. The wound was then streaming, so that the blood ran over the floor, but the flow ceased and the wound only wept a little after the words were spoken.

The same man can also prevent a thorn festering. He cured a woman a little while back without even seeing her. She fell on one hand into a bundle of furze and went to his house for help. He was out at the time, but was told of the occurrence on his return and said something which cured her. His mother could touch for king's evil. The old belief in the efficacy of a rope with which a man has been hanged is still alive. It was brought under the notice of a doctor as having cured some one suffering from king's evil but a few months ago. A man who has stopped bleeding or thorns festering in this manner must never be paid, nor ask a fee, but a present of some sort should be made him.