CHARMS FOR CATTLE.
These were even more numerous than those for the distempers of men. Cattle are nowadays better housed, fed, and attended to, and hence are not so liable to ill-understood ailments that gave persons of ‘skill’ employment.
In the case of any beast being seized with distemper, this short charm might prove of use:
“Whoever has done you this deed of malice,
A brown man or white woman,
I send these Three to check them,
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
A more obstinate case demanded the charm for the Evil Eye, water in which stones of virtue were dipped etc.
When a newly purchased animal is brought home, its return to its former home is prevented, and its allurement to its new haunts is secured by blowing into its ear, and saying:
“A blowing into your right ear,
For your benefit and not your hurt,
Love of the land under your foot,
And dislike to the land you left,
Your fastening in my hand,
And an iron lock is on thee, etc.”
When a cow loses its milk, as is sometimes the case, whatever be the cause (perhaps the eating of a noxious weed), it is necessary to procure the pearlwort and two other plants known to people of skill, to bring back the milk. The following words are to be said when pulling the plants:
“I will pull the pearlwort,
The plant that Fionn had;
The son of the angels came,
When it was bending above it;
Bridget came home to thee
With thy curds and thy butter;
Smooth Mary that hoarded it
Under her nine round locks,
A plant of milk it is, a plant of fat,
And a plant of pairing;
A plant of happiness and joy
Wherever it is.
I will pull the joyful clump,
Sitting by the top of an eminence,
I would give it to no man,
Without more than my blessing.
I will pull the loving charity,
’Tis a loving delicacy, (?)
It is a crowding together, (?)
It is a good object of travel and journey,
And God asked it as one
And pulled it as two;
It will give happiness and joy
Wherever it is.
I will pull the milk-producing plant,
As smooth St. Mary pulled it,
For produce, for fruit,
For pairing,
For milking plentifully, for thick cream;
The benefit of your herd may you have,
Each for his eye, or malice, or envy,
May his eye be in the bush of whins
And the bush be on fire.”
CHARM AGAINST DANGER (Sian).
The seun or sian, Scot. sain, was used for the protection of both man and beast from particular dangers, such as being taken away by an enemy, being drowned, or struck by sword, or arrow, or bullet in battle. It consisted of rhymes, or parti-coloured strings, or plants, and in many cases its nature remained a mystery. It was said over cows and sheep when leaving them for the night; it was put round the necks of infants; given by the fairy mistress (leannan sìth) to her earthly lover; sewn by the foster-mother (muime) in the clothes of a beloved foster-son (dalta) about to leave her, etc. After it was once given or said, the two, the giver and the recipient, must not see each other again. If they did the charm lost its power. Usually there was some unforeseen danger of the class which the charm was intended to provide against that proved fatal. Thus, it is said, a young woman gave a sian to her soldier lover, who was leaving for foreign wars, telling him the only thing he had to guard against was his own arms. He went scatheless through a protracted war, but after his return scratched his forehead with a pin which he carried in his clothes, and died from the effects.