Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/97

 Collectanea. 8 1

top, — " A\'hom shall I marry?" They then take a seed between the thumb and finger and say, — "A rich man, — a poor man, — a beggar man, — a farmer, — a thief"'; " How shall I go to church? coach, — carriage, — wheelbarrow, — chaise." "What shall I wear? silk, — satin, — cotton, — rags." The sentence or word that finishes with the top seed determines the fortune.

I used to hear a great many curious old rhymes. I especially remember one which was intended to make your flesh creep. It was told in the twilight of a winter evening, and had to be said very slowly and solemnly, with the voice rising and falling dramati- cally, and with a strong emphasis on the words in italics : —

" There was a Lady all skiu and bone Such a Lady ne'er was knaiun. She went into a church io /ray. As J have heard many people say. When she got to the church stile. She waited there a little while. And 7C'he)i she got to the church door She waited there a little more. And (hen she entered in. She looked up, and she looked down, And saw a dead man lying on the ground, And from his nose, and mouth, and chin, The worms crawled ottt, and the worms crawled in. And she said to the parson, — " Must /be so?" And the parson said, — " You must be so." And she said. Oh dear, oh dear, O ! "

The exclamations of the lady in the last line were said in a loud startling voice, and the reciter would put her hand suddenly on the- listener's, and make her start.

Another quaint old rhyme was the following :—

" A man, a man of double deed, He sowed his garden full of seed ; When the seed began to grow, 'Twas like a garden full of snow ; When the snow began to fall, Twas like a bird upon the wall ; When the bird began to fly, 'Twas like an eagle in the sky ; W'hen the sky began to roar, 'Twas like a lion at your door ; K