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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

Personal, pp. 1-3.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH.

Who present--Who not permitted to be present--Customs if two women with child in same house--A woman giving suck not allowed to seat herself on the edge of the bed on which the woman in labour lay--All locks opened in house during the time of labour--Whoso entered the house bade the birth God speed--Gave a draught of water if labour difficult--Some had luck in doing this--When doctor called--The "merry-meht"--"The Cryin Kebback"--"The Cryin Bannock"--A piece of it carried home--Fairies' liking for human milk--Fairies carried off unsained or unchurched women--Anxiety of fairies to get possession of infants--Mother and child "sained"--Bible with bread and cheese placed below pillow--Bible and biscuit--Bread and cheese given away to friends--A fir-candle or a basket containing bread and cheese placed on bed--A pair of trowsers hung up--Mother watched till churched--Child, till baptized--Mother not allowed to work till churched--Not allowed to enter a neighbour's house--Why prevented--Mode of churching in Scotland--If unable to go to church what she did--Water first fetched from well by mother in a thimble--Or in a vessel of small size, pp. 4-6.

CHAPTER II.

THE CHILD.

A male child wrapped in a woman's shirt--A girl, in a man's--If operation reversed boy or girl never married--Palms of hands not washed--Live coal thrown into water in which new-born infant washed--Poured under foundation of dwelling-house--Child when dressed turned three times heels over head--To prevent "forespeaking"--Excessive praise--Modes of finding out "forespeaking"--To prevent "evil eye"--Cure in casting ill--How to find out a "fairy changeling"--How to bring back the true child--"Teethin Bannock"--"Teethin Plaster"--Suck not given to a child when once weaned--Nails of fingers not cut--Bitten--Child that speaks before walking

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a liar--Something given to child on first entering a house--The cradle--A child not put into a new cradle--A borrowed cradle-Cradle not placed on ground till carried into house, pp. 7-10.

CHAPTER III.

BAPTISM.

Baptism early administered--Reasons for so doing--Name not pronounced till after baptism--Written and given to minister--Unbaptized infants not taken into heaven--Baptizing a sick infant--Minister "kills or cures"--System of registration, effect of on early baptism--Baptismal dress--Ceremonies connected with baptism--Gifts given by guests--Child must sleep in baptismal dress--Effect of water of baptism entering the eyes--Child ought to cry when water fell on its face--What done with the water of baptism--Drunk to strengthen the memory--Ceremonies if child carried out of house for baptism--Girl baptized first, when boy and girl baptized at one time--A girl brought to church and not baptized never married--Fuarag pp. 11-13.

CHAPTER IV.

THE NURSERY.

Rhyme on the face--On the brow, eye, nose, and mouth--On the fingers--On the legs----On taking off the child's boots--On the legs and feet--On various parts of the body--On giving the child food--On being undressed for bed--On getting sulky--On mounting a stick as a "horse "--On dandling a child on the knee--On two children placing themselves back to back and alternately lifting each other--Various--On the numbers up to twenty--"The Souters' Grace," pp. 14-20.

CHAPTER V.

BOY CODE OF HONOUR.

The rule of the ring--Of a race--Of bargain--making--Of making a gift--Acting the informer--Lying--Asking sweetmeats--When anything is found, pp. 21-24.

CHAPTER VI.

ABOUT THE HUMAN BODY.

Days of the week for birth--A child born with a caul lucky--Possession of caul or "selly hoo" lucky--Health of one born with it could be divined from it--Child born with feet first doomed to be hanged--"The Broon Coo's Lick"--Strong growth of hair on the body--To find out if a person is proud by the hair--The hair when cut must be burned--Meaning of long slender fingers--Of large hands and feet--"Lucken Toes"--Meaning of second and third toes in a man being equal--Of white spots on the finger-nails--Why

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marriage--ring on ring--finger--A black speck on tooth--Ringing in the ears--A glow in the ears--An itching in the eyes--In the nose--In the palm of the right hand--In that of the left--In the soles of the feet--Sneezing--The deaf and dumb--Their faculty of knowing the future--Consulted about distant friends--In love affairs--Those of weak intellect, pp. 25-28.

