Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/193

 exclaims: “Wha'll buy my jantle Jockie belaand?” No. 2 answers: “What if he dees i' dy ain haand?" No. 2 replies: “Da back sall bear da saddle baand, thro' moss, thro' mire, thro' mony a laand, that gars my jantle Jockie dee or get a faa.” The burning triangle is now handed to No. 2, who repeats the same formula together with No. 3, and so on to the next; and anyone in whose hand the “gentle Jockie dees” (fire goes out) or “gets a faa” (falls) that one is in a wad, and is punished (?) by kissing every person of the opposite sex present, or by answering a number of dark questions, commonly having reference to love and courtship.

Straw was put to numerous uses by the old Shetlander. It was food and bedding for his cattle. It thatched his roof and formed his couch at night. The very seat on which he sat was made of this humble material. It furnished another favourite subject for evening amusement. No. 1 of the party begins by asking No. 2: “What