Old wives tale?

Question

Such a nice day to day ,Ithought i would go blackberrying ,Such a lot on the hedgerows ,As i was busy picking them someone came up to me and said you must not pick them in October ,As the witche,s Will be angry and they spit on them ,Please where and why is this such an Old wives tale , And what is the meaning of this tale

Answer 1

basically means if u pick them too early they will not be complety ripe and be sour. which just depends on growing climate for the year

Answer 2

Wow, you've got blackberries were you are now? They've been over with for months where I am.

Don't know about the old wives' tale, but I'm sure a little witch spit never hurt anybody...

Edit: Sorry, I don't buy Monty's take. Maggots don't develope in berries; they live in rotting meat. And I've eaten plenty of berries with spiderwebs on them and I haven't had so much as a single stomach pang. I doubt very much, actually, that such an old wives' tale had to do with leaving perfectly good berries for practical reasons. I'm guessing it had its origins as some sort of offering or sacrifice to faeries or nature spirits.

I've got that book "Faeries" by Brian Froud and Alan Lee; in it it describes a number of instances similar to this, such as fruit being unfit to be picked or eaten after a certain time because the faeries piss on them...also, there was another bit about leaving the last apples of the season on a tree for some faerie to ensure bountiful harvests in subsequent years...

Answer 3

October for blackberries is late ,at this time of the year the fruit is over ripe and can contain maggots, also if you go early enough they are covered in gossemer, spiders web and when eaten can cause quite a bad stomach ache.the meanning of the tale is a warning to leave them well alone let the birds have them.

Answer 4

I agree with the answer above about the meaning. But I've never heard of the old wive's tale....

Answer 5

Do not believe in old wives tales. That sounds like something goober and barney would believe on the andy griffeth show.

Answer 6

Monty's got it bang on. It should be remembered, that the "witches" it probably refers to, are also the women healers they would have sort medicine from had they got upset stomach afterwards.