The wood-demon who protects the unripe nuts from children in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Through most of the North Country it is a female spirit, Churnmilk Peg, who performs this office. The importance of nut thickets in earlier rural economy may be judged by the number of supernatural beliefs surrounding them, such as the appearance of the Devil to Sunday nut-gatherers, and the fertility value ascribed to nuts. 'So many cratches [baskets], so many cradles' is a Somerset proverb.