Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/166

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Folk-Lore

words were uttered while the straws burned:

Ringwirm, ringwirm, red,
Saand be dy maet
An' fire be dy bed;
Aye may du dwine,
An' never may du spread.”

Then the part affected was dusted over with the ashes of the burned straws, and the unburned parts were deposited under a mör fael.

For sprains and bruises, and affections of an inflammatory nature, a form of cupping called horn blöd was very frequently employed, and even yet is not quite obsolete; and I am of opinion that no more effectual mode of cupping or local bleeding can be practised.

The blöd-horn was commonly made of the horn of a quey or young cow. It was about four inches long, and from an inch and a half to two inches in diameter at the wide end. The horn was scraped and

dressed, the small end being perforated

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