Part 35 (1/2)

Cuckoo, cherry-tree, Lay an egg, give it me; Lay another, Give it my brother!]

And this is probably correct, for we appear to have formed this method of divination in some indirect manner from a custom still prevalent in Germany of addressing the cuckoo, when he is first heard, with a view of ascertaining the duration of life, by counting the number of times it repeats its note. The lines used on this occasion are given by Grimm:

Kukuk, Beckerknecht!

Sag mir recht, Wie viel jahr Ich leben soll?

An old story is told of a man who was on his road towards a monastery, which he was desirous of entering as a monk for the salvation of his soul, and hearing the cuckoo, stopped to count the number of notes. They were twenty-two. ”Oh!” said he, ”since I shall be sure to live twenty-two years, what is the use of mortifying myself in a monastery all that time? I'll e'en go and live merrily for twenty years, and it will be all in good time to betake me to a monastery for the other two.”

See Wright's Essays, i. 257; and Latin Stories, p. 42, de cuculo; p. 74, de muliere in extremis quae dixit _kuckuc_. Both these tales curiously ill.u.s.trate the extent to which faith in the divination extended.

If a maid desires to attach the affections of her lover unalterably to her, she must wait till she finds him asleep with his clothes on. She must then take away one of his garters without his perceiving it, and tie it to her own in a true-love knot, saying-

Three times this knot I tie secure; Firm is the knot, Firm his love endure.

In many parts of the country, it is considered extremely unlucky to give a person anything that is sharp, as a knife, razor, &c., but the bad fortune may be averted if the receiver gives something, however trifling, in return, and exclaims-

If you love me as I love you, No knife shall cut our love in two!

In counting the b.u.t.tons of the waistcoat upwards, the last found corresponding to one of the following names indicates the destiny of the wearer:

My belief,- A captain, a colonel, a cow-boy, a thief.

THE EVEN-ASH.

A girl must pluck a leaf from the even-ash, and, holding it in her hand, say-

This even-ash I hold in my hand, The first I meet is my true man.

She carries it in her hand a short distance, and if she meets a young man, he will be her future husband. If not, she must put the leaf in her glove, and say-

This even-ash I hold in my glove, The first I meet is my true love.

She carries it in her glove a short time, with the same intention as before, but if she meets no one, she places the leaf in her bosom, saying-

This even-ash I hold in my bosom, The first I meet is my husband.

And the first young man she meets after this will infallibly be her future partner. There are a great variety of rhymes relating to the even-ash. Another is-

If you find even-ash or four-leaved clover, You will see your love afore the day's over.

DOCK.

Nettle in, dock out, Dock rub nettle out!

If a person is stung with a nettle, a certain cure will be effected by rubbing dock leaves over the part, repeating the above charm very slowly. Mr. Akerman gives us another version of it as current in Wilts.h.i.+re:

Out 'ettle, in dock, Dock zhall ha' a new smock; 'Ettle zhant ha' narrun!