Preface : PREFACE IN one of his essays, Emerson tells us that "proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary of the intuitions," a statement which, if accepted, must place this class of literature on a very high footing. But, although due caution must be taken, when analysing proverbial...
Chapter Xi. Woman's Secrets : CHAPTER XI WOMAN'S SECRETS "Search not to find what lies too deeply hid, Nor to know things whose knowledge is forbid.: DENHAM. "TO a woman and a magpie tell what you would speak in the market-place," runs the Spanish proverb--the reason being that "a woman only keeps a secret what she does not...
Chapter Xxvi. Daughters : CHAPTER XXVI DAUGHTERS "My son is my son till he hath got him a wife, But my daughter's my daughter all the days of her life." THE proper bringing up, and putting out in life, of daughters have always been a moot point in proverbial philosophy, but it would seem that most countries are agreed...
Chapter Iii. Woman's Dress : CHAPTER III WOMAN'S DRESS "A lovely woman, garmented in light." SHELLEY, The Witch of Atlas. "THE true ornament of a woman," writes Justin, "is virtue, not dress;" but the love of finery, whether rightly or wrongly, has always been held to be one of the inherent weaknesses of womankind, and an old...
Untitled : FOLK-LORE OF WOMEN BY THOMAS FIRMINGER THISELTON-DYER 1906 "Folklore of misogny" would probably be a better title for this book. Replete with Victorian stereotypes of women, this book draws on many different traditions from around the world to portray women as simultaneously the 'weaker sex'...
Chapter Xxiv. Woman's Tears : CHAPTER XXIV WOMAN'S TEARS "Tears are the strength of women."--SAINT EVREMOND. THE propensity for a woman to shed tears on the slightest emotion has long been the subject of frequent comment in proverbial literature, and, according to Ricard, "Women never weep more bitterly than when they weep with...
Chapter Xx. Woman's Curiosity : CHAPTER XX WOMAN'S CURIOSITY "The over curious are not over wise."--MASSINGER. ACCORDING to an old French proverb, "Curiosity is so nearly akin to craftiness, that it can disfigure the most handsome faces." Both history and social romance afford many a striking instance of the dangerous and fatal...
Chapter I. Woman's Characteristics : CHAPTER I WOMAN'S CHARACTERISTICS It is only a woman that can make a man become the parody of himself.--French Proverb. PROVERBIAL philosophy has long agreed that woman is a complex creature, little understood, and, according to Michelet, "she is a miracle of Divine contradictions;" an opini...
Chapter V. Woman's Tongue : CHAPTER V WOMAN'S TONGUE "How sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman! It is so seldom heard that, when it speaks, It ravishes all senses." MASSINGER, Old Law, iv. 2. ALTHOUGH a well-known proverb tells us that "a silent woman is always more admired than a noisy one," the Chinese have a favourite...
Chapter Xv. Woman's Will : CHAPTER XV WOMAN'S WILL "He is a fool who thinks by force or skill To turn the current of a woman's will." TUKE, The Adventures of Five Hours. IT has been humorously remarked--although it must have been prior to the time when the law invested womankind with testamentary powers--"That women must...
Chapter X. Love Tests : CHAPTER X LOVE TESTS "'Twas the maiden's matchless beauty That drew my heart a-nigh; Not the fern-root potion, But the glance in her blue eye." IT has been remarked that one of the grandest musical works in existence would never have been written had not Tristram and Ysonde drank the magic poti...
Chapter Xxvii. My Lady's Walk : CHAPTER XXVII MY LADY'S WALK "Lady of the mere Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance." WORDSWORTH. ASSOCIATED with many of our historic houses and romantic spots, "My Lady's Walk" perpetuates the memory, not infrequently, of traditions of a tragic and legendary kind, some of which belong...
Chapter Ix. Woman's Hate : CHAPTER IX WOMAN'S HATE "Not even the soldiers' fury, raised in war, The rage of tyrants when defiance stings 'em! The pride of priests, so bloodless when in power, Are half so dreadful as a woman's vengeance." SAVAGE. IT is generally agreed that a thing to be avoided by man at any cost is...
Chapter Vi. Woman's Goodness : CHAPTER VI WOMAN'S GOODNESS "And whether coldness, pride, or virtue dignify A woman, so's she's good what does it signify!" BYRON, Don Juan. IF we are to believe an old German proverb, "there are only two good women in the world: one of them is dead, and the other is not to be found"--a statement...
Chapter Xxiii. Superstitions About Women : CHAPTER XXIII SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT WOMEN "'Tis a history Handed from ages down; a nurse's tale, Which children, open-eyed and mouth'd, devour; And thus, as garrulous ignorance relates, We learn it, and believe." THE life of woman from the cradle to the grave has always, from the earliest period...
Chapter Xxii. Brides And Their Maids : CHAPTER XXII BRIDES AND THEIR MAIDS "The bloom or blight of all men's happiness." BYRON'S Bride of Abydos ACCORDING to the time-honoured adage-- "My son is my son till he gets him a wife, But my daughter's my daughter all the days of her life." This may be so, but with few exceptions, the bride...
