Capfull of Wind

Olaus Magnus tells us that Eric, King of Sweden, was so familiar with evil spirits that what way soever he turned his cap the wind would blow, and for this he was called Windy Cap The Laplanders drove a profitable trade in selling winds; but, even so late as 1814, Bessie Millie, of Pomoʹna (Orkney Islands), helped out her living by selling favourable winds to mariners for the small sum of sixpence. (See Mont St. Michel.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.