Two boys had been out picking butternuts. As they were returning home in the evening, they went into a graveyard to divide up their nuts. One boy said, "You take this one, and I'll take that one. You take this one, and I'll take that one."

Just then an Irishman happened along. Hearing what the two boys on the tombstone were saying, so badly frightened was he, that he ran off as hard as he could. A man stopped him and asked what he was running for. "Sure," said he, "the Devil is up at the graveyard; and they're sortin' out the dead." "Go on with your nonsense!" answered the man; "come, and we'll both go back together."

By then the boys had finished dividing the nuts, except two that they had dropped outside the gate. Just as the Irishman and his friend were coming up, one boy said, "Well, there's two outside. You take one, and I'll take the other." When they heard this, the two men ran, and never stopped running until they had reached home.

Big Devil and Little Devil.

A young man living in the country decided one evening to go to see his girl friend. Hearing of this, another chap decided to frighten him: so he got a white sheet, wrapped himself in it, and hid along the road where the other was to pass. Informed of the intended 'trick, the first one, who was a much smaller fellow, also wrapped himself in a sheet just before coming to the other's hiding-place. When the latter burst out upon his intended victim, he was so terrified at the ghostlylooking figure, that he ran away as fast as he could, followed closely by the other. A neighbor, seeing the two figures tearing along the highway, cried out, "Run, big devil! The little devil's after you.” (Ida Mastin, Manitoulin Island.)

The Lazy Man.

1

There was once a man who was so lazy that his neighbors finally decided to bury him alive, to be rid of him. As they were driving with him along the road to the cemetery, a farmer stopped them, and asked, "What are you going to do?" After having heard their explanation, he said, "Why! don't do that! I am willing to give him some corn rather than see him buried alive. That will keep him for a little while." The lazy man raised his head, and asked, "Is the corn shelled?" "No!" replied the farmer. "Well then, boys, drive on!" said the other. (Mrs. N. C. Waugh; told by her mother, Mrs. R. Hutchison.)

The Negroes and the Bear.

Two Negroes, walking through the woods, came to a hollow tree that had been scratched as though something had climbed up.

1 A well-known variant of this has it, "Run, big scare! Little scare's after you." VOL. XXXI.—NO. 119.—6

of them offered to go up and have a look, while the other remained watching below. The Negro in the tree shouted that he had seen bear-cubs. As he descended into the hollow to get them, the old bear came back and began scrambling up. The Negro who was watching at first did not know what to do; but he finally grabbed the bear's tail, and succeeded in stopping it just as it was entering the hollow, which made it quite dark inside. The Negro inside the tree shouted, "What dawken de hole?" "You soon know what dawken de hole if de tail break!" shouted his comrade. (G. N. Waugh, Brantford.)

The Hunter and the Bear.

A hunter was once chased by a bear. Dropping everything, he climbed a small tree. Up came the bear, and the tree began to bend. A companion some distance away shouted, "Pray!" "I don't know how," answered the first fellow. "Say something!" rejoined the other. So the fellow in the tree prayed, "Good God! Don't you know there's only room for one here?" (Simeon Gibson, Brant County, 1914.)

1

Stupid's Mistaken Cries.

The point in a well-known class of folk-tale results from the grotesque misunderstanding or forgetting of instructions to be delivered

to some one.

Mrs. E. W. Vanderlip (Langford) used to tell of a boy who was sent to a neighbor's for some horehound (an herbal medicine). The boy started off, repeating as he went, "Horehound, horehound!" Having stumbled, he got up, saying, "Greyhound, greyhound, greyhound."

(A reference to this class of stories was noted in JAFL 3: 293.)

Wonder-Story for a Child.

An old woman went to the churchyard, and saw a man in his coffin, with worms crawling out and worms crawling in. She said to the parson, "Shall I be like that when I'm dead, with the worms crawling out and worms crawling in?" The parson answered, "Yes!" (The story-teller here raises his voice and seizes the child, repeating,) "You'll be like that when you're dead, with the worms crawling out and the worms crawling in." (Informant, Miss A. Allan, Toronto, 1910; English.)

VICTORIA MUSEUM, OTTAWA.

1 A variant describes a Negro as praying, "O Lord! if you can't help me, don't help the bear." A variant of this is familiar in Ottawa. (EB.)

