Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
Major Price Lewes, Tyglyn-Aeron, informed me that when he was a boy
at Llanllear, an old woman in the neighbourhood charmed away warts
from his hands.
A woman in the neighbourhood of Ystrad Meurig informed me that she
got rid of her warts by washing her hands in the water in which the
blacksmith cools iron.
Another way of charming away warts is to pick up small white stones
from a brook,--one stone for each wait--and rub the warts with
them. Then the stones are to be tied up in paper, and the person
who has the warts is to go to the nearest cross roads, and throw the
stones over his shoulders, and whoever picks up the parcel gets the
warts. A young woman in the parish of Llanarth, in Cardiganshire,
did this, and got rid of her warts. Soon after this an old woman who
lives in the neighbourhood, passed by, and picked up the parcel of
stones, thinking it contained some biscuits or sweets which one of
the school children had lost on the way home from school. But to her
great surprise, when she opened the paper, she only found small white
stones! After this the old woman found her hands covered with warts;
but she in her turn charmed them away by washing them with spittle
from the mouth. My informant was the old woman herself.
Another charm for warts is to cut a slip of an elder tree, and make
a notch in it for every wart. Rub the elder against each wart, and
burn or bury it, and the warts will disappear.
In former times Holy Wells were much resorted to by those who desired
to get rid of their warts, when a pin was dropped into the well, and
a rag with which the warts had been rubbed, hanged on the nearest tree.
ROSEMARY CHARM FOR TOOTHACHE.
Many people still believe that toothache is caused by a worm in the
tooth, and it was once thought that to burn a Rosemary bough until
it becomes black and place it in a strong linen cloth, and anoint
the teeth with it would kill this worm.
According to the old Welsh Magazine, "Y Brython," vol. 3, page 339,
there were many charms performed with Rosemary.
Rosemary dried in the sun and made into powder, tied in a cloth around
the right arm, will make the sick well.
The smoke of Rosemary bark, sniffed, will, even if you are in gaol,
release you.
The leaves made into salve, placed on a wound, where the flesh is dead,
will cure the wound.
A spoon made out of its wood will make whatever you eat therewith
nutritious.
Place it under the door post and no snake nor adder can ever enter
thy house.
The leaves placed in beer or wine will keep these liquids from becoming
sour and give such a flavour that you will dispose of them quickly.
Place a branch of rosemary on the barrel and it will keep thee from
fever, even though thou drink of it for a whole day.
"SLIME" OF TROUT AS MEDICINE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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