"Snow, snow, give over,
The cow's in the clover."
Thunder, in the North of England, is called by children "Rattley-bags," and during a storm the boys are in the habit of singing:—
"Rowley, Rowley, Rattley-bags,
Take the lasses and leave the lads."
There is a rhyme which is often repeated by the juvenile folks in the north and midland counties upon seeing the new moon, which, perhaps, may have an indirect allusion to its supposed lucky influence:—
"I see the moon and the moon sees me,
God help the parson that baptised me!"—
containing, evidently, a congratulation upon their birth. Boys, too, have a curious saying respecting the reflection of the sun's beams upon a ceiling, which they term "Jack-a-dandy beating his wife with a stick of silver." If a mischievous boy, with a piece of looking-glass, throws the reflection into the eyes of a neighbour, the latter complains "he's throwing Jack-a-dandy in my eyes."
Passing on to other charm-rhymes connected with natural objects, there are a very numerous class relating to the animal creation. In evening-time, for instance, when the dew begins to fall, boys are fond of hunting the large black snails, on discovering which they exclaim:—
"Snail, snail, put out your horn,
Or I'll kill your father and mother i' th' morn."
This charm, however, is not confined to our own country, but under a variety of forms is found on the Continent. In Scotland, too, children prognosticate the coming weather from the movements of this little creature:—