Оглавление
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer. Domestic folk-lore
Domestic folk-lore
Table of Contents
PREFACE
CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND INFANCY
CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER III. LOVE AND COURTSHIP
CHAPTER IV. MARRIAGE
CHAPTER V. DEATH AND BURIAL
CHAPTER VI. THE HUMAN BODY
CHAPTER VII. ARTICLES OF DRESS
CHAPTER VIII. TABLE SUPERSTITIONS
CHAPTER IX. FURNITURE OMENS
CHAPTER X. HOUSEHOLD SUPERSTITIONS
CHAPTER XI. POPULAR DIVINATIONS
CHAPTER XII. COMMON AILMENTS
CHAPTER XIII. MISCELLANEOUS HOUSEHOLD LORE
INDEX
Отрывок из книги
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
Published by Good Press, 2019
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"She never had so sweet a changeling."
In the Winter's Tale (Act iv., sc. 4) the Shepherd, on discovering the babe Perdita, tells the Clown, "It was told me I should be rich by the fairies. This is some changeling." As a preservation against this danger, sundry charms are observed. Thus, in the North of England, a carving-knife is still hung from the head of the cradle, with the point suspended near the child's face. In the Western Isles of Scotland idiots are believed to be the fairies' changelings, and in order to regain the lost child, parents have recourse to the following device:—They place the changeling on the beach, below high-water mark, when the tide is out, and pay no heed to its screams, believing that the fairies, rather than allow their offspring to be drowned by the rising waters, will convey it away and restore the child they had stolen. The sign that this has been done is the cessation of the child's crying. In Ireland, too, the peasants often place the child supposed to be a changeling on a hot shovel, or torment it in some other way. A similar practice is resorted to in Denmark, where the mother heats the oven, and places the child on the peel, pretending to put it in; and sometimes she whips it severely with a rod, or throws it into the water. The only real safeguard, however, against this piece of fairy mischief is baptism, and hence the rite has generally been performed among the peasantry as soon as possible after birth.
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