Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/346

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3 1 4 Collerfanea.

Piskies. — When the piskies have been hard at work threshing corn, if you hsten through the keyhole of the barn you can hear them saying to each other : " Do you sweat ? I sweat ! " " Do you sweat ? I sweat ! "

Piskies will lead you round and round a field, but you can find your way out of it if you turn your pocket inside out.

(From fisherman's daughter, CEt. 40. 1910.)

Siokenhaiii, S. Devon. Church Removal — They tried to build the Church in another spot, but as fast as they built it up, the devil pulled it down again. (From tradition still current in the parish. 1910).

Denbury, near Newton Abbott, Devonshire. Ancie?it Encampment.— [Dtnhnxy Hill, or Denbury Down, has an encampment.] There is also to be seen an ancient stone, with all the markings thereon, with which the Danes sharpened their weapons of war. [Treasure is said to be hidden there, and these two rhymes are current] :

" When Exeter was a furzey down,

Denbury was a borough town." " If Denbury Down was levelled fair, Denbury could plough with a golden share." {Illustrated Western Weekly News, 5 August, 191 1, page 24.)

Trelawne, ?iear Looe, Corttivall.

Well of St. Nun.— [The Well of St. Nun, or St. Ninnie, also called "Pisky's Well," has this said about it]: "Take what water yau mind to out o' the well, it'll alius fill again ; yau can't empty un, nor can yau move un. They uv tried with oxen to move the bowl, but yau can't." [The bowl contains about five or six gallons.]

{Illustrated Western Weekly News, 5 August, 1911, page 24.)

Clifton, Bristol, Gloucestershire. Bridal Custom. — The night before the wedding, the bride was dressed by the bridesmaids in her very oldest night attire. This is known to have been done at the wedding of a doctor's daughter, cir. 1872.