Notes and Queries, Number 45, September 7, 1850 by Various
page 6 of 66 (09%)
page 6 of 66 (09%)
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mind all these things, and saw what they meant; and he showed them how
this was the maiden, who had been visited with doom for her pride. Therefore her rich array had been changed into the skin of a creeping thing and her large proud eyes were sealed up; and she herself had become The first mole! Of the hillocks of Cornwall! Ah! woe is me! and well-a-day! that damsel so stately and fair, sweet Lady Alice of the Lea, should be made for a judgement--the dark mother of the moles! Now take ye good heed, Cornish maidens, how ye put on vain apparel, to win love. And cast down your eyes, all ye damsels of the west, and look ye meekly on the ground! Be ye good and gentle, tender and true; and when ye see your image in the glass, and begin to be lifted up with the beauty of that shadowy thing, call to mind the maiden of Morwenna, her noble eyes and comely countenance, the vesture of price and the glittering ring. Sit ye by the wheel, as of old they sate and as ye draw the lengthening wool, sing ye ever-more and say, "Beryan Erde, Oyn and Perde!" * * * * * "A whistling Wife" &c.--I can supply another version of the couplet quoted in "Folk Lore" (Vol. ii., p. 164.), which has the merit of being more rhymical and mysterious. In what district it was current I know |
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