Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/349

Rh in Plates XIV. to XVIII. Nos. 25-32 and 36-40 have been chosen from Colecție de Ouă Incondeiate by Madame Panaitescu, and Nos. 1 to 8 and 33 from an article by A. Tzigara-Samurcaş in Convorbiri Literare for April, 1907. The remaining illustrations are from eggs in my own collection. Amongst the Roumanians of the kingdom, flowers, and, still more, leaves, are everywhere the most common designs, but this is not indicated proportionately in the Plates. A great affection for leaves is a very marked characteristic of the peasant. Nearly all his songs begin Frunză verde de stejar or de salcâm (Oh! green leaf of the oak-tree, or of the acacia), or Foaie verde merişor (Oh! green leaf of the little apple), etc., as the case may be. Nos. I and 2 show different representations of fir needles (brăduleț, a diminutive form of brad, the Roumanian name for the fir). The fir is much used by the Macedonian Roumanians also. The oak-leaf (frunză de stejar. No. 11), is much beloved, and other leaves often seen are the strawberry (frunză căpşunii, Nos. 15, 16, and 38), lime, beech, walnut, clover (trifoi, No. 13), lilac, acacia (salcâm. No. 12). Apple and strawberry blossoms, violets, campanulas, and snowdrops are common floral designs. Those illustrated are No. 3, a flower without a name (floarea fără nume), No. 27, little flowers (floricele), and No. 24, Easter flowers (floarea paştilor). The last of these designs is not Roumanian in character, but is typical of the tea-tray style of flowery pattern which, especially in embroidery, is ousting the old national patterns.

Fruits, such as cherries (No, 14), bramble berries, etc., are also common subjects. Designs from the animal kingdom are perhaps less important, although few are commoner and have more variations than the cock's comb (creasta de cocoş, No. 9), which, however, is also known as the turkey's tail (coada curcei). The spider (păiangenul, No. 21), mole cricket (coropişnita, Gryllus gryllotalpa. No. 4), staghorn beetle (rudaşcă, Lucanus cervus, Nos. 18 and 19), butterfly,