Snail, Snail, come out of your Hole

In Surrey, and most probably in other counties where shell-snails abound, children amuse themselves by charming them with a chant to put forth their horns, of which I have only heard the following couplet, which is repeated until it has the desired effect, to the great amusement of the charmer. "Snail, snail, come out of your hole, Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal." It is pleasant to find that this charm is not peculiar to English children, but prevails in places as remote from each other as Naples and Silesia. The Silesian rhyme is: "Schnecke, schnecke, schnürre! Zeig mir dein viere,…