It is counted lucky to carry in the pocket a crooked sixpence, or one with a hole in it, or the tip of a dried tongue. People with meeting eyebrows are thought fortunate fellows.[1] It is lucky to set a hen on an odd number of eggs; set her on even ones, and you will have no chickens. Again, if two persons wash their hands together in the same basin, they will be sure to fall out before bed-time. This is said all England over. A lady informs me that the belief held its ground when she was at school, and that it was necessary to avert the evil omen by “crossing the water” with the forefinger. I have seen this done by a farmer’s daughter in Devonshire. If a person’s hair burn brightly when thrown into the fire it is a sign of longevity; the brighter the flame the longer the life. On the other hand, if it smoulder away, and refuse to burn, it is a sign of approaching death.[2] Among the lower orders in Ireland however it is held that human hair should never be burnt, only buried, because at the resurrection the former owner of the hair will come to seek it. Neither should it be thrown carelessly away lest some bird should find it and carry it off, causing the owner’s head to ache all the time the bird was busy working the hair into its nest. “I knew how it would be,” exclaimed a Sussex servant one day to her mistress, “when I saw that bird fly off with a bit of my hair in its beak, that flew out of the window this morning while I was dressing. I knew I should have a clapping headache, and so I have.” If the nose itches it is a sign that you will be crossed, or vexed, or kissed by a fool; if the foot, it foretells that you will soon tread on strange ground. Itching of the right hand portends receiving
- ↑ This is curious, since in Icelandic sagas a man with meeting eyebrows is said to he hamrammr, or a kveldulfr, that is, a werewolf. Thus, Olaf Tvennubruni is spoken of in the Landnama, v. c. 10, as hamrammr, i. e. able to change his shape. His nickname signifies one with drooping brows, but in later Icelandic Folk-Lore the eyebrows growing over the nose is a token of a man being a werewolf. The same idea holds in Denmark (Thiele’s Danmarks Folke Sagn, vol. ii. p. 279), also in Germany (Simrock’s Deutsche Sagen, p. 467), whilst in Greece it is a sign that a man is a brukolak, or vampire.—S. B. G.
- ↑ It is deemed a sign of longevity in Devonshire if the hair grows down on the forehead and retreats up the head above the temples.
