"Three white, three black, Three fat lie together here. Whoever disturbs them Remain to me! (Be mine!)" To insure pigs thriving by a new owner, some charcoal-dust is mingled with their food and these words spoken:-- "Nivaseske ná muká, The çál t're çábená! Miseç yákhá tut díkhen, The yon káthe mudáren, Tu atunci çábá len!" "Do not let the Nivasi Eat thy food, Evil eyes see thee, And they here shall perish, Then do thou eat them!" As a particularly powerful conjuration against thieves, the owner runs thrice, while quite naked, round the animal or object which he wishes to protect, and repeats at every turn:-- "Oh coreyá ná prejiá. Dureder ná ává! T're vástá, t're punrá Avená kirñodyá Te ádá pedá láves!" "Oh, thief, do not go, Further do not come! Thy hands, thy feet Shall decay If thou takest this animal!" Another "thieves' benediction" is as follows: The owner goes at midnight with the animal or object to be protected to a cross-roads, and while letting fall on the ground a few hairs of the beast, or a bit of the thing whatever it be, repeats:-- "Ada hin tute, Ná ává pál menge, Dav tute, so kámáv; Pçuvuseyá áshuná!" "This home is not good, Here I give (thee) blood!" "The gypsies call the quail the devil's bird (Ciriclo bengeskro), and ascribe diabolic properties to it. (Vide Cassel, 6 and 162.) The daughters of the Nivasi appear as quails in the fields by day, but during the night they steal the corn. To keep them away it is held good during sowing-time to place in each of the four corners of the field, parts of a quail, or at least some of the feathers of a black hen which has never laid an egg. This superstition is also current among the Roumanian peasants of the Siebenbürgen."