Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/460

 438 Correspondence.

The Bumble-bee in Magic.

The Rev. J. Conway Walter (Langton Rectory, Horncastle), has sent me the following : —

" My clerk at Woodhall tells me that his great-aunt went to Louth to consult the wise man. His proceedings were as follows. He received the consulting party in a room with no others present and inquired fully into the case. He then laid on the table an open book, the pages of which were covered with queer figures. He then put his head into a cupboard, mumbling some kind of incantation or consultation with his familiar spirit. On reopening the cupboard doors, a large bumble-bee flew out, and presently settled on the open book. The wise man noted the part of the page on which the bee lit and gave his advice accordingly."

Does the bumble-bee appear as a familiar spirit in other English superstitions of the same kind ?

M. Peacock.