THE following collection of folk-lore material was made in a ScotchIrish community in Normanby township, Grey County, Ontario, where the Irish element preponderates. The more recent influx of German emigrants from Germany, and Germans from the older portions of Ontario, does not seem to have affected the local folk-lore appreciably. Most of the data here presented have long been familiar to the authors, who may be considered, to that extent, as being their own informants. In fact, Mrs. K. H. Wintemberg and her mother, who are of pure Irish extraction, have furnished most of the information.

LORE ABOUT NATURAL PHENOMENA, THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS.

1. Children say,

2.

Rain, rain, go away!

Come again some other day;

Little Johnny wants to play.

A rainbow in the morning

Is the sailor's warning;

A rainbow at night

Is the sailor's delight.

3. The rainbow is a sign from God that there will not be another

deluge.

4. Thunder kills chickens that are just coming out of their shells.1 5. Children say,

Rainy, rainy, rattle-stone,

Don't you rain on me!

Rain on Johnny Groat's house,

Far beyond the sea.2

6. People used to look to see the sun dance early on Easter Sunday morning.

7. Pigs are killed only in a certain time of the moon.

3

8. All seeds should be planted in the increase of the moon.

9. It is unlucky to have your hands empty when you first see the

new moon.

10. At the first glimpse of the new moon, make a wish and say,

"I see the moon, and the moon sees me;

God bless the moon, and the moon bless me!"

11. The following formula is a sort of incantation uttered when you see the new moon:

New moon, true moon,

True and bright,

If I have a true-love,

Let me dream of him to-night!

If I am to marry rich,

Let me hear the cock crow!

If I am to marry poor,

Let me hear the hammer blow!4

12. Another one may also be classed as a species of incantation:

Star light, star bright,
First star I saw to-night,
I wish you well;

I wish you might
Give to me my wish to-night.5

13. Orion is called "the sheep-fold."

1 Thunder is said (though erroneously, according to some scientific authorities) to prevent the hatching of eggs. It is also said to sour milk (F. W. Waugh, Brant County). 2 Compare Gregor, "Further Report of Folk-Lore in Scotland" (BAAS, 1897,

p. 500).

3 Compare p. 6, No. 4.

4 Compare JAFL 28: 135 (No. 54); and Addy, Household Tales and Traditional Remains (London and Sheffield, 1895), p. 31.

Compare JAFL 7: 108.

PLANT-LORE.

14. To find a four-leaved clover brings good luck. According to

the rhyme,

Find a two, put it in your shoe;

Find a three, let it be;

Find a four, put over the door;
Find a five, let it thrive.1

15. It is unlucky to cut down a fruit-tree.2

16. A divining-rod should be made of a birch-twig.

17. Children blow off the seeds of dandelion-heads to tell the time, the hours being indicated by the number of times required to blow all the seeds away.3

18. Children used to string the "cheeses" of the round-leaved mallow (Malva rotundifolia Linn.) as beads. These "cheeses" were also eaten by them.4

19. The leaves of the "live-forever" (Sedum purpureum Linn.) were rubbed between the fingers and then blown up into little bags. Those who could not do it were not considered very clever.5

20. If you find a tea-stalk in your teacup, place it in your hand and hit it with your fist. If it sticks to the fist the first time, a visitor will come that day; if it sticks only the second time, the visitor will not come until the next day. If the stalk is soft, the visitor will be a woman; and if it is hard, a man.o

21. If you steal a plant-slip, it will be sure to grow.

22. Never say "thanks" for a plant, as it will not grow."

23. A tree blossoming out of season means a death in the family. 24. The pioneers of this part of Ontario obtained a brown color from butternut-bark, and a dark yellow from the skins of onions.

ANIMAL-LORE.

25. It is unlucky for a four-footed animal to cross one's path. 26. It is unlucky to kill a spider.

27.

If you wish to live and thrive,

Let a spider run alive.3

1 Brant County (cf. p. 9).

2 In an Irish community near Westport, Leeds County, Ontario, it is considered un

lucky to cut down a hawthorn-bush. (Recorded in 1914.)

3 Also in Brant County (cf. p. 167, No. 9).

Also in Brant County.

Also in Brant County (cf. p. 24, No. 320). See also p. 93, No. 148.

• Compare Dyer's Domestic Folk-Lore (London, 1881), p. 147; also Brant County (cf.

p. 18, No. 236).

7 Compare p. 9, Nos. 58, 59.

8 Compare p. 10, No. 69.