Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/401

 Cairene Folklore. 381

In the early spring the sun makes a wedding breakfast; then he begins to descend, and it becomes hot. ^

The fellahin call the rainbow " the two swords," red and green ; the red sword brings rain, the green sword takes it away.

It is unlucky to marry or give a wedding breakfast on Tuesdays and Saturdays, or to drink milk on Wednesdays.

No one marries in the month Moharrem ; to do so would be wrong.

At the time of the Arabi war, the Nubians were detected n Cairo by being made to pronounce honimns (roasted pease), which they called khoimmis.

If a boy has freckles or a mole, it is a sign that he will be a good man.

To spill coffee on oneself is lucky. If a small globe of bubbles appears on the surface of a cup of coffee after it has been poured out, it is called surra (money-bag), and it is said to the person to whom the coffee is given : " You will have money" {yigi-lak feliis).

It is unlucky to meet a beardless person the first thing in the morning.

If the right hand itches, it is a sign of luck, and that money will come ; if the left hand itches, ill-luck will follow.

A man feels cold from his head to the lower part of the trunk, a woman from the lower part of the trunk to the feet.

If the husband loves the wife more than she loves him all the children will be girls ; if the converse is the case all the children will be boys.

"Harr el-khamasin ahad min sikakin ;" (The heat of the khamasin is sharper than knives ; ) said of the hot winds of spring.

If one chokes oneself, it is said: "Min masik sirti?" (Who is talking of me ? )

' Compare the story of "the Table of the Sun" in Ethiopia, given by Herodotos, iii., 17, iS ; also Pomponius Mela, iii., 15.