Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/164

 set. A pair of steel scissors or two keys were held in the hand of the operator in the form of a cross, and through the bool of the scissors or key the molten lead was poured into the water. The numerous shapes assumed by the lead were carefully examined, and the operation was repeated until a piece was found in form like the human heart. This was sewn in the left breast of some article of underclothing and worn by the patient for three moons. Further, the water used in this ceremony was made into porridge, of which the patient partook seated in the “guit o' da door,” at the hour of sunset. In casting the heart, attention was paid to the moon: for the aaber heart-wear the time chosen was the waning moon and the ebbing tide, and for the feckless form the opposite was deemed the most fitting time.

The most serious forms of disease were “mort-caald” and “inbred fever,” which no doubt corresponds with our bronchitis and influenza. Gulsa, or the yellow