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In Yorkshire it used to be the custom for "farmers to have whip-stocks of rowan tree wood, and it was held that…

Date of account
Second edition published 1896
Source
The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Reference
The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2) · selected passage 61
Rights
public_domain
Language
English
Record updated
2026-08-25

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Record summary

In Yorkshire it used to be the custom for "farmers to have whip-stocks of rowan tree wood, and it was held that thus supplied, they were safe against having their draught fixed, or their horses made restive by a witch

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

In Yorkshire it used to be the custom for "farmers to have whip-stocks of rowan tree wood, and it was held that thus supplied, they were safe against having their draught fixed, or their horses made restive by a witch. If ever a draught came to a standstill, then the nearest witchwood tree was resorted to, and a stick cut to flog the horses on with, to the discomfiture of the malevolent witch who had caused the stoppage." In some parts of Scotland the milkmaid carries a switch of the magical rowan to expel the demon which sometimes enters the cow; and in Germany, striking the cow with this magical wand is believed to render her fertile. [296]

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.

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