CHAPTER VII.

DREAMS, DIVINATION, &c.

To dream of a white horse--A horse--A swine--Eggs--Fresh fish--Butter--Fruit in season--Out of season--Fire--Water--Loosing a tooth--Being bitten by dogs or cats--One dead--Being dead by one unmarried coming marriage--Loosing shoes--Seeing one smeared with blood--Throwing the staff to find out the success of a journey--Unlucky to turn back when setting out on a journey--Meaning of anything forgotten when paying a visit--Bad manners to stir the fire in a neighbour's house--Etiquette at table when with one of higher rank--Unwillingness to give name on making a call--Token of servant soon leaving her situation--Her first work in her new home--Sudden hunger--"Hungry Hillock"--"Hungry folks' meat" in pot--In cooking stirring food from left to right, effect of--How cakes served up--On "the Right Side"--To whom served up otherwise--Straw in brogue--"Shee wisp "--Burned--Right stocking put on first--"Hansel" given on putting on a piece of new dress--A kiss given, "Beverage of New Claes"--Something given to a boy or girl on entering a neighbour's house--All sewing done on Sunday undone by the devil--Crooked sixpence in purse lucky--A present of a knife un lucky--Unlucky to sing before breakfast--Tea-stalk floating in cup--A black speck on a burning candle--A film of carbon on rib of grate--Fiery spots on the bottom of a pot, "Sodgers"--Theft of a five-pound note--How recovered--A nobleman's horses stopped--How relieved--Theft--Unwillingness to take back stolen property, pp. 29-33.

CHAPTER VIII.

LEECHCRAFT.

Causes of Disease--Casting ill--"The Ill Ee"--Prayers--Forespeaking--Hidden grave--Sudden news--Fright--Cures--Men and women famed for secret wisdom--In certain families the power of curing certain diseases--Power went down--One family had power of extracting motes from the eye--Another, that of setting broken bones--Charming diseases forbidden by the Church--A lucky hand in dressing boils--Power of a posthumous child--Ability to show in a mirror the face of the one that cast ill--Cure of a man at Broadford, in Skye, by a wise woman--Woman's daughter would not receive the gift of healing--Some articles have in them a healing virtue--Willox "ball and bridle"--"The Ball"--"The Bridle"--Others cured only certain diseases--An "Ee-stehn"--An amber bead--Wells having curative powers--At Althash, near Fochabers--Pilgrimages to it first three Sundays in May--Fergan Well--Wallak Kirk--Pilgrimages to it forbidden by the

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[paragraph continues] Church--Chapels resorted to for cures--Forbidden by the Church--Clach-na-bhan--Cure of the "Ill Ee"--Of Forespeaking--Casting the heart--Cure of sleepy fever--Of epilepsy----Of rickets--Of lumbago, rheumatism, sprains--Of whooping-cough--Of eye disease--Of erysipelas or "rose"--Of sting of nettle--Of ringworm--Of toothache--Of warts--Of hiccup, pp. 34-49.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HOUSE.

Building materials--Walls--Couples--Roofs--"Foonin pint"--Laying foundation--Refusal to give "foonin pint" avenged--"Hoose-heatin"--Fire-kinlin"--Feast on entering a new house--Arrangement of apartments--Kitchen--Hearth--"Crook"--"Rantle-tree"--"Bole"--"Canle gullie"--Saat-backet"--"Bench"--Settle"--"Box-bed"--Windows--"Dog-hole"--Hole for going in and out of hens--"Trance"--"But ein"--Furniture--Houses of fishing population--Houses with but one door for men and beasts--Ceremonies on leaving a house--How to take away the luck from next occupier--Throwing cat into house carried off disease if any left, pp. 50-53.

CHAPTER X.

EVENINGS AT THE FIRESIDE.

The hearth--"The bait-pot" boiling over the fire--"The lit-pot"--Means of light--"Fir-can’les"--Candle--stick--"The Peerman" or "Peer-page"--Oil-lamps--"Eely-dolly"--How evening passed--Women knitting, spinning, sewing--Men making candles from bog-fir, manufacturing harrow-tynes, &c.--Scholars preparing school-lessons--Singing songs and ballads--Telling stories--Riddles--Visitors--Amusements--Beggars--"Quarterer"--The chapman--The tailor, pp. 54-58.

