The Magic of the Horseshoe E-Book

Robert Means Lawrence

• Herausgeber: Hesperus Press Ltd.
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 245

Beschreibung

Superstitions still have a firm hold in cultures all across the world and have inspired countless books and films across the ages. But where did so many of them come from and how do myths and beliefs differ from country to country? Publishing on Friday 13th, discover this 1899 gem full of interesting facts and packed with titbits. Find out why people throw salt over their shoulder, why you should never open a theatre on Friday in France and whether it is luckier to sneeze towards the left or the right. And why the number thirteen is considered so unlucky. Lawrence's fascinating work traces the origins of common superstitions through time and civilisations, tracking how they evolved. Why not dip in and out and see how many have endured to the present day… You will finally be able to answer important questions such as whether a horseshoe on the door can protect you from plague. Why do people say 'bless you' when you sneeze? Or find out what condition can apparently be cured by putting salt in the hems of a young boy's trousers and making him look up the chimney… Or you could even finally settle the question about whether black cats are good or bad luck!

Leseprobe

And still o’er many a neighboring door She saw the horseshoe’s curved charm.

– Whittier, The Witch’s Daughter

 

 

Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked up a horseshoe.

– Longfellow, Evangeline

CONTENTS

Title PageEpigraphTHE MAGIC OF THE HORSESHOEFORTUNE AND LUCKTHE FOLKLORE OF COMMON SALTTHE OMENS OF SNEEZINGDAYS OF GOOD AND EVIL OMENSUPERSTITIOUS DEALINGS WITH ANIMALSTHE LUCK OF ODD NUMBERSHESPERUS PRESSCopyright

THE MAGIC OF THE HORSESHOE

THE HORSESHOE AS A SAFEGUARD

Your wife’s a witch, man; you should nail a horseshoe on your chamber door.

– Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet

As a practical device for the protection of horses’ feet, the utility of the iron horseshoe has long been generally recognized; and for centuries, in countries widely separated, it has also been popularly used as a talisman for the preservation of buildings or premises from the wiles of witches and fiends.

To the student of folklore, a superstition like this, which has exerted so wide an influence over men’s minds in the past, and which is also universally prevalent in our own times, must have a peculiar interest. What, then, were the reasons for the general adoption of the horseshoe as a talisman?

Among the Romans there prevailed a custom of driving nails into cottage walls as an antidote against the plague. Both this practice and the later one of nailing up horseshoes have been thought by some to originate from the rite of the Passover. The blood sprinkled upon the doorposts and lintel at the time of the great Jewish feast formed the chief points of an arch, and it may be that with this in mind people adopted the horseshoe as an arch-shaped talisman, and it thus became generally emblematic of good luck.

The same thought may underlie the practice of the peasants in the west of Scotland, who train the boughs of the rowan or mountain-ash tree in the form of an arch over a farmyard gate to protect their cattle from evil.

HORNS AND OTHER TWO-PRONGED OBJECTS

The supernatural qualities of the horseshoe as a preservative against imaginary demons have been supposed to be due to its bifurcated shape, as any object having two prongs or forks was formerly thought to be effective for this purpose. As with the crescent, the source of this belief is doubtless the appearance of the moon in certain of its phases.

Hence, according to some authorities, is derived the alleged efficacy as amulets of horseshoes, the horns and tusks of animals, the talons of birds, and the claws of wild beasts, lobsters, and crabs. Hence, too, the significance of the oft-quoted lines from Robert Herrick’s Hesperides:

Hang up hooks and sheers to scare

Hence, the hag that rides the mare.

The horn of the fabulous unicorn, in reality none other than that of the rhinoceros, is much valued as an amulet, and in west Africa, where the horns of wild animals are greatly esteemed as fiend-scarers, a large horn filled with mud and having three small horns attached to its lower end is used as a safeguard to prevent slaves from running away.

In the vicinity of Mirzapur in central Hindustan the Horwas tie on the necks of their children the roots of jungle plants as protective charms; their efficacy being thought to depend on their resemblance to the horns of certain wild beasts.

The Mohammedans of northern India use a complex amulet, composed in part of a tiger’s claw and two claws of the large-horned owl with the tips facing outward, while in southern Europe we find the necks of mules ornamented with two boar’s tusks or with the horns of an antelope.

