_Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire._--No. 2.
_Mice._--A sudden influx of mice into a house, hitherto free from their
ravages, denotes approaching mortality among its inhabitants. A mouse
running over a person is considered to be an infallible sign of death,
as is also the squeaking of one behind the bed of an invalid, or the
appearance or apparition of a white mouse running across the room. To
meet with a shrew-mouse, in going a journey, is reckoned ominous of
evil. The country people have an idea that the harvest-mouse is unable
to cross a path which has been trod by man. Whenever they attempt, they
are immediately, as my informant expressed it, "struck dead." This, they
say, accounts for the numbers which on a summer's evening may be found
lying dead on the verge of the field footpaths, without any external
wound or apparent cause for their demise.
_Snakes._--There is a very prevalent belief that a snake can never die
till the sun is down. Cut or hack it as you will, it will never die till
sunset. This idea has evidently its source in the amazing vitality
common to the species.
_Poultry._--The crowing of a hen bodes evil, and is frequently followed
by the death of some member of the family. When, therefore, Dame Partlet
thus experiments upon the note of her mate, she pays her head as the
price of her temerity, a complete severance of the offending member
being supposed to be the only way of averting the threatened calamity.
No house, it is said, can thrive whose hens are addicted to this kind of
amusement. Hence the old proverb often quoted in this district:
"A whistling woman and a crowing hen,
Is neither fit for God nor men."
According to Pluquet, the Normans have a similar belief, and a saying
singularly like the English one:
"Un Poule qui chante le coq, et une fille qui siffle, portent
malheur dans la maison."
Before the death of a farmer his poultry frequently go to roost at
noon-day, instead of at the usual time. When the cock struts up to the
door and sounds his clarion on the threshold, the housewife is warned
that she may soon expect a stranger. In what is technically termed
"setting a hen," care is taken that the nest be composed of an odd
number of eggs. If even, the chickens would not prosper. Each egg is
always marked with a little black cross, ostensibly for the purpose of
distinguishing them from the others, but also supposed to be
instrumental in producing good chickens, and preventing any attack from
the weasel or other farm-yard marauders. The last egg the hen lays is
carefully preserved, its possession being supposed to operate as a charm
upon the well-doing of the poultry. In some cases, though less commonly,
the one laid on Good Friday is preserved, from the same reason. When a
baby is first taken out to see its friends, it is customary for them to
give it an egg: this, if preserved, is held to be a source of good
fortune to the future man. (Vide _Brand_, ii. p. 48.) The first egg laid
by a pullet is usually secured by the shepherd, in order to present to
his sweetheart,--the luckiest gift, it is believed, he can give her.
_Crows._--To see a crow flying alone is a token of bad luck. An odd one,
perched in the path of the observer, is a sign of wrath.
_Owls._--The ominous screech of this, the most ominous of all birds, is
still heard with alarm; and he remains with us, as in Chaucer's days,
"The oule eke that of deth the bode bringeth."
When, as sometimes happens, he exchanges the darkness of his ivy bush
for the rays of the sun at noon-day, his presence is looked upon as
indicative of bad luck to the beholder. Hence it not infrequently
happens that a mortal is as much scared by one of these occasional
flights as the small bird denizens of the tree on which he may happen to
alight.
_Cuckoos._--When the cry of the cuckoo is heard for the first time in
the season, it is customary to turn the money in the pocket, and wish.
If within the bounds of reason, it is sure to be fulfilled. In reference
to the pecuniary idea respecting the cuckoo, the children sing,
"Cuckoo, cuckoo, cherry tree
Catch a penny and give it to me."
_Robins and Wrens._--The robin is considered a sacred bird: to kill one
is little less than sacrilege, and its eggs are free from the destroying
hand of the bird-nester. It is asserted that the respect shown to it by
man is joined in by the animals of the wood. The weasel and wild cat, it
is said, will neither molest it, nor eat it when killed. The high favour
in which this bird is held is usually attributed to the ballad of _The
Babes in the Wood_. Few, however, among the peasantry of this district
have even heard of it; and, however much that beautiful tale may have
tended to popularise the belief, it is evident that we must trace the
origin to a more remote source. One cause for the veneration in which it
is held may be the superstition which represents him as the medium
through which mankind are warned of approaching death. {165} Before the
death of a person, a robin is believed, in many instances, to tap thrice
at the window of the room in which he or she may be. The wren is also a
bird which superstition protects from injury; but it is by no means
treated with such reverence as the robin. The praises of both are sung
in the old couplet:--
"The robin and the wren,
Be God A'mighty's cock and hen."
_Pigeons._--No one, it is believed, can die on pigeons' feathers. In the
northern parts of the county, the same thing is said of game
feathers,--a superstition also current in Kent.--_Ingolsby Legends_,
Third Series, p. 133.
_Wasps._--The first wasp seen in the season should always be killed. By
so doing you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies
throughout the year.
_Bees._--The superstitious ceremonies and observances attached to these
animals appear to be current throughout the kingdom, and by no means
suffer any diminution in this county. Among others of less common
occurrence, we have the belief that they will not thrive in a
quarrelsome fammily.
The wild, or, as we term him, the _humble bee_, is not without a share
of the superstitions which pertain to his more civilised brethren. The
entrance of one into a cottage is deemed a certain sign of death.
_Spiders._--The small spiders called "money spinners" prognosticate good
luck; in order to propitiate which, they must be thrown over the left
shoulder.