PROVERBS REFERRING TO WITCHES, GYPSIES, AND FAIRIES.
“Of Fairies, Witches, Gypsies,
My nourrice sang to me,
Sua Gypsies, Fairies, Witches,
I alsua synge to thee.”
(“Denham Tract.”)
Dr. Krauss has in his work, “Sreca, Gluck und Schicksal im Volksglauben der Südslaven,” collected a number of sayings in reference to his subject, from which I have taken some, and added more from other sources.
Of an evil woman one says, as in all languages, “To je vila”—that is, “a witch”; or it is uttered or muttered as, “To je vila ljutica”—that is, “a biting (or bitter) witch”; or to a woman whom one dislikes, “Idi vilo!”—“Begone, witch!” as in gypsy, “Jasa tu chovihani!”
Also, as in German, “Ako i je baba, nije vjestica”—“Though she is an old woman she is no witch”; while, on the other hand, we have, “Svake baba viestica, a djed vjestac”—“Every old woman is a witch, and every old man a wizard.”
The proverb, “Bizi ko vistica od biloga luka”—“she runs from it like a witch from white garlic”—will be found fully explained in the chapter on “The Cure of Children,” in which it is shown that from early times garlic has been a well-known witch-antidote.