Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/64

 52 More Folklore from the Hebrides.

a hasty message; being barefoot, losing one's nearest friend ; boat on shore, a coffin ; new house, a grave ; a hole in the house, death coming to it ; people dressed in blue, of good luck coming; in grey, of bad luck, sickness, or going to sea.

If a person in a dream sees himself losing a tooth, it is a sign of the death of a near friend. Our informant had had such a dream three times, and she mentioned the names of those who died thereafter. Her sister has had a similar experience.^

There is among the Islanders a good deal of what one may call "domestic" divination, apart from the professional seers, who divine by the shoulder-blade of the sheep, or by the making of horoscopes, just as there are charms in con- stant use against the Evil Eye, quite apart from the profes- sional making of spells or snaitheans.

The following saying sums up various signs of ill-omen :

" I saw a snail on ground fiiU of holes, I saw a stone-chat on a bare rock, I saw a foal with his back to me, I heard the cuckoo ere I broke my fast, I knew the year would not go well with me, I lost the wife of the house, and the children."

There is some part of the sheep called the diiilleag, which I think must be that used in the south for the decoration of carcases, especially lamb. When a sheep is killed, this is thrown up to the roof of the barn or shed for luck. If it stick up, it is good luck, but the reverse is merely nega- tive, not positive bad luck. Each person present throws it up till it does stick up, and the last, the successful ones will be the " man of many sheep," and wealthy. If it happens the first time it is very lucky.

' [Many of these interpretations may be found in the printed " Fortune- Tellers" and "Dream Books," circulated among maidservants in all parts of the country. A fire means " hasty news," and the loss of a tooth " the loss of a friend," among most observers of dreams. Much the same remarks apply to the personal omens detailed on p. 50 — Ed.]