Amulets fashioned in the shape of horns and crescents are very popular among the Neapolitans. Mr Frederick Thomas Elworthy quotes at some length from the Mimica degli antichi of Andrea de Jorio in illustration of this fact. From this source we learn that the horns of Sicilian oxen and of bullocks are in favor with the nobility and aristocracy as evil-eye protectives, and are frequently seen on their houses and in their gardens; stag’s antlers are the favorites with grocers and chemists, while the lower classes are content with the horns of rams and goats. The Sicilians are wont to tie pieces of red ribbon to the little horns which they wear as charms, and this is supposed vastly to increase their efficiency.

In southern Spain, particularly in Andalusia, the stag’s horn is a very favorite talisman. The native children wear a silver-tipped horn suspended from the neck by a braided cord made from the hair of a black mare’s tail. It is believed that an evil glance directed at the child is received by the horn, which thereupon breaks asunder, and the malevolent influence is thus dissipated.

Among the Arabs the horn amulet is believed to render inert the malign glance of an enemy, and in the oases of the desert the horned heads of cattle are to be seen over the doors of the Arab dwellings as talismans.

In Lesbos the skulls of oxen or other horned creatures are fixed upon trees or sticks to avert the evil eye from the crops and fruits.

In Mongolia the horns of antelopes are prized on account of their alleged magical properties; fortune tellers and diviners affect to derive a knowledge of futurity by observation of the rings which encircle them. The Mongols set a high value upon whip handles made from these horns, and aver that their use by horsemen promotes endurance in their steeds.

Inasmuch as the horns of animals serve as weapons both for attack and defense, they were early associated in men’s minds with the idea of power. Thus in ancient times the corners of altars were fashioned in the shape of horns, doubtless in order to symbolize the majesty and power of the Being in whose honor sacrifices were offered.

A propos of horns as symbols of strength, the peasants of Bannu, a district of the Punjab, believe that God placed the newly created world upon a cow’s horn, the cow on a fish’s back, and the fish on a stone; but what the stone rests upon, they do not venture to surmise. According to their theory, whenever the cow shakes her head, an earthquake naturally results.

The Siamese attribute therapeutic qualities to the horns and tusks of certain animals, and their pharmacopoeia contains a somewhat complex prescription used as a febrifuge, whose principal ingredients are the powdered horns of a rhinoceros, bison, and stag, the tusks of an elephant and tiger, and the teeth of a bear and crocodile. These are mixed together with water, and half of the resulting compound is to be swallowed, the remainder to be rubbed upon the body.

The mano cornuta or anti-witch gesture is used very generally in southern and central Italy. Its antiquity is vouched for by its representation in ancient paintings unearthed at Pompeii. It consists in flexing the two middle fingers, while the others are extended in imitation of horns. When the hand in this position is pointed at an obnoxious individual, the malignity of his glance is believed to be rendered inert.

In F. Marion Crawford’s novel, Pietro Ghisleri, one of the characters, Laura Arden, was regarded in Roman society as a jettatrice, that is, one having the evil eye. Such a reputation once fastened on a person involves social ostracism. In the presence of the unfortunate individual every hand was hidden to make the talismanic gesture, and at the mere mention of her name all Rome ‘made horns’. No one ever accosted her without having the fingers flexed in the approved fashion, unless, indeed, they had about them some potent amulet.

It is a curious fact that the possession of the evil eye may be imputed to anyone, regardless of character or position. Pope Pius IX was believed to have this malevolent power, and many devout Christians, while on their knees awaiting his benediction, were accustomed slyly to extend a hand toward him in the above-mentioned position.

In an article on ‘Asiatic Symbolism’ in the Indian Antiquary, Mr H.G.M. Murray-Aynsley says, in regard to Neapolitan evil-eye amulets, that they were probably introduced in southern Italy by Greek colonists of Asiatic ancestry, who settled at Cumse and other places in that neighborhood. Whether fashioned in the shape of horns or crescents, they are survivals of an ancient Chaldean symbol. It has been said that nothing, unless perhaps a superstitious belief, is more easily transmissible than a symbol; and the people of antiquity were wont to attribute to every symbol a talismanic value.

The modern Greeks, as well as the Italians, wear little charms representing the hand as making this gesture.

