Glastonbury local colouring, and one or two instances rather suggest first-hand knowledge and information. The whole story is a very good example of "the amazing toughness of tradition."
Nr. Salisbury.
Folklore Scraps.
I have collected in this note several customs and beliefs which I have come across at different times, more than one of which puzzle me.
1. Rabbits. According to several correspondents in the Westminster Gazette (spring of 1919), the following belief is common in many parts of Great Britain, with local variants: To secure good luck of some kind, usually a present, one should say "Rabbits" three times just before going to sleep on the last night of the month, and then "Hares" three times on waking the next morning. If any thing is said after the first words or before the second, the spell will not work. A schoolmate of my wife's, who came from Lastingham, Yorks, took this quite seriously; on the other hand, more than one Yorkshire informant disclaims all knowledge of the belief. No convincing explanation has yet been put forward so far as I know.
2. Weather signs. If the moon in its earlier phases looks well-rounded, the weather will be dry; if long and thin, wet (Seaford, Sussex).
"East wind begs its bread and dies" (Budleigh Salterton, Devon). The east wind is unfavourable for fishing, and it is thought unlucky to go to sea while it is blowing; hence the saying.
A peaked mass of clouds in stormy weather is called a Noah's Ark at Anderton, near Plymouth; whether anything is predicted from it with regard to the weather I do not know.
To kill beetles brings on rain (Killinghall, Yorks; perhaps some one particular species of beetle). One of my children had this belief from the daughter of a farmer, 1919.
