Chapter 38

How the Romans kept the wolf our of their fields, we are informed by Pliny 28, 20 [81]: 'Lupos in agrum non accedere, si capti unius pedibus infractis cultroque adacto paulatim sanguis circa fines agri spargatur, atque ipse defodiatur in eo loco ex quo coeperit trahi; aut si vomerem, quo primus sulcus eo anno in agro ductus sit, excussum aratro, focus larium quo familia convenit absumat; ac lupum nulli animali nociturum in eo agro, quamdiu id fiat.'

A herdsman's charm from a MS. of the 15^th cent. shows marks of a far remoter origin: 'ich treip heut aus in unser lieben Frauen haus, in Abrahams garten (conf. p. 1220), der lieber herr sant Mertein, der sol heut meines (vihes) pflegen und warten, und der lieber herr sant Wolfgang, der lieb herr sant Peter, der hat den himelischen slussel, die versperrent dem wolf und der vohin irn drussel, dass si weder plut lassen noch bein schroten. Des helf mir der man, der chain ubel nie hat getan (i.e. Christ, conf. 'sinless man,' p. 24, and the contrast p. 988), und die heiligen V wunden behüten mein vieh vor allen holzhunden. V Pater et V Ave Maria.' (12)

Here the rhymes peep out fitfully. The wood-hounds are Wuotan's forest-hounds (p. 147), the AS. 'holtes gehlêðan,' silvae latrones, El. 223, the hölzinge (Reinh. p. lv); and that the fox named with the wolf should be vohe fem., is in harmony with Goth. faúhô, OHG. fohâ. The Wolfgang who is to fend the flock, is so named either because he gangs against the wolf, or because the wolf met the hero at a lucky moment, p. 1140n.

As I have not met with a German bee-spell, I will give a Latin one in Baluze's Capitul. 2, 663 taken from a St Gall MS.: 'Ad revocandum examen apum dispersum: adjuro te, mater aviorum, per Deum regem coelorum, et per illum redemptorem Filium Dei te adjuro, ut non te in altum levare nec longe volare, sed quam plus cito potes ad arborem venire (velis); ibi te alloces cum omni tuo genere vel cum socia tua, ibi habeo bona vasa parata, ut vos ibi in Dei nomine laboretis, etc.' Mater aviorum (for apum) is the AS. beomôdor (p. 697); the steadily waxing comb (p. 1236n.) was beobreád, Cod. Exon. 425, 20, MHG. bîebrôt (Gramm. 3, 463), but also râz and wâbe (from weaving, working, p. 697); the hive bîekar (vas, Goth. kasi), the fly-hole OHG. flougar (Graff 3, 163). Our forefathers had at their service many more terms in apiculture than we, and prettier (see Suppl.).

As runes were written on bast (limrûnar â berki rîsta ok â baðmi viðar, Sæm. 195a; cortex carminibus adnotatus, Saxo Gram. 44), the olden time may have had some runes for detaching the bast from the wood. Incantations have power to release the babe from ante-natal durance, the hard rind from the bast. Among shepherd lads in almost every part of Germany are preserved rhymes, in singing which they keep time by tapping a piece of willow on their knee with a knife handle, till they can slip it off unbroken to make a whistle of. The simplest though not oldest version is: 'Fabian, Sebastian, lat mi de widen-flöt afgan!' (Voss on Idyl 6, 179) or in Ditmarsen: 'Fabian, Sebastian, lat den saft ut holt gan!' It is believed that on the day of these two saints (Jan. 20) the sap enters the willow. In some places both the names are wanting, but the spell is spun out longer: 'sa sa pipe (prob. for sap-pipe), up'm mölen-dike (mill-dam) dar sit en man, de heet Johan, de har dre rode stöveln (3 red shoes) an, de ene hörde (belonged) mi to, de annar hörde di to, de drudde hörde'm papen to, do kam de ole hesse (old witch) mit en blanken meste (knife), sneet den küken den kop af, smeet'en in busch, plumps sä de busch, is de sapipe noch nicht good?' Halbertsma says in the Overyssel Almanack for 1836: 'de twijg riip en gesneden zijnde, slaan (beat) de kinderen met het hecht (haft) van een mesje op een der groene rijsjes, tot dat de bast loslaat, dien zij er dan heel aftrekken (pulled off whole) en als een pijp gebruiken om op te fluiten of er erwten door te blazen. Zoo lang het kind met zijn mesje op den bast tikte, plag het (he used) oudtijds de volgende regelen to zingen: Lange lange pipe, wenneer bistou ripe? Te Meye, te Meye, as de veugeltjes eyer lekt. 'T ketjen op den dyk zat, sute melk met brokken (crumbs) at. Doe kwam de voele hesse al met de scharpe messe, wold et ketjen et oor (ear) afsnien; it ketjen ging ant lopen to hope, to hope! de voele hesse ging lopen. Heel of, half of, houwe dijn den kop af, so dood as een piere, kump sün levendage net weer hiere.' Firmenich gives the form as used in the Neumark, p. 121: 'sipp sapp seepe, moak mi 'ne flöte! --- Wovon denn? --- Von meieroan (marjoram), von thymegoan, det se balle (soon) mag afgoahn.' And in Priegnitz, p. 131: 'sibbe sibbe sibbe säubken, loat mi det kleine fleutken goot afgoahn, goot afgoahn, bes up (up to) den letzten knoaken!' --- We can see how Sebastian got in, from 'sap-pipe, sibbe sabbe,' perhaps also 'bast.' In the Böhmerwald the willow or alder twig is thus conjured (Jos. Rank p. 168): 'pföfferl gei owa, sist schloga dö owa; lei's rintl o drahdö eiz, heargotl pfeiz!' little pipe, come off, else I knock thee off; deer little rind, do draw thee now, my lord god pipe! Woycicki kl. 1, 92. 151 tells us, that to get a marvellous pipe (fuyarka) that can make everybody dance, one must find in the forest's gloom the green willow that never heard the rush of water nor the crow of cock: 'co by nigdy nie slyszala szuma wody, ni piania koguta.' This detail, expressly picked up among the peasantry on the Pruth and Dniester, strangely coincides with Pliny's statement 16, 37 [71]: 'ex qua (sambuco) magis canoram buccinam tubamque credit pastor ibi caesa, ubi gallorum cantum frutex ille non exaudiat.' Of peeling the willow there is nothing said (see Suppl.).

