Snow, snow, give over,
The cow's in the clover!
White is the rural generic term for snow, and black for rain. Thus, in the well-known proverb,—
February fill the dyke,
Be it black or be it white;
But if it be white,
It's the better to like.
The Anglo-Saxon and Northern literatures are full of similar poetical synonymes. A common nursery riddle conceals the term snow by the image of a white glove, and another in the same manner designates rain as a black glove:
Round the house, and round the house,
And there lies a white glove in the window. [38]
Round the house, and round the house,
And there lies a black glove in the window.
| [38] | A copy of this riddle occurs in MS. Harl. 1962, of the seventeenth century. |
[THE WIND.]
When the wind is in the east,
Then the fishes do bite least;
When the wind is in the west,
Then the fishes bite the best;
When the wind is in the north,
Then the fishes do come forth;
When the wind is in the south,
It blows the bait in the fish's mouth.
This weather-wise advice to anglers was obtained from Oxfordshire. It is found in a variety of versions throughout Great Britain.
The Lincolnshire shepherds say,—