[Illustration: "DEID LICHTS." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.]
Other old and significant terms associated with the premonition of death are the "dead-watch," or "dede-chack," really the peculiar clicking noise made by wood-worms; and the "dede-drap," which was the rather eerie sound made by the intermittent falling of a drop of water from the eaves; and "dead-bell," a tingling in the ears, believed to announce a friend's death.
Other expressions of a similar nature are the "dede-spall," which is the semi-molten part of the grease of a candle (so called from its resemblance to wood-shaving) when it falls over the edge in semi-circular form, and which, if pronounced, and turning with an appearance of persistence toward some person in particular, was supposed to indicate the approaching hand of death.
Another curious term is the "dede-nip," whose origin is a little more puzzling. It is described as a blue mark which appears on the body of a person about to die and without the physical explanation of a blow. It is also associated with the "blew-spot" of witchcraft already described.[30]
The following selected verses from "The Death of Dear-meal Johnny," by the Bard of Corrie (Dumfriesshire), are quoted on account of their reference to several of these old-world superstitious terms:--
"Oft his wraith had been seen gliding 'Mang the meal sacks i' the spence, Till the house, folks scarce could bide in, Terrified maist out o' sense.
'Neath his head the death-watch tinkled, Constant as the lapse of time; Frae his bed the dead licht twinkled, Wi' its blue and sulphurous flame.
'Neath the bed auld Bawty[31] scrapit, A' day, thrang as thrang could be; Made a hole, sae grave-like shapit, Folk glowered quaking in to see.
On the dreary kirkyaird road, aye By night he raised sic eldritch howls; Weel he kenned his maister's body Soon must mix amang the mools.
Frae the wattles dead-draps spatter'd; At the can'les dead-speals hang; Pyets rave the thack, and chatter'd; In folk's lugs the dead-bell rang."
The last class of warnings to be noticed are special appearances and portents occurring before death in well-known local families.
In the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn the tradition was, that when a death was about to take place in the family a swan invariably made its appearance on the loch that surrounded the castle. "The last omen of this nature on record saddened the nuptials of Sir Thomas, the first baronet, when marrying for the third time. On the wedding-day his son, Roger, went out of the castle, and, happening to turn his eyes towards the loch, descried the fatal bird. Returning, overwhelmed with melancholy, his father rallied him on his desponding appearance, alleging a stepmother to be the cause of his sadness, when the young man only answered 'Perhaps ere long you may also be sorrowful,' expiring suddenly that very night."(71)