CHAPTER XI.

FAIRIES.

Belief in fairies--Who they were--Fallen angels--Their abodes--Fairy-wells--Ruled by a queen--Dressed in green--Dislike to the name of fairy--Called "The Fair Folk" or "The Gueede Neebours"--A stone arrow a safeguard against their power--The inmates of a house built over their dwelling liable to annoyance from them--Came out in the gloamin--Spinning-wheels and meal-mills had to be thrown out of gear--They had to pay the teind to hell every seven years--Stole children to do so--How to get back a stolen child--Story of a fisherwoman--Of another in Tyrie--Of another--Liking for human milk--Carried off unsained mothers--Traditions of their doing so--Alluring men and women into their abodes--If such tasted food or drink with them they were detained for seven years--When they returned they avoided the dwellings of men--Grateful for kindness--Had a habit of borrowing

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from men--Particularly meal--A fixed measure of it--A tradition--Avenged a slight--Animals fell under their anger--A tradition--Their musical skill--Took to fishing--Baked during sunshine in rain--Ate counted cakes--A furl o’ fairies ween," pp. 59-65.

CHAPTER XII.

WATER-KELPIE.

Lived in deep pools of rivers and streams--Had the appearance of a black horse--Enticed the traveller to destruction--Caused annoyance to farms--Could be caught--Mode of capture--Made to do hard work--Could be killed--Traditions--Guardian demons in pools--Danger of going into such pools--A tradition--Blood-thirstiness of streams and rivers, pp. 66, 67.

CHAPTER XIII.

GHOSTS.

Mansions haunted by ghosts--Traditions--How to get rid of them--Excessive grief brought back the spirit--Spirit of the murdered one returned till the murderer was brought to justice--Spirit itself the executioner of justice--Woods, bridges, graveyards haunted, pp. 68-70.

CHAPTER XIV.

WITCHES.

Belief in witchcraft--The witch an old woman--Her power derived from Satan--What she could do--Her revenge--A tradition--Men had the power--It went down in families, pp. 71, 72.

CHAPTER XV.

"BLACK AIRT" AND DEVIL COMPACTS.

Belief in "Black Airt"--Professors of it in communion with Satan--What it was--Taught in Spain and Italy--A tradition--Devil compacts--How made--Price of contract--Power of those who made such compacts--Time of contract prolonged--A tradition--"Hell-Fire Club"--Life of its members--Their fate, pp. 73-75.

CHAPTER XVI.

RIDDLES.

Jonah in the whale's belly--Lot's sons--The hair of the head--A bottle--A bottle of whisky--Ann--Andrew--Bean--That--Was--The letter m--John Lamb--The piper's wife--A fiddle--Hunger--An egg--Wood--A coffin--A tub--A boy with a pot on his head--A man with a pot on his head--A pot with a wooden cover--The bars of a grate--The tongs--Smoke--A "tenousen

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pleuch"--A hairy rope--A ship--A cherry--An onion--A nettle--A magpie--A worm--The town clock--A watch--The moon--A snowflake--Mist--A murdered lady--A woman fetching water in wooden pails--A black cow in a snowy day--Scatterty's cat--Time when most holes in the ground--Hay--A window--The cock--A nail in a horse's shoe--Noah striking the first nail of the ark--One's shoes--One's shadow--Hell--The whiting--Tod's tails to reach the moon--An icicle, pp. 76-82.

CHAPTER XVII.

MARRIAGE.