But not alone in the south of Europe exists the belief in the peculiar virtues of two-pronged objects, for in Norway reindeer horns are placed over the doors of farm buildings to drive off demons; and the fine antlers which grace the homes of successful hunters in our own country are doubtless often regarded by their owners as of more value than mere trophies of the chase, inasmuch as traditional fancy invests them with such extraordinary virtues.

In France a piece of stag horn is thought to be a preservative against witchcraft and disease, while in Portugal ox horns fastened on poles are placed in melon patches to protect the fruit from withering glances.

Among the Ossetes, a tribe of the Caucasus, the women arrange their hair in the shape of a chamois horn, curving forwards over the brow, thus forming a talismanic coiffure; and when a Muslim man takes his child on a journey he paints a crescent between its eyes, or tattooes the same device on its body. The modern Greek, too, adopts the precaution of attaching a crab’s claw to the child’s head. In northern Africa the horns of animals are very generally used as amulets, the prevailing idea being everywhere the same, namely, that pronged objects repel demons and evil glances.

Horns are used in eastern countries as ornaments to headdresses, and serve, moreover, as symbols of rank. They are often made of precious metals, sometimes of wood. The tantura, worn by the Druses of Mount Lebanon in Syria, has this shape.

In the Bulgarian villages of Macedonia and Thrace the so-called wise woman, who combines the professions of witch and midwife, is an important character. Immediately upon the birth of a child this personage places a reaping hook in a corner of the room to keep away unfriendly spirits; the efficacy of the talisman being doubtless due partly to its shape, which bears considerable resemblance to a horseshoe.

And in Albania, a sickle, with which straw has just been cut, is placed for a few seconds on the stomach of a newly born child to prevent the demons who cause colic from exercising their functions.

The mystic virtue of the forked shape is not, however, restricted to its faculty of averting the glance of an evil eye or other malign influences, for the Divining Rod is believed to derive from this same peculiarity of form its magical power of detecting the presence of water or metals when wielded by an experienced hand.

THE SYMBOL OF THE OPEN HAND

It is worthy of note that the symbol of an open hand with extended fingers was a favorite talisman in former ages, and was to be seen, for example, at the entrances of dwellings in ancient Carthage. It is also found on Lybian and Phoenician tombs, as well as on Celtic monuments in French Brittany. Dr H.C. Trumbull quotes evidence from various writers showing that this symbol is in common use at the present time in several Eastern lands. In the region of ancient Babylonia the figure of a red outstretched hand is still displayed on houses and animals; and in Jerusalem the same token is frequently placed above the door or on the lintel on account of its reputed virtues in averting evil glances. The Spanish Jews of Jerusalem draw the figure of a hand in red upon the doors of their houses; and they also place upon their children’s heads silver hand-shaped charms, which they believe to be specially obnoxious to unfriendly individuals desirous of bringing evil either upon the children themselves, or upon other members of the household.

In different parts of Palestine the open-hand symbol appears alike on the houses of Christians, Jews and Muslims, usually painted in blue on or above the door. Claude Reignier Conder, R.E., in Heth and Moab, remarks on the antiquity of this pagan emblem, which appears on Roman standards and on the sceptre of Siva in India. He is of the opinion that the figure of the red hand, whether sculptured on Irish crosses, displayed in Indian temples, or on Mexican buildings, is always an example of the same original idea – that of a protective symbol.

A white handprint is commonly seen upon the doors and shutters of Jewish and Muslim houses in Beirut and other Syrian towns; and even the Christian residents of these towns sometimes mark windows and flour boxes with this emblem, after dipping the hand in whitewash, in order to ‘avert chilling February winds from old people and to bring luck to the bin’.

In Germany a rude amulet having the form of an open hand is fashioned out of the stems of coarse plants, and is deemed an ample safeguard against divers misfortunes and sorceries. It is called ‘the hand of Saint John’, or ‘the hand of Fortune’.

The Jewish matrons of Algeria fasten little golden hands to their children’s caps, or to their glass-bead necklaces, and they themselves carry about similar luck tokens.

In north-western Scotland whoever enters a house where butter is being made is expected to lay his hand upon the churn, thereby signifying that he has no evil designs against the butter-maker, and dissipating any possible effects of an evil eye. As a charm against malevolent influences, the Arabs of Algeria make use of rude drawings representing an open hand, placed either above the entrances of their habitations or within doors – a symbolical translation of the well-known Arabic imprecation, ‘Five fingers in thine eye!’ Oftentimes the same meaning is conveyed by five lines, one shorter than the others to indicate the thumb.

