Page:Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders.djvu/46

24 the lions breed. They breeds every seven years, and when the lions breed the young pigs be still-born.”

Childhood has its own Folk-lore all England over—its traditional beliefs and practices, couched most commonly in verses which attune the infant ear, and charm the infant imagination. The young northern is peculiarly favoured in these respects. Does he want to make a butterfly alight, he has only to repeat the following lines—

and, if only he say them often enough, the charm never fails. Does rain threaten to spoil a holiday, let him chant out—

or—

or, more quaintly yet—

and, sooner or later, the rain will depart. If there be a rainbow the juvenile devotee must look at it all the time. The Sunderland version runs thus—

Such rhymes are in use, I believe, in every nursery in England; but the following verse, though said to be popular in Berwickshire, is unknown elsewhere: