Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/447

Rh measurements may yield results of value to the science of biology and to students of psychology. The only known historical parallels, apart from the fabulous Romulus, are the Wild Boy of Lithuania, and Peter, the Wild Boy of Hanover Forest, both of whom were discovered early in the eighteenth century. Peter, who was a hopeless imbecile, was taken to London in 1725, and lionised by society, whose behaviour in this respect provoked the satires of Swift and Defoe.—The Morning Post, 27th July, 1914.

Daol is the generic term for beetle in Irish. The well-known beetle Ocypus olens, called in England the Devil's Coach-horse, has earned for itself an evil reputation by its black and ugly appearance, and its attitude of defiance when met on open ground. It turns up its tail as if ready to sting, and lifts its head with open mandibles. The following extraordinary legend is told of it in the counties of Wicklow and Waterford and elsewhere, and the attitude is supposed to be that of asking pardon.

The day before Our Lord's betrayal He came to a field where the people were sowing corn. He blessed the work, and as a result the crop grew up miraculously, so that when the Jews searching for Our Lord next day came to the spot they found a field of wheat. They inquired if the Saviour had gone that way, and were told He had passed when the corn was being sowed. "That is too long ago," they said, and turned back. Then the Evil One, taking the form of a Darragh Daol, put up his head and said, "Yesterday, yesterday," and set His enemies on His track. Wherefore the Dar Daol should be killed whensoever met. But there is only one safe way of doing it, they say in Co. Wicklow, for if you kill it with your thumb, as is done in the south of Ireland, or crush it with your boot, a stone, or a stick, the slightest