Marspäert, fly to heaven!
Bring me a sack full of biscuits, one for me, one for thee,
For all the little angels one.[9]
In the north of Europe it is thought lucky when a young girl in the country sees the Lady-bird in the spring; she
then lets it creep about her hand, and says: “She measures me for wedding gloves.” And when it spreads its little wings and flies away, she is particular to notice the direction it takes, for thence her sweetheart shall one day come.[10] The latter part of this notion obtains in England; and it has been embodied by Gay in one of his Pastorals, as follows:
This Lady-fly I take from off the grass,
Whose spotted back might scarlet red surpass.
Fly, Lady-bird, north, south, or east or west,
Fly where the man is found that I love best.
He leaves my hand, see to the west he’s flown,