Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/181

 Collectanea. 171

Folklore of the War.

Snakes: an elephant. — Just before the outbreak of the war a Bengali saw a cluster of snakes descend from the sky, and another saw the heavens open on a stormy night, disclosing a gigantic elephant. A person at Meerut saw a two-headed serpent, which emitted fire and smoke at intervals, and whose path was marked by the scorching of the grass. It was also said to have been seen throwing up into the air with its mouths a brilliant ruby, which lit up the surrounding country. In view of these alarming rumours, coupled with the belief that a Bengali saint girl was coming from Calcutta to conquer the reptile and capture the ruby, enormous crowds assembled to witness the miracle, but after a time they returned disappointed. — The Ifidiaman, 4th September, 1914.

Comets and zvar} — The curious in Russia are noting that in the past four centuries great comets have appeared only eleven times, each time in a year of war. The only exceptions were in the Turkish Campaign of 1877 and in the war with Japan, though a faint comet was visible in January, 1904. Delavant's comet, recently discovered, keeps up the tradition. — The Morning Post, 5th September, 19 14.

^ " Like a comet burn'd That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge In the Arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war." — Milton, Paradise Lost, ii., 708.

" There with long bloudy haire, a Blazing Star Threatens the World with Famin, Plague & War : To Princes, death : to Kingdoms, many crosses : To all Estates, inevitable Losses :

To Heard-men, Rot : to Plough-men, hap-lesse Seasons : To Saylers, Storms : to Cities, civill Treasons."

— Joshua Sylvester, translation oi Du Bartas, his Divine IVeekes and IVor/ces, folio, 1633, p. 33.

The appearance 01 comets foreboded the death of Julius Caesar :

" non alias caelo ceciderunt plura sereno . fulgura, nee diri toties arsere cometae." — Virgil, Georgics, i., 487-488 ; cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist, i., 22.