_Hedgehog._--Among other animals looked upon in a superstitious light, we
have the hedgehog, who, in addition to his still credited attribute of
sucking cows, is looked upon by our rustics as the emblem of craft and
cunning; playing the same part in our popular stories as Reynard in the
more southern _fabliaux_. They tell concerning him, the legend given by
M.M. Grimm, of the race between the Hare and Hedgehog. The Northamptonshire
version makes the trial of speed between a _fox_ and hedgehog. In all other
respects the English tale runs word for word with the German.
_Hares._--Besides the ancient superstition attached to the crossing of the
path by one of these animals, there is also a belief that the running of
one along the street or mainway of a village, portends fire to some house
in the immediate vicinity.
_Toads._--Belief in their venomous nature is yet far from being extinct.
This, added to the ill-defined species of fascination which they are
supposed to exercise, has caused them here, as elsewhere, to be held in
great abhorrence. I have heard persons who ought to have known better,
exclaim on the danger of gazing upon one of the harmless reptiles. The idea
respecting the fascinating powers of the toad, is by no means confined to
our district. Witness the learned Cardan:
"Fascinari pueros fixo intuitu magnorum bufonum et maximè qui è subterraneo
specu aut sepulchris prodierint, utque ob id occulto morbo perire, haud
absurdum est."--_De Rerum Varietate_, lib. xvi. c. 90.
_Crickets_, contrary to the idea prevailing in the western counties, are
supposed to presage good luck, and are therefore most carefully preserved.
Their presence is believed to be a sure omen of prosperity; while, on the
other hand, their sudden departure from a hearth which has long echoed with
their cry, betokens approaching misfortune, and is regarded as the direst
calamity that can happen to the family.
_Magpies._--To see one magpie alone bodes bad luck; two, good luck; three,
a "berrin;" four, a wedding. This is our version of the saying: Grose gives
it differently.
_Spiders._--When a spider is found upon your {4} clothes, or about your
person, it signifies that you will shortly receive some money. Old Fuller,
who was a native of Northamptonshire, thus quaintly moralises this
superstition:
"When a spider is found upon our clothes, we use to say, some money is
coming towards us. The moral is this: such who imitate the industry of
that contemptible creature may, by God's blessing, weave themselves
into wealth and procure a plentiful estate."--_Worthies_, p.58. Pt. 2.
ed. 1662.
Omens of death and misfortune are also drawn from the howling of dogs--the
sight of a trio of butterflies--the flying down the chimney of swallows or
jackdaws; and swine are sometimes said to give their master warning of his
death by giving utterance to a peculiar whine, known and understood only by
the initiated in such matters. Gaule, in his _Mag-astromancers Posed and
Puzzled_, Lond. 1652, p. 181, ranks among evil omens "the falling of
swallows down the chimney" and "the grunting of swine."