On St.John's Day, May 25th, the peasants set out their cabbages; but on the autumn St.John's Day, August 29th, they must carefully avoid all contact with cabbages, because it is the anniversary of the beheading of John; no knife must be taken in the hand on that day, and it is considered a great crime to cut anything, particularly anything round, resembling a head.

If a cabbage be cut, blood will flow; if anything round be eaten--onions, for example--carbuncles will follow.
In concluding this brief sketch of the religious ballads of the Slavonians, I venture to quote at length, a masterpiece of the Wandering Cripples' art.

It is a Montenegrin version of a legend which is common to all the Slavonic peoples, and contains, besides an interesting problem in ethics, an explanation of the present shape of the human foot.

In some versions the emperor's crown is replaced, throughout, by "the bright sun," thus suggesting a mythological origin.

It is called "The Emperor Diocletian and John the Baptist." Two foster brothers were drinking wine, On a sunny slope by the salt seaside; One was the Emperor Diocletian, The other, John the Baptist.
Then up spake John the Baptist As they did drink the wine: "Foster brother, come now, let us play.
Use thou thy crown; but I will take an apple." Then up they jumped, began to play, And St.John flung his apple.
Down in the depths of the sea it fell And his warm tears trickled down.
But the emperor held this speech to him: "Now weep not, dear my brother, Only carry thou not my crown away And I will fetch thy apple." Then did John swear to him by God That he would not steal the crown.
The emperor swam out into the sea, But John flew up to heaven, Presented himself before the Lord, And held this speech to him: "Eternal God, and All-Holy Father! May I swear falsely by thee?
May I steal the emperor's crown ?" The Lord replied: "O John, my faithful servant! Thrice shalt thou swear falsely by me, Only, by my name must thou not swear." St.John flew back to the sunny slope, And the emperor emerged from the sea.
Again they played; again John flung his apple; Again it fell into the depths of the sea.
But Diocletian, the emperor, said to him: "Now, fear thou not, dear brother, Only carry thou my crown not away, And I will fetch thy apple." Then did John swear to him by God, Thrice did he swear to him by God That he would not steal his crown.
The emperor threw his crown under his cap, Beside them left the bird of ill omen, And plunged into the blue sea.
St.John froze over the sea, With a twelve-fold ice-crust he froze it o'er, Seized the golden crown, flew on high to heaven.
And the bird of ill omen began to caw.
The emperor, at the bottom of the sea, divined the cause, Raced up, as for a wager, Brake three of the ice-crusts with his head, Then back turned he again, took a stone upon his head, A little stone of three thousand pounds, And brake the twelve-fold ice.
Then unfolded he his wings, Set out in pursuit of John, Caught up with him at the gate of heaven, Seized him by his right foot, And what he grasped, he tore away.
In tears came John before the Lord; The bright sun brought he to heaven, And John complained unto the Lord, That the emperor had crippled him.
And the Lord said: "Fear not, my faithful servant! I will do the same to every man." Such is the fact, and to God be the glory! "Therefore," say the Servians, in conclusion of their version of this ballad, "God has made a hollow in the sole of every human being's foot." The Epic Songs, properly speaking, are broadly divisible into three groups: the Cycle of Vladimir, or of Kieff; that of Novgorod; and that of Moscow, or the Imperial Cycle, the whole being preceded by the songs of the elder heroes.