Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 17, 1906.djvu/387

 Collectanea.

371

whether there is more than analogy. Dr. Weir, unfortunately, does not state whether the trick he describes is called " Mouse " or whether he so styles it on account of the analogy. Admitting that the intention of both is the same, I cannot see any identity of principle. They start quite differently, and while Kebe viokeis repeats a particular self-solving movement four times, the other trick makes a fourfold repetition of a weaving move- ment, followed by as many repetitions of a solvent or unweaver. The simplest form of the " Mouse alternative " is as follows : Place the loop over the middle finger of the left hand. Take up the ulnar string, pass it between middle finger and index, round the back of the index, lay it along the palmar side of the fingers. Take up the radial string, pass it between index and mid finger distal to palm string and dorsal string, and round the back of the mid finger out to the palm side again (Fig. 25^).

b

Fig. 25.

The elementary form of Kebe mokeis is as follows : Put loop over index and mid finger of left hand. Put right hand into the loop from proximal, with index thrust between index and mid finger of left hand pick up the dorsal string, pull it through and out proximal to the radial string. Twist the right index a half circle with the clock, and place its loop over the middle finger (Fig. 25 a). In each of these cases when the loop is removed from the index the string runs off. But there the resemblance to my thinking ends. The base of Kebe mokeis is a trick of the Bull class, with the characteristic