CRESCENTS AND HALF-MOON-SHAPED AMULETS

The alleged predominant influence of the moon’s wax and wane over the growth and welfare of vegetation was formerly generally recognized. Thus in an almanac of the year 1661 it is stated that:

If any corn, seed, or plant be either set or sown within six hours either before or after the full Moon in Summer, or before the new Moon in Winter, having joined with the cosmical rising of Arcturus and Orion, the Haedi and the Sicidi, it is subject to blasting and canker.

Timber was always cut during the wane of the moon, and so firmly rooted was this superstition that directions were given accordingly in the Forest Code of France.

An early English almanac advised farmers to kill hogs when the moon was growing, as thus ‘the bacon would prove the better in boiling’.

Moon-worship was one of the most ancient forms of idolatry, and still exists among some Eastern nations. A relic of the practice is seen in some parts of Great Britain in the custom of bowing to the new moon.

Astrologers regarded the moon as exerting a powerful influence over the health and fortunes of human beings, according to her aspect and position at the time of their birth. Thus in a Manual of Astrology by Raphael, she is described as a ‘cold, moist, watery, phlegmatic planet, and partaking of good or evil as she is aspected by good or evil stars’.

The growing horned moon was thought to exert a mysterious beneficent influence not only over many of the operations of agriculture, but over the affairs of everyday life as well. Hence doubtless arose the belief in the value of crescent-shaped and cornute objects as amulets and charms; of these the horseshoe is the one most commonly available, and therefore the one most generally used.

In astrology the moon has indeed always been considered the most influential of the heavenly bodies by reason of her rapid motion and nearness to the earth; and the astrologers of old, whether in forecasting future events or in giving advice as to proper times and seasons for the transaction of business affairs, first ascertained whether or not the moon were well aspected. This was also a cardinal point with the shrewd magicians of later centuries. And should anyone require proof of the existence of a modern belief in lunar influences, let him consult Zadkiel’s Almanac for the year 1898. Therein he will find it stated that when the sun is in benefic aspect with the moon, it is a suitable day for asking favors, seeking employment, and traveling for health.

Venus in benefic aspect with the moon is favorable for courting, marrying, visiting friends, engaging maid-servants, and seeking amusement.

Mars, for consulting surgeons and dealing with engineers and soldiers.

Jupiter, for opening offices and places of business, and for beginning new enterprises.

Saturn, for having to do with farmers, miners, and elderly people, for buying real estate and for planting and sowing.

For, says the oracle of the almanac, astrologers have found by experience that if the above instructions are followed, human affairs proceed smoothly.

In his work entitled The Evil-Eye, Mr Frederick Thomas Elworthy calls attention to the fact that the half-moon was often placed on the heads of certain of the most powerful Egyptian deities, and therefore when worn became a symbol of their worship. Indeed, the crescent is common in the religious symbolism not only of ancient Egypt, but also of Assyria and India. The Hebrew maidens in the time of the prophet Isaiah wore crescent-shaped ornaments on their heads.

The crescent is the well-known symbol of the Turkish religion. According to tradition, Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, attempted to undermine the walls of Byzantium during a siege of the city, but the attempt was revealed to the inhabitants by the light of a crescent moon. Whereupon they erected a statue to Diana, and adopted the crescent as their symbol.

When the Byzantine empire was overthrown by Mohammed II, in 1453, the Turks regarded the crescent, which was everywhere to be seen, as of favorable import. They therefore made it their own emblem, and it has since continued to be a distinctively Mohammedan token.

Golden crescents of various sizes were among the most primitive forms of money. Ancient coins frequently bore the likenesses of popular deities or their symbols, and of the latter the crescent appears to have been the one most commonly employed. It was the usual mint-mark of the coins of Thespia in the early part of the fourth century BC; is seen on the coins of the reigns of Augustus, Nero, and other Roman emperors; and on the silver pieces of the time of Hadrian is found the Luna crescens with seven stars.

A crescent adorned the head of the goddess Diana in her character of Hecate, or ruler of the infernal regions. Hecate was supposed to preside over enchantments, and was also the special guardian and protectress of houses and doors. The Greeks not only wore amulets in the shape of the half moon, but placed them on the walls of their houses as talismans; and the Romans used phalerae, metallic disks and crescents, to decorate the foreheads and breasts of their horses.

