Quotes from John Denison Champlin, 1800s

In old times the lady-bird was believed to live in the sun, and the German children still have a rhyme telling it to fly away up to heaven and bring back the sunshine; and they believe that if they were to kill one of these insects the sun would not shine the next day.

In Westphalia, Germany, little girls set a lady-bird on the end of their forefinger and ask it in rhyme when they will be married; in one year? two years? three years? etc.; and they grow very impatient if the insect lets them count too high before it flies away.