Means taken to find out future husband or wife--Sleeping in a strange bed--Reading 3rd verse of 17th chapter of Job--First time cuckoo is heard--Ribwort--Incantations on Halloween--Pulling the castoc--Sowing lint-seed--Fathoming a rick--Win’ing the blue clue--Winnowing corn--Washing the sleeve of the shirt--Roasting peas--Eating an apple in front of a looking-glass--By three caps or wooden basins--Incantation by young women of Fraserburgh--How to divine the number of the family--How to gain love--By orchis-roots--By two lozenges--Marriage dissipated love so gained--A live coal tumbling from the fire portended marriage--Apron-string or garter loosed with a young woman, meaning of--Effect of mending clothes on her back--Psalm CIX.--Rhymes--Colour rhyme--How courtship carried on--How marriage arranged--Tuesday or Thursday common marriage day--More rarely Saturday--Unlucky for two of a family to be married in the same year--Making ready the "Providan "--"Thigging" wool by bride--Buying the "Bonnie Things"--"Providan" sent home unlocked and unbound--Invitation of guests--Minister asked after the invitation of the guests--A hat presented to minister--A present made by each guest--Reserved till morning of marriage day--"Hansel"--Marriage feast--Bridal ale--Bridal cakes--Omens drawn from the brewing of the ale--From the baking of the bread--"Beuckin nicht"--Proclamation of banns--Rubbing shoulders--Feet-washing--Omens drawn from weather on marriage day--Rhymes--Bridal dress--Bridal shoes--Something borrowed worn--Green garters presented by a younger sister to an elder unmarried--Arrival of guests--Marriage breakfast--"The sens"--The demand for the bride by the "sens"--Bride and her party arrived first at church--Bride led by bridesmen--Bridegroom led by two young women--Both parties carried whisky with bread and cheese--"First fit" observed by both--Attention to "first fit"--Best a man on horseback--Or a horse drawing a cart--Each party headed by a piper--Firing of guns--"Bride-steel"--Great care to place the bride properly--Place of "best maid"--Danger of being best maid--Bride and bridegroom should not meet on the day of the marriage till they met to be married--Ceremonies after marriage--Beadle received his fee--Procession home--The welcome--Bride lifted over the threshold--Bread and cheese in a sieve placed on her head--Sometimes scattered--Gathered by young folks--The bride cake--Distributed--Installation of bride as mistress"--"Basiller"--

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[paragraph continues] Beggars--The marriage feast--"Penny weddings"--Forbidden by the Church--Bridegroom did not take his seat at marriage feast--Dancing--"Shaim-spring"--"Shaimit--reel"--Marriage favours--Male dancers paid musician--Ceremony of "Beddan"--First asleep first dead--Who carried pains of labour--The "Kirkin"--No bye-road taken to Church--Service begun before entrance--Two bridal parties in church at once--Kirkin feast--In change-houses--Such forbidden by the Church--Marriage among the fishing population--Early marriages--Arranging marriage--"Nicht o’ the Greeance"--Guests invited by the bride and bridegroom in company--Customs on morning of marriage day--Where marriage celebrated--Sixpence put into bride's shoe--The heel of bride's shoe put down--Bridegroom's put down--Marriage party sometimes makes the circuit of village after marriage ceremony--"First Fit"--Sailor's marriage--Ceremonies on entering her home--What the bride provides--What the husband provides--Taking home of the "Plinisan"--Marriages in Crovie--In Rosehearty--Bridal bed in Gardenston--The "Beddan "--Custom in Boddam--Presents to newly-married pair, pp. 83-101.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PLACE RHYMES.

Aikybrae--Aberdour--Avon--Banff--Boyne--Buchan--Strila--Buck--Belriunes--Tap o’ Noth--Bennochie--Cabrach--Rushter--Cairnmuir--Cairnbyke--Rumblin-Steens--Stoney Dyke--Carnousie--Corncairn--Cruden--Culblean--Cromar--Cullen--Cullycan--Daach--Sauchin--Keithock Mill--Tam o’ Rivven--Balveny--Cults--Clunymoire--Auchindroin--Dee--Don--Urie--Bass--Deer--Tillery--Dipple--Dindurcas--Dandilieth--Delvey--Brig o’ Balgownie--Eden--Fochabers--Fraserburgh--Fyvie Castle--St. Fergus--Kilbirnie--Keith--Marna--Mormond--Mount Mar--Lochnagar--Clochnaben--Bennochie--Pitfodels--Mearns--Pittentyoul--Pittendrum--Aberdour--Rattrayhead--Rivven (Ruthven)--St. Brandon--St. Olav's Well--Brig o’ Turra--Little Ugie--Druidical circles--The Helliman Rig at Killishment--The "Gudmahns' Craft"--Caves, pp. 102--116.