An old AS. spell for fœr-stice, sudden stitch in the side, was communicated to me by Price from the Harley MS. no. 583 fol. 186. First, three herbs are to be boiled in butter, feverfew (febrifugia = febrem fugans, Capit. de villis, Pertz 3, 186), red nettle that grows through a fence (conf. p. 1200, through a sieve), and waybread, OHG. wegabreita, plantago: 'Wið færstice feferfuge, and seo reáde netele þe þurh ærn (13) inwyxð, and wegbrœde, wylle in buteran.

Hlûde wæron hî, lâ hlûde, þâ hî ofer þone hlæw ridon,

wæron âmôde, þâ hî ofer land ridon.

scyld þû þe, nu þû þisne nîð genesan môte.

ût, lytel spere, gif her inne sie!

stôd (I stood) under linde, under leohtum scylde,

þær þâ mihtigan wîf hyra mægen beræddon (mustered),

and hî gyllende gâras (whizzing lances) sendon.

ic him oðerne eft wille sendan (I'll send them back another)

fleogende flân forane tô geanes.

ût, lytel spere, gif hit her inne sie!

sæt smið, slôh seax lytel (hammered little knife)

............................... îserna wund swiðe.

ût, lytel spere, gif her inne sie!

sex smiðas sæton, wælspera worhton,

ûtspere, næs (was not), innspere.

gif her inne sie îsernes dæl (any iron),

hægtessan geweorc (witch's work), hit sceal gemyltan (melt),

gif þû wære on fell scoten, oððe wære on flæsc scoten,

oððe wære on blôd scoten .....................

oððe wære on lið scoten, næfre ne sî þîn lîf âtæsed,

gif hit wære êsa gescot, oððe hit wære ylfa gescot,

oððe hit wære hægtessan gescot, nu ic wille þîn helpan:

þis þe tô bôte êsa gescotes, þis þe tô bôte ylfa gescotes,

þis þe tô bôte hægtessan gescotes. ic þîn wille helpan.

fleo þær on fyrgen (flee to the desert) ............ !

heáfde hâl westu, helpe þîn Dryhten!

nim þonne þæt seax, âdô on wætan.'

A few gaps give trouble. The whole is based on the assumption that the stitch is caused by the shots of spirits. Loud over land and rock have ridden mighty women, hægtessan (p. 1040), and have sent whizzing darts, afterwards more narrowly defined as 'êsa, ylfa and hægtessan gescot,' shot of âses (p. 25), of elves (p. 443) and of witches (though the gen. sing. is used, not pl. hægtessena). The exorcist, in relating the transaction, calls to the patient to shield himself, that he may get over the attack, (14) and every now and then puts in the refrain 'Out, little spear, if herein thou be!' He goes on to tell how he stood under shelter when those women let fly their darts, and means to send them a counter-shot, a knife, whose smiting by a smith is reported, as also that of war-spears by six smiths. Every bit of the witches' iron shall melt, wherever it may have been shot, into skin, flesh, blood or limb; help is nigh. Lastly: flee thou (enchantress) to the wilderness! be thou (patient) well in thy head, Lord help thee! At the conclusion of the spell the knife (that forged by the smith?) is to be dipt in water. Apparently after 'scoten' there ought to be 'oððe wære on bân scoten'; and perhaps after 'fyrgen' some such words as 'seo þone flân sceát (or, senda)' (see Suppl.).

For other spells hitherto unprinted I have to thank Mr. Kemble. 'Cwið ymbe, nim eorðan, oferweorp mid þînre swîðran handa under þînum swîðran fôt, and cwet:

fô ic under fêt, funde ic hit.

hwæt, eorðe mœg wið ealra wihta gehwylce,

and wið andan, and wið æminde,

and wið þâ micelan mannes tungan.
and wið on forweorp ofer greot þonne his wirman, and cweð:

sitte ge, etc.' (here comes the verses given at p. 431).
For the water-elf sickness: 'gif mon bið on wæterælf-âdle, þonne beoð him þâ hand-næglas wonne, and þâ eágan tearige, and wile lôcian niðer. dô him þis tô læcedôme: eoforþrote, cassuc, eowberge, elehtre, eolone, mersc-mealwan-crop, fenminte, dile, lilie, âttorlâðe, polleie, marrubie, docce, ellen, felterre, wermôd, strâwbergean leáf, consolde. ofgeot mid ealað, dô hâlig wæter tô sing þis gealdor ofer þriwa:

ic benne âwrâð betest beado-wræða,

swâ benne ne burnon ne burston,

ne fundian ne feologan ne hoppettan,

ne wund waxian, ne dolh diopian,

ac him self healde hâlewæge,

ne ace þe þon mâ, þe eorðan on eáre ace (âge?).
sing þis manegum sîðum. eorðe þe onbere mid eallum hire (i.e. Earth's) mihtum and mægenum. þâs gealdor mon mæg singan on wunde.'

The earth, caught up in the right hand from under the right foot, heals and shelters; 'might and main' belong to the earth. Hâlewæge answers to our heilawâc, p. 585.




Notes: