"Iesce, iesce, corna Ca mammata te scorna, Te scorna 'ncoppa l'astreco Che fa lo figlio mascolo."
In Piedmont, to induce the snail to put its horns out, children are accustomed to sing to it--
"Lümassa, lümassora, Tira fora i to corn, Dass no,[110] i vad dal barbé E it tje fass taié!"
Sicilian children terrify the snail by informing it that their mother is coming to burn its horns with a candle--
"Nesci li corna ch 'a mamma veni E t' adduma lu cannileri."
In Tuscany they threaten the white snail (la marinella), telling it to thrust out its little horns to save itself from kicks and blows--
"Chióćciola marinella, Tira fuori le tue cornella, E se tu non le tirerai Calci e pugni tu buscherai."
In Tuscany it is believed, moreover, that in the month of April the snail makes love with the serpents, and is therefore venomous; hence they sing--
"Chi vuol presto morire Mangi la chiocciola d' aprile."[111]
The snail of popular superstition is demoniacal; hence it is also invoked by children in Germany by the name of the funereal St Gertrude--
"Kuckuck, kuckuck Gerderut Stäk dîne vêr Horns herut."[112]
[72] Vṛiddhasya ćid vardhato dyâm inakshataḥ stavâno vamro vi ǵaghâna saṁdihaḥ; _Ṛigv._ i. 51, 9.
[73] Vamrîbhiḥ putram agruvo adânaṁ niveçanâd dhariva â ǵabhartha; _Ṛigv._ iv. 19, 9.--Another variation is the hedgehog, which, as we have seen in Chapter V., forces the viper out of its den.
[74] The dwarf-hermits, who transport a leaf upon a car, and are about to be drowned in the water contained in the foot-print of a cow, and who curse Indras, who passes smiling without assisting them, in the legend of the _Mahâbhâratam_, are a variety of these same ants.--Cfr. the chapters on the Elephant and on the Fishes, where we have Indras who fears to be submerged.
[75] Fa cunto ca no le mancava lo latto de la formica; _Pentamerone_, i. 8.
[76] _Biblion Istorikon_, xii. 404.--In the _Epist. Presb. Johannis_, we find also:--"In quadam provincia nostra sunt formicæ in magnitudine catulorum, habentes vii. pedes et alas iv. Istæ formicæ ab occasu solis ad ortum morantur sub terra et fodiunt purissimum aurum tota nocte--quærunt victum suum tota die. In nocte autem veniunt homines de cunctis civitatibus ad colligendum ipsum aurum et imponunt elephantibus. Quando formicæ sunt supra terram, nullus ibi audet accedere propter crudelitatem et ferocitatem ipsarum."--Cfr. _infra._