Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/170

 1 60 Collectanea.

[On the legends connected with the RoUright Stones, see the article by Sir A. J. Evans in Fo/k-Lore, vol. vi. (1895), p. 6 sgq^^

Shropshire. — On Titterstone Clee Hill "a wall thrown down" was put up at the time of the Revolution, when cannon would fire balls from there to Ludlow Castle. " Old women in their red cloaks " would go up into the enclosure. The hill was an island in the time of St. Paul. (1881.)

An archway on the north side of Clun Church is said to be the tomb of a man who, coming from Holy Communion, was slain by his brother, and, on account of his peculiar death, was not allowed to be buried in the church. (1882.)

Somersetshire. — The "Giant's Chair" is a cavity on the south side of the top of Grabbist Hill, near Dunster. In this a giant used to sit, bathe his feet in the river below, and reach out to Dunster Castle (when clothes were hanging to dry) for a towel wherewith to wipe them. (1876.)

Tarr Steps, near Hawkridge, were built by the devil, who brought the stones in his apron from a small distance. In the wood above the Steps is a heap of stones which he dropped when his apron-string broke.

A king used to live at Bratton Court, near Dunster. There is still a gaol there. The King of Dunster used to fight the King of Porlock. (Heard in 1876.)

At Water Row, near Wiveliscombe, in July, 1897, I have often heard little girls singing the following to the tune of the original poiKa. -^jy young man is fond of me,

My young man has gone to sea. And, if he should marry me, Oh ! how happy I shall be.

At the same place and time I heard the following verse :

Mother, mother, Kelly, Nelly,

Make a cake to fill my belly.

Mother made a seedy cake

Which gave me the belly ache. (J"ly> 1S97.)

Suffolk. — A Suffolk girl, Mary Plant, who was a servant of my mother's, about 1845, told me that when there was a thunderstorm her father would beat any of his children that spoke, as he said that the thunder was the voice of God. (1845.)