Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/512

 454 Collectanea.

Address to a crab to make it run towards the sea when found some distance from the water —

"Tip, tap, taesie.

Keep your mind aesie. The tide 's comin' in, If you run a mile awa' The tide will tak' you in."

CHILDEEN'S RHYMES.

"ABC soup, maragan a' mhuilt, Cuir do leabhar anns a' phoit, Agus gheibh thu fhein an soup."

("ABC soup, bloody puddings of the wedder, / Put your book in the pot, / And you will get the soup.")

The above is from Applecross, a Barra version of it is —

" A B soup, maragan a' mhuilt, Gill' an cota glas Cuir an fheoil 'sa phrais, Amhu, amhu, ithidh mi e."

("A B soup, wedder puddings, / Lad of the gray coat, / Put the meat in the pot / Miaw, miaw, I'll eat it.")

The tradition that the Devil spoils brambles in September is shown in the following, repeated about the time of Rood Fair held at Dumfries in the end of September, the brambles having been made poisonous the night before the Fair.

" Oh weans, ho weans, the morn's the fair. Ye mana eat the brambles mair. This nicht the Deil gangs ower then a' Tae touch them wi' his pooshioned paw "

From Barra —

"Little kettle burst the brow. Short of petticoats of brown. That is in the left off sound Dinkum dolt, Donald MacSandie."

This is supposed to be the English equivalent of the Gaelic counting-out rhyme " Gille beag " ante, p. 207.

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