My common-place books contain a goodly number of superstitious sayings,
noted down as heard at different times and in various places, chiefly
during the last ten or twelve years. I have made a selection from them, the
greater portion of which will probably come under the printer's eye for the
first time, should they be considered a fitting addition to the interesting
records of Folk Lore in the pages of "N. & Q." I reserve my comment or
attempted illustration for future opportunities.
_First Score._
1. _Adder._ "Look under the deaf adder's belly, and you'll find marked, in
mottled colours, these words:
'If I could hear as well as see,
No man of life [sic] should master me!'"
(This saying was related to me by a friend, a native of Lewes, Sussex,
where it is common.)
2. _Adder-skin._ "It'll bring you good luck to hang an ether-skin o'er the
chimbly [chimney-piece]." (Heard in Leicestershire.)
3. _Beanfield._ "Sleep in a beanfield all night if you want to have awful
dreams, or go crazy." (In Leicestershire.)
4. _Chime-hours._ "A child born in chime-hours will have the power to see
spirits." (A Somerset friend.)
5. _Egg-shells._ "Always poke a hole through your eggshell before you throw
it away."--Why? "If you don't, the fairies will put to sea to wreck the
ships." (Somerset. Query, For fairies, read witches?)
6. _Eyebrows._ "It's a good thing to have meeting eyebrows. You'll never
know trouble." (Various places.)
7. _Fern-root._ "Cut a fern-root slantwise, and you'll see a picture of an
oak-tree: the more perfect, the luckier chance for you." (Croydon and
elsewhere.)
8. _Flowering Myrtle._ "That's the luckiest plant to have in your window.
Water it every morning, and be proud of it." (Somerset.)
9. _Harvest Spider._ "The _harvest-man_ has got four things on its
back,--the scythe, the rake, the sickle, and [Query the fourth?] It's most
unlucky for the reaper to kill it on purpose." (From an Essex man.)
10. _Holly, Ivy, &c._ "All your _Christmas_ should be burnt on Twelfth-day
morning." (London, &c.)
11. _Lettuce._ "O'er-much lettuce in the garden will stop a young wife's
bearing." (Richmond, Surrey.)
12. _May-baby._ "A May-baby's always sickly. You may try, but you'll never
rear it." (Various.)
13. _May-kitten._ "You should drown a May-kitten. It's unlucky to keep it."
(Somerset.) {153}
14. _New Moon._ "You may see as many new moons at once through a silk
handkerchief, as there are years before you will marry." (Leicestershire.)
15. _Onions._ "In buying onions always go in by one door of the shop, and
come out by another. Select a shop with two doorways. These onions, placed
under your pillow on St. Thomas's Eve, are sure to bring visions of your
true-love, your future husband." (London, &c.)
16. _Parsley._ "Where parsley's grown in the garden, there'll be a death
before the year's out. (London and Surrey.)
17. _Ring-finger._ "The ring-finger, stroked along any sore or wound, will
soon heal it. All the other fingers are poisonous, especially the
fore-finger." (Somerset.)