Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/118

, they were rewarded with an aamas or kjoab. The person who attempted to cross a fisherman's path when on his way to the boat, intended to do him scathe.

When such was really done, the fisherman, on coming to the point of crossing, took out his skön or tullie (sea knife), and made a scratch on the ground in the form of a cross, uttering (together with a spittle) the word twee-te-see-dee. The sign of the cross was considered an antidote against the intended evil, and the spittle an emphatic expression of contempt for the unchancy hag.

When a crew assembled at their boat at the beginning of the season, each man had his “ain lug o' da taft,” or seat for pulling, and this order was never altered. If one had occasion to pass from one part of the boat to another, it was considered very unlucky to go between a man and his kabe. On leaving the land the boat was always turned with the sun—from east to west—never in the opposite direction, which was