Chapter Xii. Red Haired Girls : CHAPTER XII RED-HAIRED GIRLS "The gold and topaz of the sun on snow Are shade by the bright hair above those eyes." PETRARCH. WHY red hair has been at a discount in all ages has perplexed many a chronicler of fashion. Although, it is true, artists have more chivalrously depicted its beauty...
Chapter Viii. Woman's Love : CHAPTER VIII WOMAN'S LOVE "There is no paradise on earth equal to the union of love and innocence."--ROUSSEAU. ACCORDING to Lord Byron, "Man's love is of man's life a thing apart; 'tis woman's whole existence;" and under a thousand images the poets of all ages have depicted her as a mysterious...
Chapter Xviii. Young And Old Maids : CHAPTER XVIII YOUNG AND OLD MAIDS "The hand of time alone disarms Her face of its superfluous charms, But adds for every grace resigned, A thousand to adorn her mind." BROOME. THERE is a wide difference between the young girl about to enter life, and the middle-aged spinster soured by disappointed...
Chapter Xvii. Women As Wives : CHAPTER XVII WOMEN AS WIVES "Husband and wife in perfect accord are the music of the harp and and lute."--Chinese Proverb. "IN buying horses and taking a wife," runs an Italian proverb, "shut your eyes and commend yourself to God;" and, according to an old English proverb, "One should choose a wife...
Chapter Ii. Woman's Beauty : CHAPTER II WOMAN'S BEAUTY "She's beautiful and therefore to be wooed; She is a woman, therefore to be won." 1st Henry VI. act v. sc. 3. "A BEAUTIFUL woman," remarked Napoleon, "pleases the eye, a good woman pleases the heart; one is a jewel, the other a treasure." It is not surprising th...
Chapter Xiv. Local Allusions To Women : CHAPTER XIV LOCAL ALLUSIONS TO WOMEN "He that will not merry be, With a pretty girl by the fire, I wish he was atop of Dartemoor A-stugged in the mire." Devonshire Folk-Rhyme. MANY of our old towns and villages throughout the country have long been famous for certain characteristics, and some...
Chapter Xxi. Sister Legends : CHAPTER XXI SISTER LEGENDS "Nine maidens fair in life were they, Nine maidens fair in death's last fray, Nine maidens fair in fame alway, The maidens of Glen of Ogilvy." Scotch Ballad. MANY interesting stories founded on the heroism and self-denying love of sisters are current in different parts...
Chapter Xxv. Woman's Blushes : CHAPTER XXV WOMAN'S BLUSHES "From every blush that kindles in thy cheeks Ten thousand little loves and graces spring, To revel in the roses."--ROWE, Tamerlane. PERHAPS one of the most charming characteristics of maidenhood is its transient blush, which poets with all their wealth of poetic imagery...
Chapter Vii. Bad Women : CHAPTER VII BAD WOMEN "A worthless woman! Mere cold clay As false things are! but so fair, She takes the breath of man away Who gaze upon her unaware." E. B. BROWNING, Bianca among the Nightingales. ACCORDING to the trite old adage, "Man, woman, and the devil are the three degrees of comparison,"...
Chapter Xix. Widows : CHAPTER XIX WIDOWS "May widows wed as often as they can, And ever for the better change their man; And some devouring plague pursue their lives Who will not well be govern'd by their wives." DRYDEN'S Wife of Bath. WIDOWS, who have been described in a Chinese proverb as so many rudderless boats...
Chapter Xiii. Woman's Fickleness : CHAPTER XIII WOMAN'S FICKLENESS "Ladies, like variegated tulips, show 'Tis to their changes half their charms we owe." POPE'S Moral Essays, Ep. ii. BY an unwritten law it is held to be the privilege of woman to change her mind, a licence of which she rarely fails to avail herself. Hence she h...
Title Page : FOLK-LORE OF WOMEN AS ILLUSTRATED BY LEGENDARY AND TRADITIONARY TALES FOLK-RHYMES, PROVERBIAL SAYINGS, SUPERSTITIONS, ETC. BY T. F. THISELTON-DYER, M.A. OXON AUTHOR OF "OLD ENGLISH SOCIAL LIFE, ETC., ETC." CHICAGO A.C. McCLURG & CO. LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK 1906
Chapter Iv. Woman's Eyes : CHAPTER IV WOMAN'S EYES "Where is any author in the world Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye?" Love's Labour's Lost, act iv. sc. 3. POETIC imagery, in painting the varied beauties of the eye, has applied to them a host of graceful and charming similes, many of which illustrate the beliefs...
Chapter Xvi. Women And Marriage : CHAPTER XVI WOMEN AND MARRIAGE "Be sure before you marry Of a house wherein to tarry." Old Proverb. SIR JOHN MORE, the famous Chancellor's father, once wrote: "I would compare the multitude of women which are to be chosen for wives unto a bag full of snakes, having among them a single eel: now, if...