on his trousers gave him a little trouble to get it
away, and the man in a pet said, "Have I not paid thee thy tithe?" "Why
do you say those words, Enoch?" said I, and he said, "Have you not heard
the story?" I confessed my ignorance, and after many preliminary
remarks, the farmer related the following fable:--

The heron, the cat, and the bramble bought the tithe of a certain parish.
The heron bought the hay, mowed it, harvested it, and cocked it, and
intended carrying it the following day, but in the night a storm came on,
and carried the hay away, and ever since then the heron frequents the
banks of the rivers and lakes, looking for her hay that was carried away,
and saying "Pay me my tithe."

The cat bought the oats, cut them, and even threshed them, and left them
in the barn, intending the following day to take them to the market for
sale. But when she went into the barn, early the next morning, she found
the floor covered with rats and mice, which had devoured the oats, and
the cat flew at them and fought with them, and drove them from the barn,
and this is why she is at enmity with rats and mice even to our day.

The bramble bought the wheat, and was more fortunate than the heron and
cat, for the wheat was bagged, and taken to the market and sold, but sold
on trust, and the bramble never got the money, and this is why it takes
hold of everyone and says "Pay me my tithe," for it forgot to whom the
wheat had been sold.

_The Jackdaw_.

This bird is considered sacred, because it frequents church steeples and
builds its nest there, and it is said to be an innocent bird, though
given to carrying off things and hiding them in out-of-the-way places.
When ignorance of a fault is pleaded, it is a common saying--"I have no
more knowledge of the fact than the Devil has of the jackdaw" (see
_Bye-Gones_, Vol. I., 86). The Devil evidently will have nothing to do
with this bird, because it makes its home in the church steeple, and he
hates the church and everything belonging to it.

_The Magpie_.

The magpie was considered a bird of ill-omen. No one liked to see a
magpie when starting on a journey, but in certain parts of
Montgomeryshire, such as the parish of Llanwnog, _if the magpie flew from
left to right it foretold good luck_; in other parts, such as
Llansantffraid, if seen at all, it was considered a sign of bad luck.

However, fortunately, a person could make void this bad luck, for he had
only