rrival of the professor led Peppino into giving me a great deal of
information about the evil eye in which he swore he did not believe. It
was all rather indefinite and contradictory, partly, no doubt, because
those who believe in it most firmly are the analfabeti and unaccustomed
to express themselves clearly.

The prevailing idea seems to be that an evil influence proceeds from the
eye of the jettatore who is not necessarily a bad person, at least he
need not be desirous of hurting any one. The misfortunes that follow
wherever he goes may be averted by the interposition of some attractive
object whereby the glance from his eye is arrested, and either the
misfortune does not happen at all, or the force of the evil influence is
expended elsewhere. Therefore, it is as well always to carry some charm
against the evil eye. All over Italy, but especially in the south, it is
rare to meet a man who does not carry a charm, either on his watch-chain
or in his pocket, or on a string or a chain round his neck under his
clothes, and he usually carries more than one. Women, of course, always
wear them, which may be because a woman likes to surround herself with
pretty things, and, if she can say that they protect her, she has a
reason, unconnected with vanity, which she may be apt to profess is her
true reason for wearing ornaments. The same applies to men who, though
less in the habit of wearing ornaments, are, as has been often remarked,
no less vain than women. This may be called the ornamental view and may
account for some of the fashions that arise in the wearing of charms.
But there is also the utilitarian view, and a new form of charm will
sometimes become popular, just as a new sanctuary becomes popular,
because it is reported to have been effective in some particular case.
Probably no change of fashion will ever banish horns made of coral or
mother-of-pearl; being pointed, they are supposed to attract and break up
the evil glance as a lightning conductor is supposed to attract and break
up a flash of lightning.

Peppino was very contemptuous about all charms and coral horns
especially. Even assuming that horns in a general way are prophylactic,
it is no use having them made of coral or mother-of-pearl and wearing
them on one's watch-chain, because the Padre Eterno, when he designed the
human form, was careful to provide man with natural means of making horns
so that the evil eye might be averted during the period t