Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/381

Rh stition connected with breathing on a child, she answered, "No"; but proceeded to relate what had happened to herself in Ireland some thirty years ago. "We were quartered in Ireland at Castletown, county Limerick. I was very young at the time, only about twenty-two. I had dressed my little girls so nicely, I thought, in blue merino frocks and straw hats. It was Sunday, and we were going to chapel or for a walk; I forget which now. Presently a respectable-looking woman met me and admired the children, asking if they were mine, and praising them. Fancy my feelings when she suddenly spat on each of their new hats. I was frightened; I never stopped to ask why did she do it, but hurried away as fast as I could. I was afterwards told by an Irishman, to whom I spoke about it, that the woman who had done this must have been a kind-hearted person; for, knowing that she possessed the gift of the evil eye, she had spat on the children to prevent their falling sick."

Some curious idea of the power to cause evil, and to counteract the evil lying latent in the same individual, may be traced also in the old adage "a hair of the dog that bit him"; a belief which holds good now in India, as it once did in England. The following occurrence took place on an estate in the Azimgarh district. A black dog happened one day to fly at a boy who was passing by. It jumped at the lad and bit him severely. All the friends and neighbours clustered round him and warned him that his days were numbered. There was no hope for him; the dog was mad, and in twenty-one days he must die. An effort was made by the owner of the estate to induce him to have the wound burned with a hot coal; but he would not face the ordeal. He became very depressed, and begged for some red broadcloth, "Sultani banat," of which he was anxious to make up some pills. As broadcloth was not available, red salon (Turkey red) was solemnly administered in a dose of three pills. This remedy is a favourite one for sick cattle. To make assurance doubly sure, the lad procured eight annas, and adjourned to a neighbouring quack, who, after some passes, blowings on the wound, and incantations, produced three hairs of the dog that bit him. On this, the lad's mind was tranquilized, and the twenty-first day passed without any calamity.