From bad and faithless, make her good and faithful.
From cheating and envious, make her good and loving.
Otherwise, woe unto her.
Woe unto thy kind,
For I will set upon it and utterly destroy it.
I will fall upon it and annihilate it.
She will then repent of her evil ways. This charm is only to be used in the case when the wife is younger than the husband.
In the charm we have the “historical” or narrative element, in the legend we have the symbolical in the application which is assumed to run on parallel lines—the woman must also be faithful, obedient, chaste, must not look into other people’s eyes nor talk to strangers—a grave danger for her soul. And finally the “threat” that unless the “nun” will do the bidding, she will be severely chastised, just like the demons in older conjurations, who are first cajoled and then threatened. It is thoroughly typical, and shows the depths of belief in the power of even the little insect which is, however, still seen as a “nun” in a human form well instructed and powerful, in spite of its actual “disguise.” No real line of demarcation is drawn between the human being and the meanest creature. In popular belief and imagination they all live and move on the same plane.
There is another tale told about this insect, which seems to be another attempt to explain its name Nun.