He also holds fast to what seems to be an old wives' tale—“Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”—and fears that if the lottery stops, the villagers will be forced to eat “chickweed and acorns.” Again, this idea suggests that stopping the lottery will lead to a return to a much earlier era, when people hunted
Anytime you are using somebody else's words or sometimes even ideas you want to make sure to credit them. You also don't want to make a risk of being accused of plagiarizing.