Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/169

 Rh and all, was hastily buried. According to the popular belief, had the body been left in the loch, or on shore within sight of it, not a single herring would have ventured near it.

Plough Monday.—In Cambridge this year, Plough Monday was observed by bands of young men, profusely ornamented with scarves and ribbons, who dragged wooden ploughs of a primitive description about the streets. They ran at a good pace, and by their side ran a companion with a money-box collecting donations. In the bands which I saw, there was no woman or man dressed as a woman, such as we read of in Brand and Dyer. A friend, who was with me, noticed (what I failed to observe) that the men who were dragging the plough wore bosses in front, like the bosses which horses in harness have on their chests.

J. G. Frazer.

January, 1887.

Somersetshire Witch Tales.—The other day I heard for the first time two witch tales, which I will tell you. The locality is not mentioned, but I was led to infer that it happened in Somersetshire.

No. 1. "Some men were engaged in mowing a meadow close to which stood a witch's house. They were constantly annoyed and interrupted in their work by a hare which kept running between the sweeping scythes. By-and-by one of the men said, * I say, mates, I do believe that hare is the witch.' * I'll soon see,' answered a second man; and calling to his dog he urged him to give chase to the hare, all the men running, eager and excited, cheering on the dog, which ran faster and faster after the hare, which made for the witch's cottage; with a shriek and a bound the hare tried to jump through the window, but the dog made a bound too and seized the hare by the hind legs; in the struggle the hare had its leg much torn but it finally escaped into the cottage where the men heard dismal moans. On the morrow the witch was seen hobbling about with a bad leg, and on being asked what was the matter replied that she had ' cut her leg while chopping sticks.'"

No. 2. "A black colt was often seen to be feeding in a field close to a witch's house. It always appeared there in the evening, and no one could discover how it got there or to whom it belonged.