old cart-wheels are placed on the chimneys for them to build their nests on.
The lady bird must not be killed on any account; the following (rhyme, in the original) is sung by the children when one is caught, as they allow it to run on their hands and fly away:
"Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away! fly away!
The Turks are coming; they will
Throw you into a well full of
Salt water; they will take you
Out of that, and break you on the wheel!"
If when going out on an errand you forget anything and go back to fetch it, that errand will be an unsuccessful one.[1]
It is unlucky to meet a priest, nun, hearse, or a hare, if going on a Journey. (Cf. If a collier on his way to work meet a woman wearing a white apron, he will not go to work, as it is a sign of very bad luck.—Staffordshire. The fishermen when going to sea will turn back and wait a tide if they meet a woman wearing a white apron.—Holderness.—W. H. J.)
It is unlucky to cross your knife and fork at table, or to leave the knife edge upwards.
If while a child is sitting on the ground, another child steps over its outstretched legs, the child thus stepped over will cease growing, and can only be cured by the same child stepping over it in the opposite direction.
A dog howling, or digging up the ground, or an owl hooting (called the death-bird), is a sure sign of death. Also the ticking of the death-watch, cracking of a looking-glass or a drinking-glass;[2] or if the person appears to some one else, or any unexplained noise, such as rapping at the door, clattering of horses' hoofs, or creaking furniture.
If you wish to find out a thief, stick a pair of open scissors into a sieve, and let two people put their forefingers under the ring of the scissors, one under each, repeating the following:
"My little sieve, my little sieve,
Tell us whether X. is a thief."
If the sieve turns, the person named is the culprit.
