Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/246

 2 24 Collectanea.

Swelling of the neck may be checked or prevented by a neck- lace of amber beads, which must be genuine and of fair size.

For toothache, use toothpicks made from splinters of a tree struck by lightning."^ (See also Days of the Week.)

An excellent cure for whooping-cough is bread made by a married woman who retains her maiden name, — e.g. a Brown who has married a Brown.

For warts, steal a piece of meat from a butcher's shop, rub it on the warts, and hide it. Or put it on a loaded cart, or in some other way insure it being carried some miles ofif. The warts will then disappear on the ninth day (C).

For a cold in the head, rub the nose and the brow between the eyes three times with saliva on retiring, taking care to rub downwards and to allow the application to dry in each time. In the morning there will be copious discharge at the nose and great relief.

Convulsions : — Take off the child's shirt and burn it. Be care- ful not to burn it too fast, or the child may die. This belief flourishes among the poorer classes.

Colic in horses. Put a pan of water on the fire ; by the time it has boiled dry the horse will have recovered.

8. Witches and wizards.

The latter were rarer than the former, but equally evil. Elf- locks in the mane of a horse were known as " witches' saddles," and regarded as proof that the beast had been ridden by them in the night. Nothing seems to have been done beyond the practical measures of combing out the mane and keeping the stable door locked.

A horse-shoe over the door would keep witches out of the house. If they got into the churn and prevented the butter from coming, a shoe recently worn by a stallion, heated red-hot and dropped in, would scald tliem out. If the witch who was doing any one an injury was known or suspected', she might be shot at with a silver bullet. This was quite infallible, as the witch would perhaps die, and certainly lose all power to harm the shooter ; but she might nullify the process if she or one of her family could at once buy or borrow something from him.

•^Cf. vol. xxiii. , p. 193 (Japan).