Note (return) — Chapter IV
Reading edition
"Following the grandmother and joining in the song, the children and the rest of the family marched thrice round the log, which was as fine a log as could be got."650 We can now, perhaps, understand why in Perigord people who sat on the Yule log suffered from boils,651 and why in Lorraine young folks used to be warned that if they sat on it they would have the scab.652 The reason probably was that the Virgin and child were supposed to be seated, invisible, upon the log and to resent the indignity of contact with mortal children.