Note 193 — Chapter I · THE GODLINGS OF NATURE.

Mr. Leland193 tells a curious Italian story of a peasant who killed the church sexton with his billhook because he stopped ringing the bell and thus allowed the hail to injure his vines. This illustrates a well-known principle that demons, and in particular the demon who brings the hail, can be scared by noise. Thus Aubrey tells us:194—“At Paris, when it begins to thunder and lighten, they do presently ring out the great bell at the Abbey of St. Germain, which they do believe makes it cease. When it thundered and lightened they did ring St. Adelm’s bell in Malmesbury Abbey. The curious do say that the ringing of bells exceedingly disturbs spirits.” Hence one plan of driving away the hail is to take out an iron griddle-plate and beat it with a bamboo. Here the use of iron, a well-known demon scarer, increases the efficacy of the rite. It is also an improvement if this be done by a virgin, and in some places it is considered sufficient if when the hail falls an unmarried girl is sent out with an iron plate in her hand. Possibly following out the same train of ideas, the Kharwârs of Mirzapur, when hail falls, throw into the courtyard the wooden peg of the corn-mill, which, as we shall see, is considered possessed of certain magical powers.