(3) A few weeks ago my partner removed a needle from a girl's leg where it had been buried for some years. I was shown the needle shortly afterwards put away in a little bottle of oil. I could not get them to give me any reason for. this; but I fancy that it must be a relic of the old idea of preventing any rust forming on a weapon which has caused a wound, and in this way preventing any inflammation in the wound.
Alfred Adams.
Lemain, Looe, Cornwall.
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Folklore from the Orkney Islands.
In forwarding the following communication Sir James Frazer remarks that the harvest customs are interesting and typical : "but this is the first case I have found of the last sheaf personified (so to say) as a bitch in the British Islands." He cannot explain the expression about "freeing the auld wife," and hopes that some member of the Society may be able to interpret it.
"In Orkney in my childhood the harvest customs you mention still went on. There was some laughter over the last sheaf, and some attempt to avoid the job of tying it. More serious was the last load or sheaf to come into the stackyard : I have known young men almost at fists to avoid it. The last sheaf was the "bitch." When one farm had finished the "leading-in " before its neighbour, the lads would make a she-dog of straw, and put it on the sly in some prominent position about the neighbour's steading, taking care not to be caught. It is strange and interesting that no one thought of asking the meaning of these customs.
In Sanday, my native island, the fishermen, on going to sea for a day's fishing, thought they had poor luck if they each did not catch three fish at least. If a fisherman caught three or more he was said to " free the auld wife " : if he caught less than three, he did not " free the auld wife." I bring the expression to your notice : what it means I do not know."
John A. Fotheringhame.
So. School Sandwick, Stromness, Orkney.
