Devonshire Folklore

Author(s): Lady Rosalind Northcote

Source: Folklore, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Jun., 1900), pp. 212-217
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1253269
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212 AMiscellanea.

DEVONSHIRE FOLKLORE, COLLECTED AMONG THE PEOPLE NEAR

EXETER WITHIN THE LAST FIVE OR SIX YEARS. By LADY
ROSALIND NORTHCOTE.

THEREare many beliefs still held by the old people in Devon-

shire that are thought but little of by the youngergeneration,and
of these beliefs "overlooking" and " ill-wishing" and "pixy-
leading" play the most prominent parts. One hears also of
white witches, but generally,alas, in the past tense.
GOBLINDOM.-Jack o' th' Lantern.-One can occasionally hear
tales about Jack o' th' Lantern. He seems to be dreadedas a rule,
but is sometimes affable,and even gracious. A young woman, of
much daring, insisted, contrary to the wishes of her friends, in
going alone past a marshyplace said to be haunted by Jack o' th'
Lantern,for he usually haunts marshesand boggy "bottoms" on
the moors. Still more rashly,she used this invocation:
Jack o' the Lantern, Jan of the Lub,
Light me home and I'll give you a crub.

(Crub is a local name for crumb.) He did appear,and what is

more, alarmed her so terriblythat she was ill for long afterwards.
More fortunatewas anotherwitness,a certain man who had always
to go home througha copse, for he said that when he was obliged
to come home in the dark Jack wouldlight him all the way,adding
that Jack had been especiallyattentive to him in his courtingdays.
Jack would dance fromside to side, but alwaystook the rightway,
and he himself would call out "Thank'ee,Jack! Thank'ee Jack!"
till he was broughtto his own door. This man one night refused
a lantern (pressed on him by the wife of the man who told me
this), saying that Jack always lighted him, and that he never
carrieda lantern. It is supposed that he feared that he would
have hurt Jack's feelings if he had done so.
Another man was walking along a road one night when he was
overtakenby Jack, who skipped up to him, showing,he described,
"a face like a brandybottle." He told the wayfarerthat he was
now due in a town some miles distant, and was over the hill in a
twinkling.
Pixies.-Tales of people being pixy-led, even almost up to the
present day, abound. If there is a fog one may hear the pixies
laughing,and, as is well known, if one is hopelessly lost the great
remedy is to turn out a pocket or put on one's coat inside out.

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 Miscellanea. 213

Pixies are fond of water,and some children whom I knew used to

go down to the side of a stream to watch for them there. Pre-
cautions have to be taken against changelings, and at Chudleigh
mothers used to tie their babies to them in bed at night for fear
of the pixies. At Bishopsteignton the women on an average
used to be very small,and folks said it was because the pixies had
changed them when they were babies.
A keeper and his wife used to live at Chudleigh,near the rocks,
whose holes the pixies " bide" in. This couple had two children,
and one morningwhen the wife had dressed the eldest she let her
run away while she dressed the baby. Presently her husband
came and asked her " where the little maid was to ?" For she
was gone and was not to be found. They searchedhigh and low
for days; the neighbourscame to help, and at last bloodhounds
were to be sent for. But one morning some young men thought
they would go and help themselves to some nuts from a clump of
nut-trees not far from the keeper'shouse, and at the farther side
they came suddenly on the child, undressed,but well and happy,
and not at all starved,playing with her toes, or toads; I do not
know which. The pixies were supposed to have stolen the child,
and are still firmly believed to have been responsible for her dis-
appearance.
The pixies are quick to revenge a slight, as the following" bit"
shows. In the course of ploughing a field a pixies' oven1 was
once discovered and the man told the plough-boyto pick it up.
But the boy broke it (it was wooden), saying that "They old
pixies shouldn't bake no more bread." Immediately he was set
upon by invisible enemies and so severely pinched that he was
forced to go home to bed, his bruises being so bad that he could
not even open his eyes for days.
Another version tells that the oven, alreadybroken, for want of
a nail, was put in sight of the ploughman and that he mended it.
Afterwardshe found a mug of cider put out for him in the field
by the pixies. He offered a drink to the boy, who spoke dis-
respectfullyof the pixies and was thereuponattacked by them.
Pixies sometimes act the part usually assigned to brownies and
assist in household work. Here are two stories, resembling a
very well-known one of Grimm's, but with different endings.

