Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 6

St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

[cont...] "...37 Then they came together out of Market-Joy (Marchnad-Joy Thursday market). And they said, come with us as far as Coed Carrn yr Wylfa (the Wood of the heap of stones of watching), in the parish of Burnian.

38 There two roads separated, and the merchants wished Ivan to go home Ofay with them ; but that tune he would not, but would go home to his wife. 

39 Then when he had separated from the merchants, he foolishly spent his time to try his wife, whether she proved constant to him, whether she did or did not.

40 And when he came to the door, he heard some one else in the bed ; he placed his hand on his dagger to slay them both ; but he recollected that he ought to suffer twice before he struck once.

41 And he came out again, and then he knocked. Who is there, in the name of God ? said she...." [cont...]

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818

Nancledra Logan stone - the 12 o'clock stone

A field near Nancledra. Unfortunately, as Hunt says, the folkloric stones near here where removed. Image by Sheila Russell [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"NUMBERS of people would formerly visit a remarkable Logan stone, near Nancledrea, which had been, by supernatural power, impressed with some peculiar sense at midnight. Although it was quite impossible to move this stone during daylight, or indeed by human power at any other time, it would rock like a cradle exactly at midnight. Many a child has been cured of rickets by being placed naked at this hour on the twelve-o'clock stone. If, however, the child was "misbegotten," or, if it was the offspring of dissolute parents, the stone would not move, and consequently no cure was effected. On the Cuckoo Hill, eastward of Nancledrea, there stood, but a few years since, two piles of rock about eight feet apart, and these were united by a large flat stone carefully placed upon them,--thus forming a doorway which was, as my informant told me, "large and high enough to drive a horse and cart through." It was formerly the custom to march in procession through this "doorway" in going to the twelve-o'clock stone. 

The stone-mason has, however, been busy hereabout; and every mass of granite, whether rendered notorious by the Giants or holy by the Druids, if found to be of the size required, has been removed."

Hunt 1903

Map - Nancledra

Map - Cuckoo Hill

"Want goes by such an one's door." - Somerset

Ray 1768



[Cant work out if this means Want passes by, or if Want calls by often! Sort of the opposite meanings! And is it Want as in poverty, or as in greed? I think you need to know more about the language of the 1760's to tell, and even that might not help. Oh for some context! (The continual cry of the archaeologist as well as the folklorist!)]

Blatent plugging of my Etsy shop

[Just thought I would say that my Etsy shop is filling up with Pixie Doors.  Please have a look...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThomasHine?ref=si_shop

This door is based on the 14th century Macclesfield psalter

New wares for sale!

[Please excuse me for putting my wares up here as well as Folklore. I hope it doesnt detract from this site for anyone.

Pixie Doors

I have just made some hazel Pixie Doors (more about them here) and want to show them off a bit.

The idea is that you can place them on a skirting board or door to show that Pixies (or pisceys - or indeed any form of the wee folk) are welcome to come and go as they please in your house. Here is some related lore.]

Devon charm to keep fleas and other insects out of the house

Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) - by By Ken Billington (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"When you first hear the cuckoo in the Spring, take some of the earth from the place on which your right foot is standing, and sprinkle it on the threshold of your front door; but speak of it to no one. Neither fleas, beetles, earwigs, or vermin of any sort will cross it."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to counter the power of a 'black whitch'

Horseshoe nailed to a door in Chagford, Devon. If you want to use my photos please attribute this blog

"TAKE a cast horse shoe, nail it over the front door, points upwards. While nailing it up chant in monotone the following :

So as the fire do melt the wax
And wind blows smoke away,
So in the presence of the Lord
The wicked shall decay,
The wicked shall decay. Amen."

 

Hewett 1900

Unlucky in Devon - 43

Hans Thomas: Die Katze (Abendfrieden), (1901)

It is unlucky -

"To see a new moon through a glass window, or door, or over the left shoulder."

Hewett 1900

Unlucky in Devon - 10, 11 & 12

Honey bee I photographed in Devon - if you want to use my photographs please attribute this blog.

It is unlucky -

"To omit to inform the bees of the death of a relative, by tapping at each hive with the key of the front door. It is necessary too, to say to each hive as one taps "Maister is dead," or "Missus is dead," as the case may be.

To forget to put the bees in mourning, by placing a scrap of black crape or cloth on the top of each hive.

To neglect to communicate any great social or political event to the bees.

(The bees resent the omission of these ceremonies, and in consequence cease work, dwindle and die)."

Hewett 1900

[A friend of mine in the bee keeping world in Devon says that informing the bees of deaths is fairly common still among some bee keepers.  He doesn't do the whole key or black cloth routine however. On getting married he told me to go up to see the bees he has on my allotment and give them an account of events.  He also makes time on days of funerals to go around telling his bees, and removes his hat when telling them.  He also says hello to any bees he meets out and around town, jokingly assigning them woman's names, as if he knows each one personally!  He is not from Devon, but is very much a part of our local areas bee keeping world, and has been for a few decades.]

Honey bee I photographed in Devon - if you want to use my photographs please attribute this blog.

How to catch a theif with the Bible...

Key and Bible - Some rights reserved by Ashley R. Good 

"In Devonshire, many persons when they have lost anything, and suspect it to have been stolen, take the front door key of their dwelling, and, in order to find out the thief, tie this key to the Bible, placing it very carefully on the eighteenth verse of the fiftieth Psalm. ("When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.") Two persons must then hold the book by the bow of the key, and first repeat the name of the suspected thief, and then the verse from the Psalm. If the Bible moves, the suspected person is considered guilty ; if it does not move, innocent."

