Читать книгу Notes and Queries, Number 59, December 14, 1850 - Various - Страница 3

May-dew.—Every one has heard of the virtues of "May-dew," but perhaps the complex superstition following may be less generally known. A respectable tradesman's wife in this town (Launceston) tells me that the poor people here say that a swelling in the neck may be cured by the patient's going before sunrise, on the 1st of May, to the grave of the last young man who has been buried in the church-yard, and applying the dew, gathered by passing the hand three times from the head to the foot of the grave, to the part affected by the ailment.2 This was told me yesterday in reply to a question, whether the custom of gathering "May-dew" is still prevailing here. I may as well add, that the common notion of improving the complexion by washing the face with the early dew in the fields on the 1st of May extensively prevails in these parts; and they say that a child who is weak in the back may be cured by drawing him over the grass wet with the morning dew. The experiment must be thrice performed, that is, on the mornings of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of May. I find no allusion to these specific applications of "May-dew" in Ellis's Brand.

H.G.T.

Piskies.—An old woman, the wife of a respectable farmer at a place called "Colmans," in the parish of Werrington, near Launceston, has frequently told my informant before-mentioned of a "piskey" (for so, and not pixy, the creature is called here, as well as in parts of Devon) which frequently made its appearance in the form of small child in the kitchen of the farm-house, where the inmates were accustomed to set a little stool for it. It would do a good deal of household work, but if the hearth and chimney corner were not kept neatly swept, it would pinch the maid. The piskey would often come into the kitchen and sit on its little stool before the fire, so that the old lady had many opportunities of seeing it. Indeed it was a familiar guest in the house for many months. At last it left the family under these circumstances. One evening it was sitting on the stool as usual, when it suddenly started, looked up, and said,—

and vanished; after which it never appeared again. This distich is the first utterance of a piskey I have heard.

The word "fine" put me in mind of the expression "fine spirit," "fine Ariel," &c., noticed by DR. KENNEDY lately in NOTES AND QUERIES (Vol. ii., p. 251.). It is worth notice that the people here seem to entertain no doubt as to the identity of piskies and fairies. Indeed I am told, that the old woman before mentioned called her guest indifferently "piskey" or "fairy."

The country people in this neighbourhood sometimes put a prayer-book under a child's pillow as a charm to keep away the piskies. I am told that a poor woman near Launceston was fully persuaded that one of her children was taken away and a piskey substituted, the disaster being caused by the absence of the prayer-book on one particular night. This story reminds me of the "killcrop."

H.G.T.

1. The dun cow of Dunsmore filled with milk every vessel that was brought to her till an envious witch tried to milk her in a sieve.

2. Lady Godiva.—A close-fitting dress might suggest the idea of nudity; but was not the horse borrowed from the warrior Lady of Mercia Ethelfleda?

3. CAN DU PLERA MELEOR CERA. Quand Dieu plaira meilleur sera. Charm on a ring, olim penes W. Hamper, F.A.S.

F.Q.