The Myths and Fables of To-Day

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Drake Samuel Adams. The Myths and Fables of To-Day

I. A RECKONING WITH TIME

II. THE FOLK-LORE OF. CHILDHOOD

III. WEATHER LORE

IV. SIGNS OF ALL SORTS

V. CHARMS TO GOOD LUCK

VI. CHARMS AGAINST DISEASE

VII. OF FATE IN JEWELS

VIII. OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE

IX. OF EVIL OMENS

X. OF HAUNTED HOUSES, PERSONS, AND PLACES

XI. OF PRESENTIMENTS

XII. THE DIVINING-ROD

XIII. WONDERS OF THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE

XIV “SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT”

XV. FORTUNE-TELLING, ASTROLOGY, AND PALMISTRY

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The trite saying that “children and fools are soothsayers” goes straight to the heart of those familiar superstitions with which the folk-lore of childhood abounds. We, the children of a larger growth, often call to mind with what avidity we listened in our childhood’s days to the nursery tales of giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and the like creations of pure fancy. We still remember how instantly all the emotions of our childish nature were excited by the recital of these marvels – told us, too, with such an air of truth, that never for a moment did we doubt them. Oh, how we hated Blue Beard, and how we adored Jack the Giant-Killer! Are we not treated, just as soon as we are out of the cradle, as if superstition was the first law of nature? What is the wonder, then, that the effects of these early impressions are not easily got rid of, or the impressions themselves soon, if ever, forgotten? “Brownie” is put into the arms of toddling infants before they can articulate two words plainly. Just as soon as the child is able to prattle a little, it is taught the familiar nursery rhyme of

drawn from ancient folk-lore, with which the rabbit and hare are so intimately associated. After the innocent face rhymes, found with little variation, in no less than four different languages, giving names to each of the chubby little features, —

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which is as much as to say that a thaw, with its usual accompaniments of fog and rain, is invariably productive of much sickness.

Winter thunder is to old folks death, and to young folks plunder.

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