Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/238

 2 1 6 Collectanea.

St. Johns Eve. — Young men gather verbena. With it in their possession, girls with whom they shake hands will fall in love with them.

The Borrowing Days. — An old peasant at Cogne, in the Val d'Aosta, told me the following : — An old woman lived with her lambs at the bottom of the Valle Pontei at a place called Er Follett. When the end of March arrived she sang : —

'• Marz, Marzolin, Le mie pecore son salve."

(Mnrch, little March, my larnbs are safe.) March, or ihefolietlo,^ answered : —

" Tre giorni ho ancora, Tre li prendo dal compare Aprile, Tutte le tue pecore creperanno."

(Three days have I still ; three I will borrow from friend April ; all your lambs shall die.) Nothing more was heard, but a land- slip shortly buried Er Follett and all its inhabitants.

Calendar and Weather Sayings : —

A dry January means a bad season.

If St. Vincent's Day (Jan. 22nd) is fine and clear, there will be as much wine as water.

If St. Paul's Day (Jan. 2Sth) is fine, it means a fine summer.

When a cuckoo sings in April, it is a good sign.

He who has seen three fine Aprils ought not to mind dying.

A wet April and a windy May will make a happy year.

On St. George's Day (April 23rd) sow barley ; on St. Mark's Day (April 25th) it will be too late.

If it rains on St. Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 24th), it will rain all autumn.

December snow lies four months.

A warm Christmas means a cold Easter.

If Christmas Day falls on a Monday, of three bulls you will keep only one.

If it rains on Thursday, it will rain all Friday and Saturday till mid-day.

■^ The foI/eUo is a Puck-like little being full of mischief.