I Query, oven-peel.-ED.

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214 Mi'scellanea.

There was once a farmer,who had a barn containing corn, and

however much he threshed in the day it always seemed as full as
ever in the morning. One night he determined to watch, and
presentlyin came some (I think only two or three) pixies. Each
seized a flail and began to thresh. Then said one: " Tweat you ?
I tweat." The farmerfelt gratefuland determinedto rewardthem
for their trouble, so he had little suits of clothes made for them.
Then he put these in the barn,and hid himself and watchedagain,
and by-and-bythe pixies came in. They were delighted with the
clothes and dressed themselves in them, but after that they went
away and did no more work for the farmer.
The other tale was written down for me by a woman whose
father told it to her, and I give her exact words.
"Once there was a farmerwho used to employ a workmanby
the name of Robin Hood, so the farmer agreed with him to
thresh some corn. He worked at it for several days and could
not shrink it one bit, so he thought to himself one day he would
watch throughthe night. So when it came on dark he hid him-
self in a corner of the barn and about twelve o'clock, having
locked the door on the inside, he saw a big picksy come through
the keyhole with a big load on his back, and then a smaller one,
and then a very little one. They put down their loads and rubbed
themselves, and said: 'I tweat. You tweat. Tweat I too.' The
man jumped out of his hiding-placewitha pick, so they disappeared
throughthe keyhole, and the man finished his threshing in peace
the next day. But the picksys did not forget or forgive him.
When he was returning home from his work one came and
jumped on his back and kept saying: 'Turn again, Robin,' till it
broughthim down to a river. Then it jumped in the river.
" Then Robin met his two brothers,so they thoughtthey would
go for a night's poaching. Off they started, through wild and
lonely places. When they got on the top of a hill they looked
down over and saw something like fire. One said it was fire, and
another said it was the sun rising in the earth. The other said it
must be the moon. Then it divided into a lot of little picksys
with shining heads. They thought they would be brave and see
what they were up to, but when they came up nearerto them the
men got so frightenedthey began to run away, each in a different
direction. They scrambledthrough brambles,ditches, and mud.
When they arrived home they were shoeless and hatless. They

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 MisceZlanea, 2I5

ran up and got into bed and lay shaking all night-thought every
sound was the picksys coming after them. That was the last
time Robin went poaching."
WITCHCRAFT.-The powerof many evilly-disposedpersons,wh
work harmto others,is supposed to lie, partly,in their "books "-
mysteriousbooks, often to be heard of, in the possession of some
one else-and never to be seen!
Harm may be wroughtto others by the agency of toads. One
woman, in a neighbouringvillage, kept toads in her back kitchen
for the purpose of injuring persons against whom she had a
grudge. They are also supposed to forecast certain events, and
an old woman (personally known to my informant'smother) who
was bedridden,kept toads in her bed, and people used to come
to her to have their fortunes told by them. By what means the
toads accomplished either the ill-wishingor fortune-tellingone is
not told.
There is a belief in the evil eye, only it is called " overlooking"
in these parts. Two neighbours near here have a long-standing
quarrel. Sometimes when they are out in the yard together
Mrs. A. looks at Mrs. J. in " such a way," that her knees tremble
under her and she has to go indoors and have a cry. And for
days afterwardsshe is bent "two double." [That is, head and
shouldersstooping very badly.]
White witches, of course, can heal as well as hurt both man
and beast. The white witch of the following 'account, my in-
formant declared to being acquainted with. One of the horses
belonging to a certain farmer being ill, he sent for the witch to
cure it. She stayed a few days in the house and the animal
recovered. She then left the place. Soon afterwardsa bullock
fell ill, and the woman was again sent for, and she returnedand
effected a second cure. Again, another beast became sick, and
so it happened after every time that she had left the house.
Then they resolved to have her no more, thinking that she had
been the cause of each fresh illness, and when she knew this, to
revenge herself,the house was " troubled." Doors kept slamming
when there was no wind, and they constantly heard the sound of
a horse trotting overhead and on the stairs. In one bedroom a
large heap of French beans was put to dry, and every night these
used to rattle round and round the room. The man who slept
there used to feel something running over his feet in bed, and

