422 Collectanea.
Mrs. Collins also told me a legend of the mole— that it was once a fine lady, so fine that the earth was not good enough for her to walk upon, so she was made to walk underground — as punishment for her pride, one concludes.
The old woman remembers when murders were very common in the country. She told me a story of one murder \vhen both the suspected murderer and the corpse (or rather the bones, for the murder was not discovered for a long time) were taken up into the church tower. The idea was that when the murderer touched the corpse it would bleed, but " the bones were too dry " in this case, was Mrs. CoUins's comment.
Another old woman from whom I have gleaned a good deal is Mrs. Hayward. She lives in a cluster of cottages hidden away in a corner of the common and surrounded by fir-trees. She is eighty-two, but one day she became so interested and excited in talking about old times that she sang me two songs she used to sing in the hayfield when she was a girl of fourteen. ^
She also told me of a divination which she and other girls used to practise in the hayfield. A turf, a bowl of water, and a bough were placed upon the ground, and the girls crawled blindfolded to touch one of them. Touching the turf signified death, the bowl of water a christening, and the bough widowhood. Other divina- tions she had practised were as follows. Two of the pink flowers called " midsummer men and maidens " were stuck into a crack in the wall, and the coming together or moving apart of them signified the truth or falseness of the lover. Hempseed was sown on Midsummer Eve in the churchyard with the words, " Here I sow hempseed. Here it shall grow, If my love loves me. He will come and mow."
Mrs. Hayward further showed me the v,-ay to find out a thief with a key, the Bible, and the words from Ruth iv. 4 : " And I thought to advertise thee, saying. Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it, but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know ; for there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it." The same test was used for " courtship," using instead the words from the Song of
' I am sorrv to sav I have not succeeded in securins: them.
