ABSTRACT
Charms are invocations; as a matter of fact, the former often enough comprise the latter. People did not have to wait for the diffusion of the cabbalistic pseudo-science in Mediaeval Europe to heal diseases and the flowing blood by oral charms. Popular riddle, the solution of which is ‘the snow’, is known in a considerable number of variants in the various vernacular tongues of the European continent and extends over most of Central and Northern Europe, being found even in Caucasia. A last department of oral folk-lore is the so-called popular riddle. The diffusion of a verse over a given territory can be easily understood if due regard is had to the very pronounced tendency of country-folk everywhere to copy their neighbours. As a matter of fact, the commentary attached to the rhyme gravely tells folklorists that the shocking transaction in question took place in 1601.
