That ere should sell land, stone, or bight.
The belief that bees must be told of their master’s death is widely spread, also that a winter crop of primroses betokens a death in the house. Powdered alabaster is considered a good remedy for the ailments of sheep, and the beautiful tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley in Bunbury Church has, in consequence, it is said, suffered much mutilation.
We find Trowle, the shepherd boy in the Chester play, making much of his tar-box as a specific, for the diseases of sheep and cattle were serious matters for an agricultural people, as the following show:—
| Paid for a book concerning ye disorders of cattle | £0 | 1 | 0[69] |
and in the accounts of St. John’s Church, Chester, the following occurs five times in 1747:—
| Paid for a book about the horned cattle | £0 | 0 | 8 |
[69] Bunbury Church Accounts.
One other point remains to be noticed. There is a widely-spread belief that the indentures of apprentices in Chester contained a clause stipulating that they should not be compelled to eat salmon more than three days in each week. No such indenture has ever been seen, and the late Mr. Frank Buckland offered, in vain, a reward of five pounds for the sight of such a document. The tradition exists wherever there is a salmon river, but investigation shows that it is without foundation.
Such is some of the folk-lore of Cheshire, and there may still be a great deal which has never yet been recorded. It behoves every one to use his utmost endeavours to put into print every song, legend, saying, or custom that he may meet with. Such relics of the past can only now be obtained from aged people, and in a few years this source will fail, and the rising “school-board” generation will neither know nor care for such things. It is well to remember also (to quote another Cheshire proverb) that “the unlikeliest places are often likelier than those which are likeliest.”
It has been impossible to give all references, but especial mention must be made of Hazlitt’s and Ray’s Proverbs, Mr. Robert Holland’s various papers, The Cheshire Sheaf, and some Bird Notes of Mr. T. A. Coward.