Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/329

Rh of the plough on the fresh mould, and now I have told you I sha'n't find no more." Nor did he. And after the tale spread about the village many would have given much never to have interfered; but it was all in vain, for never another shilling did Joe find at the foot of his plough.

Told by Mrs. Brown, of Winterton, Norfolk (who died last year, 1895, aged 102), to her granddaughter, Mrs. Goodall, who told it to me.

cleft ash-saplings from a plantation between Needham and Barking, in Suffolk, lately presented to the Society by Mr. Lingwood, were used for the cure of congenital hernia in two children in the year 1894. Three children in all were treated, but the third ash has been left standing. Before they were cut Mr. Lingwood wrote as follows:

"I found the man Mulley, a hurdlemaker by trade, who performed the operation of passing the child through the cleft stick, was not a believer in the efficacy of the cure, or in any way a quack doctor. I have not been able to see him myself, but my father had a conversation with him about the matter, and Mulley said: 'The stick' (which is about the thickness of a stout walking-stick) 'is split up from the ground a few feet and tied at the top, so as to prevent its "running"; the cleft is then held open and the child is passed through three times, each time by a different person. The stick is then securely bound up at short intervals. If it grows together the child will recover.' No care seems to be taken to ensure the growth of the stick beyond that implied in the binding up by an experienced person. The three sticks that were used last year are now growing in the little plantation, where my father and brother have seen them Of course, standing in a wood like this is a protection to them, but I can ask Mulley as to protecting them if you like. When next at Needham I will see them and make a drawing of them for you. I see no reason why I should not cut them if the Society would like one, as all the children are cured (!) I suppose the operator and others are now