Guernsey Folk Lore a collection of popular superstitions, legendary tales, peculiar customs, proverbs, weather sayings, etc., of the people of that island

I have added this chapter to Sir Edgar MacCulloch’s book, as I thought it a good opportunity of preserving a few of the old ballads and songs which, for generations, amused and...

woman arrived at his house, without asking whether he were at home, and begged of him seven to nine (sept à neuf) things which he refused her, she wishing at all hazards to come...

Before giving an account of this curious old custom, now abolished, but which seems to have been instituted originally with a view to keeping the highways throughout the island...

The observance of particular days and seasons, and of certain customs connected with them, has been in all countries more or less mixed up with religion. Many of these customs h...

“Antiquities, or remnants of history, are, as was said, _tanquam tabula naufragii_, when industrious persons, by an exact and scrupulous diligence and observation, out of monume...

“Now I remember those old woman’s words Who in my youth would tell me winter’s tales, And speak of sprites and ghosts that glide by night About the place where treasure hath bee...

“For to that holy wood is consecrate, A virtuous well about whose flowery banks The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds By the pale moonshine, dipping often times Their sto...

“They serve to be interlaced in continued speech. They serve to be recited upon occasion of themselves. They serve, if you take out the kernel of them, and make them your own.”-...

As long as the popular belief in witchcraft exists--and with all the boasted light and civilisation of the nineteenth century it still holds its ground--there will be found thos...

“Tam saw an unco sight! Warlocks and witches in a dance; Nae cotillon brent new frae France, But horn pipes, gigs, strathspeys, and reels, Put life and mettle in their heels: …...

“O l’heureux temps que celui de ces fables, Des bon démons, des esprits familiers, Des forfadets, aux mortels secourables! On écoutait tous ces faits admirables Dans son château...

“Among those rocks and stones, methinks I see More than the heedless impress that belongs To lonely Nature’s casual work! They bear A semblance strange of Power intelligent, And...

“Yon old grey stone, protected from the ray Of noontide suns.… And thou, grey stone, the pensive likeness keep Of a dark chamber where the mighty sleep: Far more than fancy to t...

Various allusions to his Satanic Majesty have already appeared in these pages. He has left his footprints on various rocks; he carried away bodily Jean Vivian, Vavasseur de St....

“Now there spreaden a rumour that everich night The rooms ihaunted been by many a Sprite, The Miller avoucheth, and all thereabout That they full oft hearen the Hellish Rout, So...

“Gather up all the traditions, and even the nursery songs; no one can tell of what value they may prove to an antiquary.”--Southey, in a letter to Mrs. Bray, quoted in her _Bord...

When, in former days, neighbours were in the habit of meeting together on such occasions as “_la grande querrue_,” “_la longue veille_,” or the more ordinary “_veillées_,”--at w...

A widow, whose husband had been drowned at sea, asked the Seigneur of Sark whether a robin that was constantly flying round her cottage and alighting on her window-sill, might n...

The Arms of Guernsey, illustrated on the cover, are from a sketch by Sir Edgar MacCulloch himself, drawn many years ago, and then described by him as from the most ancient seal...

In days gone by, before the invention of Morrison’s pills, Holloway’s ointment, and other infallible remedies, no farm was without its plot of medicinal herbs, skilful combinati...

“Dear Countrymen, whate’er is left to us Of ancient heritage-- Of manners, speech, of humours, polity, The limited horizon of our stage-- Of love, hope, fear, All this I fain wo...