Such ornaments are to be seen on the caparisons of the horses on Trajan’s Column and on other ancient monuments, in the collection of Roman antiquities in the British Museum, and in mediaeval paintings and tapestries.

In the portrayals of combats between the Romans and Dacians on the Arch of Constantine, the trappings of the horses of both armies are decorated with these emblems, as are also the bridle reins of a horse shown in a French manuscript of the fifteenth century representing ‘gentlefolk meeting on horseback’.

Charms of similar shape, made of wolves’ teeth and boars’ tusks, have been found in tumuli in different parts of Great Britain.

A sepulchral stone, which is preserved among other Gallo-Roman relics within the Chateau of Chinon, France, bears the effigy of a man standing upright and clad in a large tunic with wide sleeves. Above the figure is a crescent-shaped talisman, a symbol frequently found in monuments of that period.

But the use of these symbols, although so ancient, is by no means obsolete; the brass crescent, an avowed charm against the evil eye, is very commonly attached to the elaborately decorated harnesses of Neapolitan draught horses, and is used in the East to embellish the trappings of elephants. It is also still employed in like manner in various parts of Europe and in the England of today.

In Germany small half-moon-shaped amulets similar to the ancient μηνισχιο or lunulae are still used against the evil eye.

In Sweden and Frisia, bridal ornaments for the head and neck often represent the moon’s disk in its first quarter; and it is customary to call out after a newly married pair, ‘Increase, Moon’.

Elworthy remarks that the horseshoe, wherever used as an amulet, is the handy conventional representative of the crescent, and that the Buddhist crescent emblem is a horseshoe with the curve pointed like a Gothic arch.

The English fern called moonwort is thought to owe its reputed magical powers to the crescent form of the segments of its frond. Some writers regard it as identical with the martagon, an herb formerly much used by sorcerers; and also with the Italian sferracavallo.

According to the famous astrologer and herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper, moonwort possessed certain occult virtues, and was endowed with extraordinary attributes, chief among them being its power of undoing locks and of unshoeing horses. The same writer remarked that, while some people of intelligence regarded these notions with scorn, the popular name for moonwort among the countryfolk was ‘unshoe-the-horse’.

The horseshoe has sometimes been identified with the cross, and has been supposed to derive its amuletic power from a fancied resemblance to the sacred Christian symbol. But inasmuch as it is difficult to find any marked similarity in form between the crescent and the cross, this theory does not appear to warrant serious consideration.

IRON AS A PROTECTIVE CHARM

Some writers have maintained that the luck associated with the horseshoe is due chiefly to the metal, irrespective of its shape, as iron and steel are traditional charms against malevolent spirits and goblins. In their view, a horseshoe is simply a piece of iron of graceful shape and convenient form, commonly pierced with seven nail-holes (a mystic number), and therefore an altogether suitable talisman to be affixed to the door of dwelling or stable in conformity with a venerable custom sanctioned by centuries of usage. Of the antiquity of the belief in the supernatural properties of iron there can be no doubt.

Among the ancient Gauls this metal was thought to be consecrated to the Evil Principle, and, according to a fragment of the writings of the Egyptian historian Manetho (about 275 BC), iron was called in Egypt the bone of Typhon, or Devil’s bone, for Typhon in the Egyptian mythology was the personification of evil.

Pliny, in his Natural History, states that iron coffin nails affixed to the lintel of the door render the inmates of the dwelling secure from the visitations of nocturnal prowling spirits.

According to the same author, iron has valuable attributes as a preservative against harmful witchcrafts and sorceries, and may thus be used with advantage both by adults and children. For this purpose it was only necessary to trace a circle about one’s self with a piece of the metal, or thrice to swing a sword around one’s body. Moreover, gentle proddings with a sword wherewith a man has been wounded were reputed to alleviate divers aches and pains, and even iron-rust had its own healing powers: ‘If a horse be shod with shoes made from a sword wherewith a man has been slain, he will be most swift and fleet, and never, though never so hard rode, tire.’

A young herdswoman was once tending cattle in a forest of Vermaland in Sweden; and the weather being cold and wet, she carried along her tinder-box with flint and steel, as is customary in that country. Presently along came a giantess carrying a casket, which she asked the girl to keep while she went away to invite some friends to attend her daughter’s marriage.

