Folklore from the Southern Sporades. 163
Another charm guards you against ants.^ With a black- handled knife make the sign of the cross thrice, singing each time. The first three lines contain a nonsensical jingle on the word ant, thus : —
" Here's an ant, I have him fast, 'Tis an ant, the first of ants, And they are first to ant him. Come and gather up your swarm, And then away to pasture. Find a tree that bears no fruit, Take that fruit and eat it ;
Lest I should go and find the black boar's fleece, And then cut through your gullet." "
Another kind of charm is the "binding of the tongue" ['yk.waaoheiJba), which protects you against evil spirits. I find in my MS. a charm against the witch called Gelou, and against all supernatural things, called a "tongue-binding." It begins with an invocation of the Trinity, and proceeds :
heae Kai ■^(aXivwne
TOV KUKOV TOV avdpiOTTOV TOV VV)(TOyvpi(TT{l,
oaov vaftyi] u ijXios. irivre TrrirrapoivXa Kevvth. KaXctfioKavvLa, va TiyuE,(i) TCI crciKtcia jJ-Ov, va E,virv{iaii) ra Traibi^d {xov, Kal vii ira.li) otj) oovXei^a fiov.
' Compare vol. vii. p. 144. 2 Kparw €va fivpfXTfyKa.
fivp^rfjKa TrpMTOfxvp^riyKa
/cat TvpCJTOL TO fxvpniyKovy.
lia'Coie TtKTKepi aov
KoX 'aTTj ftoatcijv avaifia,
va.j3pr]i btvbpoy uKapTro
va (pdyrjs tov Knp-rrvv tov,
/jLl] TTciw Kul ftpU) TOV jJLaupov ^OtpOnUTrpOU TO fxaXXi, Kill KO'ipio TOV Xai^ov aov. M 2
