Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/117

 Collectanea. 99

Personification of a River.

^Extract from a Private Letter to the Editor.)

30th January, 1904. " There has been a man drowned in the [Derbyshire] Derwent, and great excitement about finding his body. I tell you this because I was so struck with the way Mrs. Dale [a washerwoman] talked of the river, as if it was a living personage, or deity. I could almost imagine the next step would be to take it offer- ings! 'He didna know Darrant' (a kind of triumph in her voice). ' He said it were nought but a brook.' ' But Darrant got 'im.' ' They never saw his head, he threw his arms up, but Darrant wouldna let him go.' ' Aye, it's a sad pity, seven children ! but he shouldna ha' made so light of Darrant. He knows now ! Nought but a brook ! he knows now ! ' It sounded as if Darrant had punished him for blaspheming and he had now been sum- moned before Darrant his judge ! "

M. Agatha Turner.

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