Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/385

Rh on the land has turned out badly. In two ways you have come to grief." Then he spake the following gâtha:—

Unspoken Nettles.—Nettles in many parts of Scotland were till not very many years ago used as food, and were looked upon as a wholesome diet. The young and tender leaves were gathered, boiled, then mashed (Scoticè, chappit), mixed with a little oat-meal, and reboiled for a short time. They were cooked in the same way as "greens," which were and are still thought to possess medicinal virtues. In the north such a dish of nettles went by the name of "nettle kail," as the dish of "greens" went by that of "chappit kail." But the nettle, as in many other parts, was used as a medicine under the form of "nettle ale," for the cure of jaundice. The ale was prepared in the following manner: a quantity of nettle-roots was gathered, thoroughly washed, and then boiled for hours in water till a strong extract was got. This extract was then treated with yeast, "barm," fermented, "vrocht," and bottled. A man whose mother was in the habit of making this ale lately told me he had often drunk it, and found it quite palatable.

In one district at least the medicinal virtue of the nettle lay in its being "unspoken," i.e. no one must speak to the gatherer of it, and collected at the hour of midnight. The following story, communicated