C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Old English Charms and Folk Customs
By Myths and Folk-Lore of the Aryan Peoples
From Herrick’s ‘Hesperides.’ Devonshire: Seventeenth Century
BREAD CHARMS
Lay it underneath the head:
’Tis a certain charm to keep
Hags away, while children sleep.
I
When ye are by chance benighted,
In your pocket for a trust,
Carrie nothing but a crust;
For that holy piece of bread
Charmes the danger and the dread.
K
L
Neer the child’s heart lay a knife;
Point be up, and haft be downe:
While she gossips in the towne,
This ’mongst other mystick charms
Keeps the sleeping child from harms.