Again we find him tasked
"to make and carry away a truss of sand, bound with a rope of sand, from Gwenvor (the cove at Whitsand Bay), near the Land's End."[1]
The Cornish pool which Tregeagle had to empty with a perforated shell is said to be the scene of a tradition of making bundles and bands of sand:
"A tradition . . . . . says that on the shores of this lonely mere (Dosmery Pool) the ghosts of bad men are ever employed in binding the sand in bundles with 'beams' (bands) of the same. These ghosts, or some of them, were driven out (they say horsewhipped out) by the parson from Launceston."[2]
I place these roughly gathered facts together in the hope of gaining further instances; especially instances of—
(1) Ritual use of ropes, or of perforated water-vessels.
(2) Futile rope-making in custom or story.
(3) Futile water-carrying in custom or story.
(4) Asses in connection with any of the above acts; and in connection with (a) water in any form, (b) death and the underworld.
Ridgfield, Wimbledon, near London.
- ↑ Courtney, Cornish Feasts and Folklore, p. 73.
- ↑ Courtney, Cornish Feasts and Folklore, p. 73, quoting Notes and Queries, December, 1850.
