Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/258

244 you?" The man replies,—"The owner of the vineyard dug up the ore. A heap of gold was taken out, and he gave it to me, but I wouldn't take it. I said,—"Who is going to take that on his back and carry it all the way home?"" "Well," says the lion,—"What remedy did he say there was for me?" The man says,—"And for you he said,—"If he eats the head of a foolish man he will grow strong.""

The lion thought it all over very carefully, then, raising his paw very gently towards the man's head, he strikes it to the ground, and smashes and eats it, and he says to himself,—" Lord, I can't find a more foolish man than you on the face of the earth! "

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Talas (Cesarea).

Buckinghamshire.

, demolished about thirty years ago, was situated where now is the garden of the Mound, Long Crendon, and at the beginning of the last century was inhabited by two old women. One of them, who was single, stole the wedding-ring of the other, who was lying dangerously ill. So the sick woman vowed that after her death she would haunt and torment the thief. This she did, and the victim felt as if she were being pricked by pins and followed by the ghost, especially when near an old elm-tree which was on the green in front of the house. This continued until the ghost was laid in the salt-box of the house, which was kept near the fireplace to keep the salt dry. The ceremony of laying the ghost was performed by twelve parsons, who, standing in the middle of the room, chanted a prayer backwards, one of them meanwhile holding a dove in his hand. The spirit, in the shape of the dead woman, tore the dove in pieces, and then went into the salt-box, there to remain "whilst water runs and the sun shines."

The above account was given by Mrs. Cadle, of Long Crendon, who heard it from her grandmother.