AN OLD EXPRESSION EXPLAINED.
When we wish to announce that anyone has had unexpected good fortune we say that he has had a “windfall.” This expression is- as old as the days of William the Conqueror. At that time all the forests belonged to the king, and no one was permitted to cut any timber from them. What limbs were cast upon the ground by storms were, however, the property of him who chose to gather them. So the peasants watched the sky for omens of a storm, and when it was over hurried to pick up a store of fuel. They called the branches windfalls ; hence the modern application of the term. — Are Maria.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT19181114.2.68
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Tablet, 14 November 1918, Page 32
Word Count
115AN OLD EXPRESSION EXPLAINED. New Zealand Tablet, 14 November 1918, Page 32
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