Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/199

 Rh went nigh the 'people' (Wesleyans) no more. Nobody should fire at hares of this sort, except with a silver bullet; they often appear as white, but the devil knowed I couldn't be fooled with a white 'un.'" Nothing is too ridiculous to be told of hares. Another old man from St. Just (still living) once recited this anecdote in our kitchen, and from his grave manner evidently expected it to be believed:—"I was out walking (he said) one Sunday morning, when I saw a hare in a field which I longed to have; so I shied a bit of 'codgy wax ' (cobbler's wax), the only thing I had in my pocket, at un, when he ran away. What was my surprise on getting over a stile to see two hares in the next field face to face, the 'codgy wax' had stuck to the nose of the first, and he in his fright had runned against the other, and was holden 'un fast, too. So I quietly broke the necks of both, and carried em home."

"The grapes are sour" is in Cornwall often changed to "Lev-un go! he's dry eaten after all," as the old man said when he couldn't catch the hare.

Sailors and fishermen naturally have many weather proverbs, of which I will give a few:—

"A north wind is a broom for the Channel."

"A Saturday's moon is a sailor's curse."

"A Saturday's and Sunday's moon."

"Come once in seven years too soon."

"Between twelve and two you'll see what the day will do."

"A southerly wind with a fog bring an easterly wind in 'snog' (with certainty)."

"Friday's noon is Sunday's doom."

"Friday and the week are never alike," &c. &c.

"Weather dogs" are pillars of light coloured like the rainbow, which appear on the horizon generally over the sea in unsettled weather, and always foretell storms. The inland dwellers of Cornwall have also their wise sayings on this subject. Rooks darting around a rookery, sparrows twittering, donkeys braying, are signs of rain. Cats running wildly about a house are said to bring storms on their tails. Some of their omens are simply ludicrous, such as "We may look for wet when a cat, in washing its face, puts its paw over its