[255] Such incantations are intoned or chanted in a very peculiar style, so that those who can only hear the sound know that it is a magic spell. Therefore they must be expressed very accurately to the letter. It may be observed that there is a contradiction in the original MS., which here speaks of three companions, and subsequently of two. I believe the latter to be correct.
[259a] Here the name of the lover is pronounced by the friends.
[259b] Now in possession of Mrs. January of St. Louis, Missouri.
[262] “Moon Lore,” p. 152.
[265] I have no doubt that originally all the spoken parts of this narrative were sung.
[266] Thorns here plainly mean suffering, Fasio di pruini che ai messo al tuo fratello.
[269] It is amusing that this stealing oil wherewith to make love-charms, which was denounced so bitterly as damnable sorcery at one time, and frequently punished by death, i.e., by burning alive, is now tacitly encouraged by the priests. There are churches about Rome in which the oil is placed where it may be stolen or taken, it being understood that a soldo or two shall be left to pay for it.