Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/106

 go Collectanea.

The dark marks across the shoulders of a donkey, some used to say, were originally caused by Christ making a cross on the ass on which he sat ; and others, that they were made by the legs of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem.

The old saying

"A whistling woman and a crowing hen Are neither good for God nor men'"'

was carried out in rather a heartless fashion by the farmer's wife, by chopping off the hen's head on the chopping-block. I have known this done many a time. It was considered unlucky to have a crowing hen, but this drastic proceeding was not so much to avert the ill-luck as to protest against the hen's usurping the privileges of the cock.

If your cheeks burned it was thought to be a sign that someone was talking about you, and, in case they should be backbiting you, you should say, —

" Right cheek, left cheek, why do you Ijurn? Cursed be she that doth me any harm. If it be a maid, let her be slayed, .And if it be a widow, long let her mourn ; But if it be my own true love, burn, cheek, burn.'*

If your nose itched it was a sign that you would be kissed, cursed, or vexed, run against a gatepost, or shake hands with a fool.

A small white spot on the finger-nail meant that a gift was coming to you, —

" A gift on the finger is sure to linger, A gift on the thumb is sure to come."

The seventh son of a seventh son would have a remarkable career.

It was lucky to fall upstairs, or for a black cat to come into the house. It was unlucky to spill salt at table, — (but the ill-luck could be averted by throwing a pinch of salt over the left shoulder), — to meet on the stairs, to be married in May, to have an engagement ring with an opal in it, — (an opal signified widow- hood and tears), — for a bride to wear any black article of clothing on her wedding-day, and to meet a funeral, — (you should always turn the same way until it was past). If you broke a looking-glass,