Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Devil's Snuff Box


This is a mushroom. It is almost ready. They will turn black. When you kick or burst them a black dust puffs out. When we were children, we were told they were the Devil's snuff box. Have you ever heard this?

Also we were told that "preying mantis" (the insect) was the Devil's "walking stick" or the Devil's "riding horse", depending on who was telling you. Have you ever heard this?

Someone told me that dragon flies were "snake doctors."

What did they tell you?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Either you or Mama told me that it was called the devil's snuff box. So yes, i've heard of it. :)

possum said...

Nope, my family didn't have that much imagination, I guess.
Devil's Walking Sticks grow out in the woods, short "trees" with gazillions of thorns, nasty things to accidently bump into...
But one local phrase that applies to that baby in the next post - "He is so cute, you could eat him with a spoon!"
Language! Fascinating.

Sandy said...

Never heard that about the mushroom but I vaguely remember about the walking stick...great story

Lib said...

I've heard the same as you!
Haven't thought of these in yrs. Thanks for the moemories!
HAve agreat wk.end!
Blessins',Lib

Meggie said...

We used to call those things Puff Balls, and they did have black dust in them!
I dont think we had the 'Devil's' anything!
We did think that Dragon Flies were good luck.

Janette said...

No devils in my background-lol
WE called them puff balls as well!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I try not to burst the puffs of mushroom. Strange, to the Chinese , the Praying mantis is a brave insect.