Quite thoughtlessly the girl laid her fire-steel on the casket, and when the giantess returned for the property she could not touch it, for steel is repellant to trolls, both great and small. So the herdswoman carried home the treasure box, which was found to contain a golden crown and other valuables.

The heathen Northmen believed in the existence of a race of dwarfish artisans, who were skilled in the working of metals, and who fashioned implements of warfare in their subterranean workshops. These dwarfs were also thought to inhabit isolated rocks; and according to a popular notion, if a man chanced to encounter one of them, and quickly threw a piece of steel between him and his habitation, he could thereby prevent the dwarf from returning home, and could exact of him whatever he desired.

Among French Canadians, fireflies are viewed with superstitious eyes as luminous imps of evil, and iron and steel are the most potent safeguards against them; a knife or needle stuck into the nearest fence is thought to amply protect the belated wayfarer against these insects, for they will either do themselves injury upon the former, or will become so exhausted in endeavoring to pass through the needle’s eye as to render them temporarily harmless. Such waifs and strays of popular credulity may seem most trivial, yet they serve to illustrate the ancient and widely diffused belief in the traditional qualities ascribed to certain metals.

One widely prevalent theory ascribed to iron a meteoric origin, but the different nations of antiquity were wont to attribute its discovery or invention to some favorite deity or mythological personage; Osiris was thus honored by the Egyptians, Vulcan by the Romans, and Wodan or Odin by the Teutons.

In early times the employment of iron in the arts was much restricted by reason of its dull exterior and brittleness. There existed, moreover, among the Romans a certain religious prejudice against the metal, whose use in many ceremonies was wholly proscribed.

This prejudice appears to have been due to the fact that iron weapons were held jointly responsible with those who wielded them for the shedding of human blood; inasmuch as swords, knives, battle axes, lance and spear points, and other implements of war were made of iron.

Those mythical demons of Oriental lands known as the Jinn are believed to be exorcised by the mere name of iron; and Arabs when overtaken by a simoom in the desert endeavor to charm away these spirits of evil by crying, ‘Iron, iron!’

The Jinn being legendary creatures of the Stone Age, the comparatively modern metal is supposed to be obnoxious to them. In Scandinavia and in northern countries generally, iron is a historic charm against the wiles of sorcerers.

The Chinese sometimes wear outside of their clothing a piece of an old iron plough-point as a charm; and they have also a custom of driving long iron nails in certain kinds of trees to exorcise some particularly dangerous female demons which haunt them. The ancient Irish were wont to hang crooked horseshoe nails about the necks of their children as charms; and in Teutonic folklore we find the venerable superstition that a horseshoe nail found by chance and driven into the fireplace will effect the restoration of stolen property to the owner. In Ireland, at the present time, iron is held to be a sacred and luck-bringing metal which thieves hesitate to steal.

A Celtic legend says that the name Iron-land or Ireland originated as follows. The Emerald Isle was formerly altogether submerged, except during a brief period every seventh year, and at such times repeated attempts were made by foreigners to land on its soil, but without success, as the advancing waves always swallowed up the bold invaders. Finally a heavenly revelation declared that the island could only be rescued from the sea by throwing a piece of iron upon it during its brief appearance above the waters. Profiting by the information thus vouchsafed, a daring adventurer cast his sword upon the land at the time indicated, thereby dissolving the spell, and Ireland has ever since remained above the water. On account of this tradition the finding of iron is always accounted lucky by the Irish; and when the treasure trove has the form of a horseshoe, it is nailed up over the house door. Thus iron is believed to have reclaimed Ireland from the sea, and the talismanic symbol of its reclamation is the iron horseshoe.

Once upon a time – so runs a tradition of the Ukraine, the border region between Russia and Poland – some men found a piece of iron. After having in vain attempted to eat it, they tried to soften it by boiling it in water; then they roasted it, and afterwards beat it with stones. While thus engaged, the Devil, who had been watching them, inquired, ‘What are you making there?’ and the men replied, ‘A hammer with which to beat the Devil.’ Thereupon Satan asked where they had obtained the requisite sand; and from that time men understood that sand was essential for the use of iron workers; and thus began the manufacture of iron implements.