Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales Part 25

One's unlucky, Two's lucky; Three is health, Four is wealth; Five is sickness, And six is death!

PIGEONS.

Pigeons never do know woe, Till they do a benting go.

This means that pigeons are never short of food except when they are obliged to live on the seeds of the gra.s.s, which ripen before the crops of grain. The seed-stalk of gra.s.s is called the _bent_, and hence the term _benting_.

LAPWING AND RINGDOVE.

The common people in the North Riding of Yorks.h.i.+re, says Brockett, ii.

71, believe that at one period the cushat, or ringdove, laid its eggs upon the ground, and that the peewit, or lapwing, made its nest on high; but that some time or other, an amicable arrangement took place between these birds, exchanging their localities for building. The peewit accordingly expresses its disappointment at the bargain as follows:

Pee-wit, pee-wit, I coup'd my nest and I rue it.

While the cushat rejoices that she is out of the reach of mischievous boys,-

Coo, coo, come now, Little lad With thy gad, Come not thou!

THE WOOD-PIGEON.

An Isle of Wight legend respecting this bird tells us that, soon after the creation of the world, all the birds were a.s.sembled for the purpose of learning to build their nests, and the magpie, being very sagacious and cunning, was chosen to teach them. Those birds that were most industrious, such as the wren and the long-tailed-capon, or pie-finch, he instructed to make whole nests in the shape of a cocoa-nut, with a small hole on one side; others, not so diligent, he taught to make half-nests, shaped something like a teacup. Having thus instructed a great variety of birds according to their capacity, it came to the turn of the wood-pigeon, who, being a careless and lazy bird, was very indifferent about the matter, and while the magpie was directing him how to place the little twigs, &c., he kept exclaiming, "What, athurt and across! what zoo! what zoo!-athurt and across! what zoo! what zoo!" At length the magpie was so irritated with his stupidity and indolence, that he flew away, and the wood-pigeon, having had no more instruction, to this day builds the worst nest of any of the feathered tribe, consisting merely of layers of cross-twigs.

Montagu gives a Suffolk version of the tale, which differs considerably from the above. "The magpie, it is said, once undertook to teach the pigeon how to build a more substantial and commodious dwelling; but, instead of being a docile pupil, the pigeon kept on her old cry of 'Take two, Taffy! take two!' The magpie insisted that this was a very unworkmanlike manner of proceeding, one stick at a time being as much as could be managed to advantage; but the pigeon reiterated her 'two, take two,' till Mag, in a violent pa.s.sion, gave up the task, exclaiming, 'I say that one at a time's enough; and, if you think otherwise, you may set about the work yourself, for I will have no more to do with it!'

Since that time, the wood-pigeon has built her slight platform of sticks, which certainly suffers much in comparison with the strong substantial structure of the magpie." The cooing of the wood-pigeon produces, it is said-

Take two-o coo, Taffy!

Take two-o coo, Taffy!

Alluding, says Mr. Chambers, to a story of a Welshman, who thus interpreted the note, and acted upon the recommendation by stealing two of his neighbour's cows.

DOMESTIC POULTRY.

The clucking conversation of poultry, the cackling of the hen, and the replying chuckle of the c.o.c.k, is represented by the following dialogue:

_Hen._ c.o.c.k, c.o.c.k, I have la-a-a-yed!

_c.o.c.k._ Hen, hen, that's well sa-a-a-yed!

_Hen._ Although I have to go barefooted every da-a-y!

_c.o.c.k_ (_con spirito_). Sell your eggs, and buy shoes, Sell your eggs, and buy shoes!

Mr. Chambers, p. 167, has given a very different version of this current in Scotland. In Galloway, the hen's song is:

The c.o.c.k gaed to Rome, seeking shoon, seeking shoon, The c.o.c.k gaed to Rome, seeking shoon, And yet I aye gang barefit, barefit!

The following proverb is current in the North of England:

If the c.o.c.k moult before the hen, We shall have weather thick and thin; But if the hen moult before the c.o.c.k, We shall have weather hard as a block.

DRAGON-FLIES.

In some parts of the Isle of Wight, these insects are found of a peculiarly large size, and their colours are extremely beautiful. There is an old legend respecting them which is still current. It is supposed by the country people that their sting or bite is venomous, as bad as that of a snake or adder, and perhaps from this belief their provincial name of snake-stanger or snake-stang is derived. It is said that these insects can distinguish the good children from the bad when they go fis.h.i.+ng: if the latter go too near the water, they are almost sure to be bitten; but when the good boys go, the dragon-flies point out the places where the fish are, by settling on the banks, or flags, in the proper direction. This curious myth is commemorated by the following song:

Snakestanger! snakestanger! vlee aal about the brooks; Sting aal the bad bwoys that vor the vish looks, But lat the good bwoys ketch aal the vish they can, And car'm awaay whooam[43] to vry'em in a pan; Bred and b.u.t.ter they shall yeat at zupper wi' their vish, While aal the littul bad bwoys shall only lick the dish.

[Footnote 43: Carry them away home.]

This has of late years been introduced into the nursery, but in different suit of clothes:

Dragon fly! dragon fly! fly about the brook; Sting all the bad boys who for the fish look; But let the good boys catch all that they can, And then take them home to be fried in a pan; With nice bread and b.u.t.ter they shall sup upon their fish, While all the little naughty boys shall only lick the dish.

THE SNAIL.

In Yorks.h.i.+re, in evenings when the dew falls heavily, the boys hunt the large black snails, and sing:

Snail, snail! put out your horn, Or I'll kill your father and mother i' th' morn.

Another version runs thus:

Snail, snail, put out your horns, I'll give you bread and barleycorns.

And sometimes the following song is shouted on this occasion:

Sneel, snaul, Robbers are coming to pull down your wall.

Sneel, snaul, Put out your horn, Robbers are coming to steal your corn, Coming at four o'clock in the morn.

The version generally heard in the southern counties differs very considerably from the above, and the original use and meaning are very seldom practised or understood:

Snail, snail, come out of your hole, Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal.

Mr. Chambers, p. 171, gives some very interesting observations on these lines. "In England," he says, "the snail scoops out hollows, little rotund chambers, in limestone, for its residence. This habit of the animal is so important in its effects, as to have attracted the attention of geologists; one of the most distinguished of whom (Dr.

Buckland) alluded to it at the meeting of the British a.s.sociation at Plymouth, in 1841." The above rhyme is a boy's invocation to the snail to come out of such holes or any other places of retreat resorted to by it. Mr. Chambers also informs us that, in some districts of Scotland, it is supposed that it is an indication of good weather if the snail obeys the injunction of putting out its horn:

Snailie, snailie, shoot out your horn, And tell us if it will be a bonnie day the morn.

It appears from Gay's Shepherd's Week, ed. 1742, p. 34, that snails were formerly used in rural love-divinations. It was the custom[44] to place the little animal on the soft ashes, and to form an opinion respecting the initial of the name of a future lover by the fancied letter made by the crawling of the snail on the ashes:

Last May-day fair I search'd to find a snail, That might my secret lover's name reveal; Upon a gooseberry bush a snail I found, For always snails near sweetest fruit abound.

I seiz'd the vermin, home I quickly sped, And on the hearth the milk-white embers spread.

Slow crawl'd the snail, and if I right can spell, In the soft ashes mark'd a curious L; Oh, may this wondrous omen lucky prove, For L is found in Lubberkin and Love!

[Footnote 44: A similar practice is common in Ireland. See Croker's Fairy Legends, i. 215.]

Verses on the snail, similar to those given above, are current over many parts of Europe. In Denmark, the children say (Thiele, iii. 138)-