RICKETS, OR A CRICK IN THE BACK.
The holed stone—Mên-an-tol—in Lanyon, is commonly called by the peasantry the crick-stone. Through this the sufferer was drawn nine times against the sun—or, if a man, he was to crawl through the hole nine times.
Strumous children were not unfrequently treated after another fashion.
A young ash-tree was cleft vertically, and the parts being drawn forcibly asunder, the child was passed “three times three times” against the sun through the tree. This ceremony having been performed, the tree was carefully bound together: if the bark grew together and the tree survived, the child would grow healthy and strong; if the tree died, the death of the child, it was believed, would surely follow.