Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/167

Rh one whom I made, but my first." Perhaps there is a reference to some magic figure.

The Key-and-Bible Charm is also used for finding a thief; it is done by two old women, where three ways meet.

The Nereids are universally believed in. I had much the same account in all parts of the island. The men at first laughed, and said there were no such things; but when I told them that we had Nereids in England, only they were little folk with tall, peaked hats, they took heart, and confessed that, though they had never seen one, people did say, and so forth. They are described as very beautiful women, with black hair, tall, and clad in white; a beautiful girl is often called a "Nereid," while an ugly hag is called a "Fate." They meet men at night, and do them damage by taking away sight, or hearing, or the use of some limb. The old gardener who gave me the charms was deaf. Once when he was keeping his flock on the mountains, he heard a great noise as of bells, and ever since he has been deaf. There is a Nereid in the whirlwind. To keep them off, make a circle round you with a black-handled knife.

Marriage.—When a man marries, his friends take him to the house, put him on a large dish, and change his clothes. The girls change the clothes of the bride. The lads tie round the groom a kerchief with a lock in it, to prevent an enemy from rendering him impotent; which he could otherwise do, in the church, by cursing him while the priest pronounced the "blessing." On the wedding night, the groom puts a coin under his pillow, which is the perquisite of the woman who made the bed, as the "price of virginity." On the day after, they take the groom to an, and rub his hands and face with nettles.

Birth.—The priest is called in to read over the babe. Three days after, in the evening, friends and relatives assemble. They throw water and salt in a basin, bathe the child, then drop into it coins for the midwife. On that day fate writes the child's destiny on its forehead; the