“This is an infamous lie. Thou hast murdered her. Thou come and I will show thee her real grave and her blood.”
And, getting hold of him, he took him down and showed him a place which seemed covered with red blood. But it was no blood. It was a vast number of small red beetles. “Out of the blood of Ileana, seest thou, have come these little flies.”
When Voinic heard this, he was seized with such a great fright that he became changed from the old bent man that he was into a small black insect, which unto this very day cries for his lost beloved Ileana. The people call it the little cricket, or rather the bull or cow of the Lord (Lygaeus equestris). The little red beetles which come out of the blood of Ileana they also call Easter beetle, for it was on Easter Day that she was thrown down the cliff.
XVIII.
WHY DOES THE SAW-FLY LIVE IN STABLES?
The Story of St. Mary and the Miserly Farmer.
Another legend of a totally different character is also told of this little beetle.
When the Holy Mother gave birth to Jesus, she had not enough milk in her breasts to suckle the child. Next to her on the right lived a very rich farmer who had a large number of cows. So the mother Mary sent to him, and asked him to give her a little milk, as much as was necessary to feed her little baby. But rich farmers are, as a rule, very stingy. So he replied, “I am not going to give my good milk to a witch to bewitch my cows and take away their gift.”