Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/227

 property will gradually but surely slip out of the possession of that family by the fatal power of the "evil eye."

A person who sits down to rest upon a box filled with clothing may, quite unwittingly, hinder the happy marriage of the young girl whose belongings are packed up there: adverse influences will certainly prevent the old woman, whose business it is to negociate marriages, from coming to that family to seek for a bride.

Again, any one who sits on the ground in the way of those passing in and out of the room occasions much needless trouble, for the unthinking person who may have hurriedly stepped across the obstruction must—in spite of haste—instantly return to step over a second time, and so unwind the spell; otherwise the one stepped over will, ere long, shrivel up and perish.

You may be tired or reflective, or perhaps in a defiant mood, nevertheless carefully abstain from standing with the arms crossed; to do so is to tie up all good fortune in your destiny.

Be sure to buy vinegar before the sun is down; if sold afterwards it will become musty, but it is not easy to procure it at that time as the bakals are aware of this necessary precaution.

The first money taken by a dealer in the morning should be rubbed all over the face, to ensure a good amount of custom for the rest of the day.

A child falls and cuts his head on a rough stone: is it the first care of the mother to wash and bind up the wound? that is an after consideration: she must first find the exact spot where the accident occurred, and, turning her head away, pour on it, over her shoulder, a libation of wine or sugared water, then go quickly away without looking round: by this wise measure all bad consequences will be avoided, and the hurt can be looked to at leisure.

The careful Eastern housewife enjoys the guidance of many rules of which others are deprived by ignorance and want of faith. She is especially attentive to the phenomena that affect the boughata, or great wash of the household linen, carefully taking out the pieces of half-burnt wood from beneath the copper when all is finished, and placing them aside to die out gradually: if, from a fatal idea of economy, she is rash enough to extinguish them in water, the house and family will infallibly decay from that time.

A fine display of cleanly-washed and snowy linen is a cheering sight after all the labour bestowed, but beware of the false friend who,