Note 119 — Chapter I · THE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.

The same idea shows itself in the use of strings and knots. In Northern India a piece of bat’s bone is tied round the ankle as a remedy for rheumatism, and answers to the eel-skin, which is used for the same purpose in Europe.119 In the Shetland Islands, to cure a sprain, a thread of black wool with nine knots is tied on the injured place with a metrical spell.120 An Italian charm says: “Take from a live hare the ankle bone, remove the hair from his belly, from the hair make a thread, and with it tie the bone to the body of the sufferer, and you will see a wonderful cure.”121 In Ireland a strand of black wool is tied round the ankle, and a charm is recited to cure a sprain; a red string is tied round a child’s neck in chincough and epilepsy.122 In Hoshangâbâd a thread is tied round the ankle as a remedy in fever. If possible, a bit of Ashtara root should be fastened in the knot, and before tying it an oblation of butter is burnt before it.123 Similarly, a peacock’s feather tied on the ankle cures a wound. In the Panjâb, it is a charm against snake-bite to smoke one of the tail feathers of the peacock in a tobacco pipe.124 The Râjput father binds round the arm of his new-born infant a root of that species of grass known as the Amardûb or “imperishable” Dûb, well known for its nutritive qualities and luxuriant vegetation, in the same way as Scotch women wear round their necks blue woollen threads or small cords till they wean their children.125 We have already noticed the efficacy of various grasses as spirit scarers.