CHAPTER XIX.

PLACE AND FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS.

Aberdeen--Drum--Duff--Fraser--Gordon--Hay--Earl of Mar--Ogilvie--Strathbogie--Towie Barclay, pp. 117-122.

CHAPTER XX.

ANIMAL AND PLANT SUPERSTITIONS.

Section I.--Four--footed animals--The mole--The cat--The dog--The porpoise--The mouse--The field--mouse--The rat--The harp--The pig--The horse--How to find water by a mare--The ass--The sheep--Cattle--Cow

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rhymes. Section II.----Birds--Bird rhymes--The crow--Crow rhymes--The raven--The magpie--The redbreast--The lark--Lark rhymes--The yellow--hammer--The cock--The hen--Setting a hen--Time of day for so doing--Months for so doing--Hen hatching a-field--Hand not to touch wild ducklings--Bird's eggs not to be touched in nest--Hens and ducks preening themselves--The dove--The golden plover--The moor-hen--The lapwing--The wild-goose--The Swan. Section III.--Reptiles, fish, and insects--Reptiles--The frog--The toad--Fishes--The dog-fish, part of backbone a cure of toothache--The herring--The haddock--The fluke--The salmon and the trout--Insects--The burying-beetle--The ladybird--The Ant--Bees--Moths--Spiders--The green crab--The hairworm--The black snail. Section IV.--Trees and plants--The aspen--The bluebell--Broom--Whin--Turnip blossom--Wild fruits--Omens from first dug potatoes--The puff-ball, pp. 123--148.

CHAPTER XXI.

TIMES AND SEASONS AND WEATHER.

Days of the week--Monday--Tuesday--Friday--Saturday--The months--February--March--April--The borrowing days--May--June--Candlemas--Rood day wind--Wind on first day of quarter--The moon--Unlucky to see new moon through a window--With empty hands--Luck to have something in the hand--Money in the pocket must be turned--Kiss one next you--"Mairt" killed when the moon increasing--Fish hung in moonlight poisonous--Sleeping in moonlight dangerous--Influence in ripening grain--"A broch"--"A cock's eye"--Moon seen soon after its coming in indicates bad weather--"Lying on her back" the same--Old moon lying in new moon--Mist--Mock sun--The rainbow--Thunder--Snow--Snow rhyme--Snow--Rain rhyme--Rain before seven A.M.--A "Borie"--Rain from south-west--Dust blowing--Mist--Clouds--The wind--"The song of the sea"--"The dog afore his maister"--"The dog ahin his maister," pp. 149-155.

CHAPTER XXII.

CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR'S DAY, &c.

Preparations for keeping them--Three days observed--Blacksmith would not work unless by necessity--Every piece of work finished before Christmas--Time about Christmas and New Year given to festivity--Food of all kinds for man and beast prepared--Omen drawn from baking the cakes--Yeel cakes kept as long as possible--Fish--Kebback--A piece of new dress--"Yeels Jaad"--A child must not cry on Christmas morning--"Yeel sones" Divination from them--A small quantity of the dish left--Requiring a long time to cook indicated a late harvest or some disaster--Christmas breakfast--Dinner--Gysers--Balls--Masonic walks--Cattle got unthreshed corn--"Clyack Sheaf" given to mare in foal--A fire in each byre--Creaming the well--How such water used--Well creamed last night of year in some districts--Something must first be carried into the house on Christmas morning--

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[paragraph continues] A live coal not given out--First fire watched, and omens drawn from it--"Ristin" fire on last night of year--Examined in morning--Omens drawn from it--Appearance of stars--Wind on New Year's day--Thigging--Thigging song--"Hogminay"--Hogminay ditty--Raffles--Shooting-matches--"Dambrod"--Children's games of chance--Totum "Nivey, neeck-nack"--"Headocks or Pintacks"--"Yeel-preens"--Card playing--Playing in roadside inns and public houses--"Hansel Monday"--Faster Even--Brose day--Bannock nicht--A beef dinner on that day--Beef brose--Ring among brose--Omen drawn from dreaming over the ring--Bannocks--Fortunetelling from eggs that partly composed the bannocks--The "Sautie bannock"--How prepared--How used--No spinning on that day--Playing the ball--Cock-fighting--Valentine Day--Peace Sunday eggs--Beltane fires--Hallowe’en fires near villages--Near farm-steadings, pp. 156-168.

