Storyology Essays in Folk-Lore, Sea-Lore, and Plant-Lore (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...which marks many sunken, dangerous rocks, or with the religious ceremonies of the old days. At Malta it is, or was, usual to ring the church bells for an hour during a storm 'that the wind may cease and the sea be calmed, ' and the same custom prevails both in Sicily and Sardinia. A Cornish legend of the bells of a church, which were sent by ship that was lost in sight of the town, owing to the blasphemy of the captain, says that the bells are supposed to be in the bay, and they announce by strange sounds the approach of a storm. There is a suggestion of Sir Ralph the Rover in this legend; but, indeed, the superstitions of those connected with the sea are so interwoven, that it is not easy to disentangle them, and they are numerous enough to need a book to themselves. No doubt our mariners derived many of them from the old Spanish navigators who once swayed the main, for the Spaniards are one of the most superstitious peoples in the world. Pg 104 CHAPTER VII. MOTHER CAREY AND HER CHICKENS. Who was Mother Carey the appearance of whose 'chickens' is supposed by the mariner to foretell a coming storm? This question is often asked, but seldom answered, and so a little light on the subject is desirable. Charles Kingsley gives a very vivid picture of her. In his charming book about The Water-Babies, he tells how little Tom, in search of his old master, Grimes, is instructed to find his way to Peacepool and Mother Carey's Haven, where the good whales go when they die. On his way he meets a flock of petrels, who invite him to go with them, saying: 'We are Mother Carey's own chickens, and she sends us out over all the seas to show the good birds the way home.' So he comes to Peacepool at last, which is miles and miles across; and there the air is clear and transparent, and the water calm and lovely; and there the good whales rest in happy sleep upon the slumbering sea. Pg 105 In the midst of Peacepool was one large peaked iceberg. 'When Tom came near it, it...