Note 824 — Chapter XI · ANIMISM. (continued 2)

From the collated and annotated text in J. C. Atkinson, ‘Glossary of Cleveland Dialect,’ p. 595 (a = one, neean = none, beean = bone). Other versions in Scott, ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,’ vol. ii. p. 367; Kelly, ‘Indo-European Folk-lore,’ p. 115; Brand, ‘Pop. Ant.’ vol. ii. p. 275. Two verses have perhaps been lost between the fifth and sixth. J. C. A. reads ‘meate’ in vv. 7 and 8; the usual reading ‘milke’ is retained here. The sense of these two verses may be that the liquor sacrificed in life will quench the fire: an idea parallel to that known to folklore, that he who gave bread in his lifetime will find it after death ready for him to cast into the hellhound’s jaws (Mannhardt, ‘Götterwelt der Deutschen und Nordischen Völker,’ p. 319), a sop to Cerberus.