Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/362

 326

Collectanea.

right index pull out the string between the left thumb and index to form a long loop. Bring the right hand back above the left hand and close the left thumb and index, inclosing all strings. Insert the closed left thumb and index proximally in the right index loop, drawing the right hand away and the string runs out (Fig. A).

In the diagram the left thumb and index have been separated again after passing for the last time through the loop. This facilitates the final movement.

3. Put the loop over the left little finger and interlace the strings in and out through the fingers, crossing them between each finger and the next, but always keeping the palmar little finger string proximal. Loop round the thumb and return, keeping the string mentioned distal and its initial movement round the back of the index. Release the thumb, pull the slack of the loop from the ulnar side, and the string runs out.

4. Pass the loop through the buttonhole and hold the ends on the thumbs. Catch the ulnar string of the left thumb with the right little finger, and moving the left little finger clear above the loop so made catch with it the right thumb radial string. Release the thumb of one hand and the little finger of the other. Extend and the string runs out.

The first of these tricks is the same as that which in Folk- Lore for September, 1906 (vol. xvii. p. 356) I have called " Cutting off the head." My knowledge of that trick was derived when a young child from a still younger child who had seen it and gave me a partial description, which I supplied by the only