CHAPTER XXIII.

COUNTINGS OUT.

In use in Fraserburgh--Tyrie--Pitsligo--Rathen--Portosy--Keith--Banff, pp. 169-175.

CHAPTER XXIV.

WASHING DAY.

Little or no soap--Cow-dung as a detergent--"Book"--"Hen-pen"--Yearly washing--Washing rhyme, pp. 176-177.

CHAPTER XXV.

FARMING.

Aid given to one entering on a farm--By ploughing--By giving seed--Crofter with bad crop "thigged"--Parts cultivated--No fixed rotation of crops--A "Rig" left to grow wild oats--Corners left uncultivated "for the aul’ man"--The plough--The harrows--Ropes--"Twal ousen plew"--"Gaadman"--A proverb--How oxen yoked--A tradition--Ceremony on putting the plough into the ground for the first time during the season--Mode of harvesting--A mysterious animal--"Clyack" sheaf--Divining about next harvest by the reapers--Firing shots into a neighbour's field by those first finishing--"Clyack" feast--The "winter"--How treated--"Meel an ale"--Part of grain left to feed birds--Mode of winnowing grain--Prejudice against fans--A tradition--Produce of land consumed within seven years--Mills--Mode of stopping mills--Cattle--Injured by fairies--Shot by their darts--"Thunderbolts"--The "Ill ee"--"Hackit flesh" buried in the dungpit to work ill among the cattle--If found it was burned--Carcass of dead animal burned if it was supposed that the disease was caused by a witch or a warlock--An example--A tradition--Sacrifice of a pig to

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stop disease among cattle--Diseased animals sacrificed--Byres purified with virgin fire in cases of "Quarter Ill"--Fumigating with juniper--"Need-fyre"--Forbidden by Church--Forelegs of dead animal cut off and kept--Liver and lungs, parts of hung over the fireplace--Sometimes boiled--Transferring the disease--Modes of doing so--Place of burying the animal stopped the disease--Cures by draughts--Off a new shilling--"Willox stone and bridle"--Modes of keeping witches at a distance--The rowan tree--Woodbine--Throwing besom after animal when led to market--Halter went along with animal when sold--Thrown on roof of byre when animal taken home--Making sign of cross on animal when bought--"Blockan ale"--The dairy--Chief enemies--Witch and warlock--Modes of taking away milk--By witch--Turning herself into a hare--Mode of taking it away when cow was calving--Mode of preventing this--First milk through a finger-ring--On a "crosst shilling"--On a horseshoe nail--By curdling the first milk--By a rope plaited the contrary way round the cow's neck--By first draught of water off a shilling--Driving the newly-calved cow from the byre over fire and iron--Or over fire and salt--Same done to all the animals--"Seal" on cow's neck kept witch at a distance--Modes of bringing back milk when taken from cow--Boiling milk with pins, &c.--Corking up cow's urine in a bottle--Traditions--Pour milk on a boulder between lichen and stone--By ceremony with churn--Mode by selling--Mode of preventing a cow being "forespoken"--Mode of finding out whether "forespoken"--Mode of cure--Modes of finding out who took away milk--Cure of lumps in udder--How to increase quantity of milk--Milk boiling over pot into fire--Milk utensils washed indoors--If washed in a stream or pond washings thrown on bank--Reason of such--"Ream-pig"--"Ream-bowie"--The "paddle-doo"--"Gueede batter gaitherer"--Frog kept amongst cream--A tradition--Cream--Crooked sixpence or cross of rowan tree or horseshoe put below churn when butter was being made--One entering the house when the butter was being churned churned a short time--How to make cow calve during the day-time--Calf as it fell from the cow not touched with hand--Cow not milked on the morning when taken to market--"Seal" went along with milch cow when sold--The "Hird"--His club made of ash--Reason for so doing--"Jockies plew"--Number of cattle notched on club--A tradition--Each animal had a name--"Hird" Rhyme, pp. 177-196.