Hewett 1900

Hewett's Haloween - Part 9 - Hemp seed love-charm and the reapers...

Hemp - By Jungbim (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

"Now the crucial movement was at hand. Each girl took possession of a big handful of hempseed. The front door was thrown wide open and securely fastened back to prevent the possibility of its being accidentally closed ; the girls stood without. As the clock gave the first stroke of twelve off they started each in a different direction across the lawn, shouting :

Hempseed I sow,
Hempseed I throw,
He that's my true-love,
Come after me and mow !

The spirits of the future ones were expected to be beyond the shrubs ready to rush after the sowers, and unhappy would have been the maiden, who could not get over the threshold before the scythe of the reaper caught her. All the girls reached the hall unharmed : little Mary, looking a bit scared, said, as she wound her arms around me.

" Oh, wasn't I just about startled? indeed, I was, for I thought I saw Dick Harvey right in front of me as I turned to come back, holding a bright new sickle over his head."

I felt the child tremble, and then I enquired, " Who is Dick Harvey ?"

"Oh, nobody in particular, don't tell."

Of course I have not told till now..."

Derkovits, Gyula - Dózsa-series II. Peasant Whettering the Scythe (1928)

"...Poor Dick Harvey never came to claim little Mary, for, very soon after that happy evening, news came of a great storm, and Dick, who was first officer of the ss. Petrel, was lost with all hands in mid Atlantic."

Hewett 1900

Map - Haldon Hills 

The adventurs of Chery of Zennor - part 9

'...Cherry was dying with curiosity. She several times began to question the child, but he always stopped her with, "I 'll tell Aunt Prudence." According to her orders, Cherry was up in the morning early. The little boy conducted the girl to the spring, which flowed in crystal purity from a granite rock, which was covered with ivy and beautiful mosses. The child was duly washed, and his eyes duly anointed. Cherry saw no cow, but her little charge said she must call the cow.


"Pruit! pruit! pruit!" called Cherry, just as she would call the cows at home; when, lo! a beautiful great cow came from amongst the trees, and stood on the bank beside Cherry.
 
Cherry had no sooner placed her hands on the cow's teats than four streams of milk flowed down and soon filled the bucket. The boy's bowl was then filled, and he drank it. This being done, the cow quietly walked away, and Cherry returned to the house to be instructed in her daily work.

The old woman, Prudence, gave Cherry a capital breakfast, and then informed her that she must keep to the kitchen, and attend to her work there--to scald the milk, make the butter, and clean all the platters and bowls with water and gard (gravel sand). Cherry was charged to avoid curiosity. She was not to go into any other part of the house; she was not to try and open any locked doors....'[cont.]

Hunt 1903

Pixie Houses in Devon and Cornwall

 

[These cavities in old granite walls, Devon hedges and in natural clitter and tors, especially those with lintels or doorstops are referred to amongst many of my friends (almost all incomers, though some have been here for 50 years or so) as Pixie or Piskie Houses.  My wife says that in Cornwall sometimes doorsteps into houses are purposely built raised up to make a little gap, so that the pixies have their own house and don't come into yours and cause trouble. The one she knew well in Helland, Cornwall, had a little wooden door, but she was expressly told not to interfere with it.  Another she saw not in Helland was a proper linlted doorway, but just with a rough stone placed against it  In Chagford, Devon, when a local community recycling center erected a new straw bale barn the big barn doors had a smaller door set into it for people to get in and out more easily.  The then boss also installed in this an even smaller door for the pixies.  I will try and photograph it and put it on this blog.]

The Piskies Changeling

'THIS story is told by Mr T. Q. Couch, as an example of the folk-lore of a Cornish village, in "Notes and Queries," under the name of" Coleman Gray: "--

"There is a farmhouse of some antiquity with which my family have a close connection; and it is this circumstance, more than any other, that has rendered this tradition concerning it more interesting to us, and better remembered than many other equally romantic and authentic. Close to this house, one day, a little miserable-looking banding was discovered alone, unknown, and incapable of making its wants understood. It was instantly remembered by the finder, that this was the way in which the piskies were accustomed to deal with those infants of their race for whom they sought human protection; and it would have been an awful circumstance if such a one were not received by the individual so visited. The anger of the piskies would be certain, and some direful calamity must be the result; whereas, a kind welcome would probably be attended with great good fortune. The miserable plight of this stranger, therefore, attracted attention and sympathy. The little unconscious one was admitted as one of the family. Its health was speedily restored, and its renewed strength, activity, intelligence, and good-humour, caused it to become a general favourite. It is true the stranger was often found to indulge in odd freaks; but this was accounted for by a recollection of its pedigree, which was not doubted to be of the piskie order. So the family prospered, and had banished the thought that the foundling would ever leave them. There was to the front door of this house, a hatch, which is a half-door, that is kept closed when the whole door behind it is open, and it then serves as a guard against the intrusion of dogs, hogs, and ducks, while air and light are freely admitted. This little being was one day leaning over the top of this hatch, and looking wistfully outward, when a clear voice was heard to proceed from a neighbouring part of the townplace, calling, 'Coleman Gray, Coleman Gray!' The piskie immediately started up, and with a sudden laugh, clapped its hands, exclaiming, 'Aha! my daddy is come!' It was gone in a moment, never to be seen again."'

Hunt 1903