Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/398

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66 Collectanea.

Stumbling. — In Suffolk it is said that if you stumble or fall down while running up stairs you are going to a wedding.

Clothes inside out. — If you turn your clothes inside out and accidentally put them on thus, it is a sign of a present.

The Haddock. — The thumb-like mark on the gills of a haddock was caused by Christ having touched it with His thumb when He was out fishing in St. Peter's boat.

Killing a Beetle, Cockroach, Spider. — Killing a beetle or cock- roach causes rain ; a spider, ill-luck in Suffolk.

Cross-eyed People. — In Cambridgeshire if a cross-eyed person looks at you, you will have ill-luck all day, for such people can see right through you and know your thoughts.

A Crou'ing Hen. — The cook of a vicar in this neighbourhood said that a crowing hen had bewitched the " chickens " {i.e. duck- lings), so she killed it.

Omens for Luck. — I was told of a man in Liverpool, a well- educated merchant, who till the day of his death always touched the door outside the station and the lamp-post further up the road ; if he chanced to forget to do this, he went back and did it. A Liverpool market-woman told a friend's sister that "there was luck between " when somebody dropped money when passing between them. A friend from Northants tells me that if you drop your umbrella or stick you should not pick it up for fear of dll-luck, but make a friend who is with you do it.

Ronald Burn.

Folklore from Kent.

A Noted Witch. — At Ightham in Kent many tales are told of

the witch Widow A, who died some 60 years ago. She was

believed to have supernatural powers of vision. One day, when she was on a hill many miles away, she saw a man giving some apples to boys, and called out to him. But when he searched the place he could find no trace of her or of the spot whence it was possible for her to have watched him. She used to wander at
 * nights. One night her husband saw her preparing to start, and