The following refers to rowan or mountain-ash wood, which is supposed to be a charm against witchcraft:-- If your whipstick's made of rowan You can ride your nag thro' any town. Much about a pitch, Quoth the devil to the witch. A hairy man's a geary man, But a hairy wife's a witch. Woe to the lad Without a rowan-tree god. A witch-wife and an evil Is three-halfpence worse than the devil. Hey-how for Hallow-e'en! When all the witches are to be seen, Some in black and some in green, Hey-how for Hallow-e'en! Thout! tout! a tout, tout! Throughout and about. Cummer goe ye before, cummer goe ye, Gif ye will not goe before, cummer let me! "These lines are said to have been sung by witches at North Berwick in Lothian, accompanied by the music of a Jew's harp or trump, which was played by Geilles Duncan, a servant girl, before two hundred witches, who joined hands in a short daunce or reel, singing (also) these lines with one voice:-- "'Witchy, witchy, I defy thee, Four fingers round my thumb, Let me go quietly by thee.' "It will be seen that this is a phallic sign, and as such dreaded by witches. It is difficult to understand why these verses with the sign should have been given by witches." "The anti-witch rhyme used in Tweedesdale some sixty or seventy years ago was:-- "'Black-luggie, lammer bead, Rowan-tree and reed thread, Put the witches to their speed.' "The meaning of 'black-luggie' I know not. 'Lammer bead' is a corruption of 'amber-bead.' They are still worn by a few old people in Scotland as a preservative against a variety of diseases, especially asthma, dropsy, and toothache. They also preserve the wearer from the effects of witchcraft, as stated in the text. I have seen a twig of rowan-tree, witch-wood, quick-bane, wild ash, wicken-tree, wicky, wiggy, witchen, witch-bane, royne-tree, mountain-ash, whitty, wiggin, witch-hazel, roden-quicken, roden-quicken-royan, roun, or ran-tree, which had been gathered on the second of May (observe this), wound round with some dozens of yards of red thread, placed visible in the window to act as a charm in keeping witches and Boggle-boes from the house. So also we have-- "'Rowan-ash and reed thread Keep the devils from their speed.'" Ye brade o' witches, ye can do no good to yourself. Fair they came, Fair they go, And always their heels behind them. Neither so sinful as to sink, nor so godly as to swim. Falser than Waghorn, and he was nineteen times falser than the devil. Ingratitude is worse than witchcraft. Ye're as mitch As half a witch. To milk the tether (i.e., the cow-tie). This refers to a belief that witches can carry off the milk from any one's cow by milking at the end of the tether. Go in God's name--so you ride no witches.