IT IS difficult to believe that the humble and lowly frog could be an object of religious veneration, but this was the situation in the very early days of Ancient Egypt. For the people of the time, the frog was regarded as a sacred object and it seems that this arose due to the fascinating life-cycle of this curious creature.

Teachers of the time had studied the frog, observing that its life began in a floating mass of jelly containing thousands of tiny black dots. In time, these developed into living creatures which had eyes, mouths and tails but which lived under water; they could also swim with rapid movements of their long tails.

Without legs, they appeared to be akin to the fish population, but then, the teachers noted, they grew legs and their long fish-like tail disappeared. Thus these creatures were transformed and they could now walk on four legs and live on dry land as well as survive in the water. This was truly an astonishing creature!

And there was more. The sheer volume of eggs laid by the female must mean that it had some special powers of reproduction, and so it became a symbol of abundance and fertility. A goddess of sorts. In addition to all this, it was also learned that it could live for very long periods while apparently dead - after a time shut away from life, air and food, the frog could apparently return to life to resume a normal existence without any harmful effects. A kind of resurrection, in other words.

There is little wonder what the primitive people of the time believed that this creature enjoyed some kind of divine status and its life cycle strengthened their belief in eternal life. Thus the humble frog found itself the symbol of both creation and eternal life, and the people would wear images of frogs as necklaces or as adornments to their clothes, believing this would help them to attain a long and happy life both on this earth and after death. In this way the frog became sacred to Path, the most ancient of the Egyptian gods who was the creator of everything.

In later times, but when Rome was still a pagan city, there was also a belief that the frog had divine status and because of its renowned fertility, it was dedicated to Venus, the goddess of love. Another reason was that the frog appeared to be born from foam which floated on the water, just as Venus was supposed to have emerged from foam on the sea.

The Roman scholar, Pliny (AD 23-79) recommended the wearing of charms in the shape of frogs as a means of retaining love and attracting friends, while in the early days of the pagan Roman empire, frogs were worshipped in much the same way as in ancient Egypt.

Another of its magical qualities convinced some early people that it could herald rain. In countries which suffered from droughts, the start of the rainy season was often heralded by the croaking of frogs, and they made an appearance, often in large numbers, when the rain actually fell. Some primitive folk believed the frogs actually fell from the skies with the rain, while others maintained that frogs' influence could produce the rain. As a consequence, the frog often featured in rain-making ceremonies in various countries.

When Christianity arrived, it is not surprising that the frog was regarded with suspicio. The worship of animals formed no part of the Christian tradition, and so many early Christian images depict the frog as a representation of sin and heresy. I know of a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham which shows her with one foot upon a frog. It's not that the Virgin Mary liked to stamp on frogs; it is an old image designed to show her contempt for sin and heresy and should not be taken literally.

With this kind of background, it is not surprising that our British ancestors also regarded the frog with some kind of awe or even suspicion and superstition. In most areas, it was thought lucky to meet a frog though in some parts of England it was considered unlucky if a frog managed to gain entry to one's house.

Just as the ancients wore frog images as a sign of good fortune, so young girls in this country would place the dried body of a frog in a small bag and wear it around their necks as a means of averting diseases such as epilepsy and other fits.

Perhaps the most gruesome practice is one which was practised in Yorkshire. In parts of the former North Riding, it was thought the disease of cattle known as red water could be cured by pushing a live frog down the throat of the affected beast. This treatment was even extended to humans. If a person suffered from consumption, the recommended cure was to eat a live frog, while in other parts of the country, the cure for whooping cough was to place a live frog in the mouth of the sufferer, but in this case, the frog must not be swallowed.

It was thought the frog would draw the disease from the sufferer; if the frog survived, it was given its freedom. For this reason, in Northumberland whooping cough was known as frog-in-the mouth.

Cheap beer

Following my earlier notes about slape, the name used in some areas for a cheap type of beer, I have received a helpful letter from a Bedale reader. For a time in the past, he worked in Leeds where the expression was widely used, and he believes it dated to the practice of selling the slops or overflow which accumulated in containers around the pumps on the bar. This was sold cheaply to the less wealthy customers, or even given away to truly impecunious clients. He adds that the term could also be used for a drink of beer scrounged or tricked from gullible customers.

So far as fish-and-chips were concerned, he reminds me that the term "one of each" referred to a tuppenny and a pennorth. The tuppenny was the fish, the pennorth or pennyworth was the chips, and so the order was placed as "one of each".

In his letter about this aspect of life in Leeds, he refers to Loiners. The people of Leeds are sometimes called Loiners, or Leeds Loiners, and it seems there are various possible reasons for this. One theory is that Loiners were people who lived in lanes, loin being a local dialect word for a lane, and so the term Leeds Loiners may derive lanes, or particularly from the inhabitants of Marsh Lane in Leeds.

Another possibility is that it comes from a much older source. At the time of the Brigantes, the district was known as Caer Loid Colt, shortened to Loid, and it was a site deep within a forest close by the River Aire, actually at the heart of Brigante country. By the time of the Venerable Bede (AD 673-735), the area around what we now call Leeds was known as Loidis and probably included what are now the dales of the Aire, Calder and Wharf.

It retained this name until some time prior to the Domesday Survey for by the time of that survey in 1086, the name had changed to Ledes, becoming Leeds much later in history. In 1086, it was then a mere cluster of buildings near the River Aire. Whether or not Loidis has in some way given the name of Loiners to the people of Leeds remains something of a puzzle.

Foot-and-mouth

A report by the Council for the Protection of Rural England (The Strategic Lessons of the Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak) concludes that the government's response to controlling the disease has potentially been more economically damaging than the disease itself. A further conclusion is that the government has demonstrated a failure to understand the economy of the countryside.

One conclusion is that the countryside and the economy of rural areas can no longer be isolated from the wider economy. The CPRE maintains there is no such thing as a separate rural economy. It adds that the beauty and diversity of the countryside is a major economic asset and that it should be treasured, as well as being more successfully protected and restored. Similarly, that beauty and diversity is also an environmental asset and as such, should receive due protection and care.