Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune-telling: Illustrated by Numerous Incantations, Specimens of Medical Magic, Anecdotes, and Tales

Charles Godfrey Leland

ene 1891 · Dover Publications

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Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1891. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIV.' A GYPSY MAGIC SPELL. HOKKANI BASO LELLIN DUDIKABIN, OR THE GREAT SECRET CHILDREN'S RHYMES AND INCANTATIONS TEN LITTLE INDIAN BOYS AND TEN LITTLE ACORN GIRLS OF MARCELLUS BURDI- GALENSIS. HERE is a meaningless rhyme very common among children. It is repeated while "counting off" --or "out" --those who are taking part in a game, and allotting to each a place. There are many versions of it, but the following is exactly word for word what I learned when a boy in Philadelphia: -- Ekkeri (or ickery), akkery, u-kcry an, Fillisi', follasy, Nicholas John, Queebee - quabee -- Irishman (or, Irish Mary), Stingle 'em--stangle 'em--buck! With a very little alteration This chapter is reproduced, but with much addition, from one in my work entitled "The Gypsies," published in Boston, 1881, by Houghton and Mifflin. London: Trubner Sc Co. The addition will be the most interesting portion to the folk-lorist. in sounds, and not more than children make of these verses in different places, this may be read as follows: -- Ek-keri (yekori) akairi, you kair an, Fillissin, follasy, Nakelas jan Kivi, kavi--Irishman, Stini, stani--buck! This is, of course, nonsense, but it is Romany or gypsy nonsense, and it may be thus translated very accurately: -- First--here--you begin! Castle, gloves. You don't play! Go on! Kivi--a kettle. How are you? Stdni, buck. The common version of the rhyme begins with-- "One--ery--two--ery, ickery an." But one-ery is an exact translation of ek-keri; ek, or yek, meaning one in gypsy. (Ek-orus, or yek-korus, means once). And it is remarkable that in-- "Hickory dickory dock, The rat ran up the clock, The clock struck one, And down he run, Hickory dickory dock." We have hickory, or ek-keri, again followed by a significant one. It may be observed that while my firs...

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Charles Godfrey Leland was born in Philadelphia on August 15, 1824, the eldest child of commission merchant Charles Leland and his wife Charlotte. Leland loved reading and language. When he moved to Europe to study law, he became intrigued with German culture, gypsy lore, the language of Romany, and Shelta, an ancient dialect spoken by Irish and Welsh gypsies. After his law studies were completed, Leland became a journalist, working for such periodicals as P.T. Barnum's Illustrated News, Vanity Fair, and Graham's Magazine. The mid-to-late 1850s were very eventful for Leland; he published his first book, Meister Karl's Sketch-Book in 1855 and married Eliza Bella Fisher in 1856. What probably clinched his fame was "Hans Breitmann's Party" a German dialect poem that he wrote under the pen name Hans Breitmann and that captured the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect and humor. While he was best known for his essays, poetry, and humor, Leland also firmly believed that the industrial arts were the keys to a good education, and he wrote many textbooks on the subject. Leland spent most of the latter part of his life in Europe, writing a wealth of books. He died in Florence, Italy, on March 20, 1903.