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2I6 Miscellanea.

one night when the beans were very lively he struck a light
quickly. Instantly they were all in their proper places. The
house is now pulled down.
Another story tells one how to keep these malevolent women
at a distance, though not asserting that their power is equally
staved off. But the witch in this particular case was an old
woman, suspected of witchcraft, chiefly because she bought old
bones and bits of iron. The old iron she used to sell to a former
blacksmith in our neighbouring village (whose grandson told the
tale). Friendly advisers warned the blacksmith that he ought
not to have such an uncanny visitor so often about, nor so many
dealings with her. "How was he to stop her?" he asked. He
was told to notice where she set her foot within the forge, and
after her departure to drive a nail in her track. This he did, and
afterwards when she was passing she would call to him, but never
crossed his threshold. One day he drew out the nail, and ever
after that she came inside the forge as much as she had done
before.
It is difficult to know if, and how far, people still believe in
witchcraft proper. Most people agree that witches and pixies
used formerly to flourish, and if then, why not now? But belief
in their existence at the present day is very shadowy. One view
was put before me that Heaven would not permit one human
creature to harm another "of like flesh and blood" by evil
spells. But this was contradicted by another opinion, that
Heaven had nothing to do with it: spells were the work of the
Evil One. One woman thinks that increased education ought to,
or does, produce more witchcraft than there was in former days,
because if so much harm could be done by ignorant folk and
their " books," now that the knowledge of most folk is increased
their power to harm will be increased also.
FOLK-MEDICINE.-Village herbalists still exist and their advice
is sought; but perhaps their knowledge is not so deep as was that
of their fathers, for though their counsel is still respected, they
themselves do not seem to be revered to the extent that their
predecessors were. Many women have family recipes and make
ointments of their own.
Bear's foot, a plant with five (?) finger-like leaves, is good, but
one finger is bad and must be torn off and thrown away. Angelica
has wonderful virtues. Fox-glove, or, as it is here called, cow-flop,

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 Mzscellanea. 217

heals sores, but must be gathered on the north side of a hedge.

Butter is better for making ointment with than lard, because cows
feed on herbs, and all herbs are good for something.
Mrs. T.'s mother used herbs very extensively, and manypeople
used to come to her for bitters, ointments, dried herbs, and also
to ask her to say a certain prayer for the sick. This prayer can
only be taught by a man to a woman, or a woman to a man,
otherwise it loses its efficacy. On one occasion the friends of
a man came to her, he being so violently ill with some inflam-
matorycomplaint,that he was with difficultyheld down in his bed.
She said the prayer,and on their return they found him lying
perfectlyquiet. Here is a prayerfor a burn-
" Therewas two angelscamefromthe West,
One blowedfire, the otherfrost.
Out fire, In frost,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the IHoly Ghost. Amen.
There are many people still who can stop bleeding by just
saying "something." A man here stopped a wound bleeding
only a week or so before the account was given to me. His wife
said that he was sent for in the middle of the night to a friend of
his because a blood vessel had burst inside his head, and he stayed
the blood before the doctor came. He also stopped the bleeding
from a bad cut in a boy's foot quite lately. The foot was stretched
out on a stool before him and he just put his hands out over it
and said something-of course, not allowingany of the standers-
by to hear what he said. The woundwas then streaming,so that
the blood ran over the floor, but the flow ceased and the wound
only wept a little after the words were spoken.
The same man can also prevent a thorn festering. He cured a
womana little while back withouteven seeing her. She fell on one
hand into a bundle of furze and went to his house for help. He
was out at the time, but was told of the occurrenceon his return
and said something which cured her. His mother could touch
for king's evil. The old belief in the efficacyof a rope with which
a man has been hanged is still alive. It was brought under the
notice of a doctor as having cured some one sufferingfrom king's
evil but a few months ago. A man who has stopped bleeding or
thorns festeringin this manner must never be paid, nor ask a fee,
but a present of some sort should be made him.

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