CHAPTER XXVI.

BOATS AND FISHING.

Boat launched to a flowing tide--Whisky, &c., given at launch and naming--Rhyme--Ceremony by skipper's wife on arrival of a new boat--Horseshoe nailed to boat--On going a-fishing new boat allowed to take the lead--Reason---Ceremony on returning from fishing--A boat wrecked with loss of life not afterwards used--White stone not used as ballast--Stone bored by pholas not used--Village awakened by an old fisherman--Men with an "Ill Fit"--Traditions--Mode of drawing down the boats on going to sea-Repugnance

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to go to sea if asked where they were going--Words not uttered when at sea--Swine--Salmon--Trout--Dog--Minister--Kirk--Fish "glowered oot o’ 'the boat"--Mode of taking off the spell--Boats at sea not to be pointed at with finger--Nor counted--Nor women counted when travelling to sell fish--Certain family names not pronounced in Buckie--Anecdote--Whyte an unlucky name in other villages--Mode of curing haddocks--Different kinds of cured haddocks--Other fish--Mode of selling--Ceremony on New Year's Day, pp. 197-202.

CHAPTER XXVII.

DEATH.

Omens--Three knocks--The "Dead-drop"--"Chackie Mill"--Heavy sound outside door of house--Murmur of human voices--Mirror or picture falling--"Dead--can’le"--A "Fey-crap"--"Coffin-spehl"--Apparition of person doomed to die--Three drops of cold blood falling from nose--Unusual joy--Sneezing a sign of recovery--Dead and living grave--Forbidden by Church--Mysterious sound--A tradition--Break rock over head of the dying--Dying one removed from bed--Reason for so doing--Doors and windows opened in hour of death--Iron stuck into butter, &c., on the death taking place--Milk in house thrown out--Onions and butter in some fishing villages thrown out--Chairs, &c. sprinkled with water--Clothes of dead sprinkled with water--Had a peculiar smell--Clock stopped--Mirrors, pictures, &c., covered--Hens and cats shut up--Reason for so doing--Neighbours did not yoke horses unless a running stream between dwellings--Earth not dug in one village--Wright sent for on death to make coffin--Laying out of body--A penny or halfpenny put on eyelids if they did not close--Salt laid on breast--Green turf laid on breast to prevent swelling--Candles kept burning--A tradition--Time of death--Drowning--Body floated on ninth day--Reason--Mode of finding body--Body of suicide--Murder--Murderer touching body causes blood to flow--The lyke-wake--The "Kistan"--The "Waukan"--How time employed--Sometimes practical jokes--"Tobacco Nichts," pp. 203-209.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

BURIAL.

Reception of funeral guests--hospitality--Looking at the dead body--Touching it--Body soft, meaning of--Part of winding--sheet cut off and kept--Mode of carrying the coffin to the graveyard--A young woman carried by young women in Buckie-Chairs, on which coffin rested before moving away from the door, overturned--Allowed to lie for a time--Washed--All animals about the farm loosed from their stalls and driven forth--The funeral must go by the common road--Bellman went before funeral ringing a bell in some place--Church-bell rung in others--Whisky carried if graveyard distant--Partaken of at the "ristin stehn"--Tradition--Whisky partaken of when grave covered--Feast after funeral--A shower on the open grave--A

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hurricane--Bread and water put beside the dead body the night after the funeral--A funeral not to be looked at from a window--Suicides--Not buried in graveyard--A tradition--Where buried--Why not buried in graveyard--The knot of a suicide's hanging rope--A criminal's--Still-born children--The baptized children--Graveyards--Reluctance to put first body in a new graveyard--A tradition--The "Meels"--The mortcloth--Coffins--Graveyards haunted--Mode of making contract with the devil--Mode of "arresting" a man or a beast--Mould of graveyard used in sorcery--Forbidden by the Church, pp. 210-216.

GLOSSARY, pp. 217-225.

INDEX, pp. 227-238.


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