this. If a person were to go out at night with a sieve in his hand, he would require to have a piece of coal in the other hand, to prevent his being carried away by the dead.[1]
It is not right to use the stein of docken, the most natural switch in these treeless islands, to drive either horses or cows. Children are much impressed with horror of docken. A mother said that if she threatened to beat her children with it "they would fly through the seven worlds."
It is not right to touch a wound with finger or thumb. They are venomous—one would say, sometimes, for obvious reasons!—but the reason given is that with them Adam took the forbidden fruit.
It is not right for a child to walk backwards, it is shortening his mother's life.
It is not good to sleep on the back, as the heart and lungs and liver may adhere to the back.
It is not right to press a person to stay late, if contrary to his inclination. The theory is, that he may have what the Society for Psychical Research would call "a subliminal monition," which others ought not to oppose.
It is not good to recall a person starting on a journey. If it is really necessary, it is always done with the formula, "It is not calling after you I am." And if the person starting finds he has forgotten something, he must remain a little while when he goes back to the house, before seeking it. I have observed both of these customs many times, the latter at some inconvenience. Fortunately there are no trains or even omnibuses to catch in these islands.
The reeds which grow so abundantly in all the lakes (and
- ↑ Meeting the Sluath, the procession of the wandering dead, is a very common experience in the islands. It is said to be not unfrequent for persons to return home at night bruised and soiled by the crowd which has passed over them on its way to the churchyard.
