Related to this idea, but more Christian in form, is the belief that at
midnight all cattle rise in their stalls or kneel and adore the new-born
King. Readers of Mr. Hardy's "Tess" will remember how this is brought
into a delightful story told by a Wessex peasant. The idea is widespread
in England and on the Continent,{15} and has reached even the North
American Indians. Howison, in his "Sketches of Upper Canada," relates
that an Indian told him that "on Christmas night all deer kneel and look
up to Great Spirit."{16} A somewhat similar belief about bees was held
in the north of England: they were said to assemble on Christmas Eve and
hum a Christmas hymn.{17} Bees seem in folk-lore in general to be
specially near to humanity in their feelings.
It is a widespread idea that at midnight on Christmas Eve all water turns
to wine. A Guernsey woman once determined to test this; at midnight she
drew a bucket from the well. Then came a voice:--
"Toute l'eau se tourne en vin,
Et tu es proche de ta fin."
She fell down with a mortal disease, and died before the end of the year.
In Sark the superstition is that the water in streams and wells turns
into blood, and if you go to look you will die within the year.
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