If the sun in red should set,
The next day surely will be wet;
If the sun should set in gray,
The next will be a rainy day.”
Bond’s Looe.
THE FIRST BUTTERFLY.
“One of the superstitions prevailing in Devonshire is, that any individual neglecting to kill the first butterfly he may see for the season, will have ill luck throughout the year.”[68] The following recent example is given by a young lady:—“The other Sunday, as we were walking to church, we met a man running at full speed, with his hat in one hand, and a stick in the other. As he passed us he exclaimed, ‘I shan’t hat ’en now, I b’lieve.’ He did not give us time to inquire what he was so eagerly pursuing; but we presently overtook an old man, whom we knew to be his father, and who, being very infirm, and upwards of seventy, generally hobbled about by the aid of two sticks. Addressing me, he observed, ‘My zin a took away wan a my sticks, miss; wan’t be ebble to kill’n now though, I b’lieve.’ ‘Kill what?’ said I. ‘Why, ’tis a butterfly, miss,—the furst hee’th a zeed for the year; and they zay that a body will have cruel bad luck if a ditn’en kill a furst a zeeth.’”
I have found this belief prevailing in the east, but never in the west, of Cornwall.
PECULIAR WORDS AND PHRASES.
“The people in the west,” writes a correspondent, “have adopted many words from the Danish invaders.” Tradition assures us that the sea-rovers of the North frequently landed at Witsand Bay, burned and pillaged the villages of Escols and Mayon, sometimes took off the women, but never made a settlement. Certain red-haired families are often referred to as Danes, and the dark-haired people will not marry with “a red-haired Dane.” He continues:—“If you were in Buryan Church-town this evening, you might probably hear Betty Trenoweth say, ‘I’ll take off my touser, [toute serve,] and run up to Janey Angwins to cousey [causer] a spell; there’s a lot of boys gone in there, so there’ll be a grand courant, [de courir,] I expect.’ In a short time Betty may come back disappointed, saying, ‘’Twas a mere cow’s courant after all, cheld vean—all hammer and tongs.’”