Читать книгу Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850 - Various - Страница 3

Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire.—No. 2.

Mice.—A sudden influx of mice into a house, hitherto free from their ravages, denotes approaching mortality among its inhabitants. A mouse running over a person is considered to be an infallible sign of death, as is also the squeaking of one behind the bed of an invalid, or the appearance or apparition of a white mouse running across the room. To meet with a shrew-mouse, in going a journey, is reckoned ominous of evil. The country people have an idea that the harvest-mouse is unable to cross a path which has been trod by man. Whenever they attempt, they are immediately, as my informant expressed it, "struck dead." This, they say, accounts for the numbers which on a summer's evening may be found lying dead on the verge of the field footpaths, without any external wound or apparent cause for their demise.

Snakes.—There is a very prevalent belief that a snake can never die till the sun is down. Cut or hack it as you will, it will never die till sunset. This idea has evidently its source in the amazing vitality common to the species.

Poultry.—The crowing of a hen bodes evil, and is frequently followed by the death of some member of the family. When, therefore, Dame Partlet thus experiments upon the note of her mate, she pays her head as the price of her temerity, a complete severance of the offending member being supposed to be the only way of averting the threatened calamity. No house, it is said, can thrive whose hens are addicted to this kind of amusement. Hence the old proverb often quoted in this district:

According to Pluquet, the Normans have a similar belief, and a saying singularly like the English one:

"Un Poule qui chante le coq, et une fille qui siffle, portent malheur dans la maison."

Before the death of a farmer his poultry frequently go to roost at noon-day, instead of at the usual time. When the cock struts up to the door and sounds his clarion on the threshold, the housewife is warned that she may soon expect a stranger. In what is technically termed "setting a hen," care is taken that the nest be composed of an odd number of eggs. If even, the chickens would not prosper. Each egg is always marked with a little black cross, ostensibly for the purpose of distinguishing them from the others, but also supposed to be instrumental in producing good chickens, and preventing any attack from the weasel or other farm-yard marauders. The last egg the hen lays is carefully preserved, its possession being supposed to operate as a charm upon the well-doing of the poultry. In some cases, though less commonly, the one laid on Good Friday is preserved, from the same reason. When a baby is first taken out to see its friends, it is customary for them to give it an egg: this, if preserved, is held to be a source of good fortune to the future man. (Vide Brand, ii. p. 48.) The first egg laid by a pullet is usually secured by the shepherd, in order to present to his sweetheart,—the luckiest gift, it is believed, he can give her.

Crows.—To see a crow flying alone is a token of bad luck. An odd one, perched in the path of the observer, is a sign of wrath.

Owls.—The ominous screech of this, the most ominous of all birds, is still heard with alarm; and he remains with us, as in Chaucer's days,

When, as sometimes happens, he exchanges the darkness of his ivy bush for the rays of the sun at noon-day, his presence is looked upon as indicative of bad luck to the beholder. Hence it not infrequently happens that a mortal is as much scared by one of these occasional flights as the small bird denizens of the tree on which he may happen to alight.

Cuckoos.—When the cry of the cuckoo is heard for the first time in the season, it is customary to turn the money in the pocket, and wish. If within the bounds of reason, it is sure to be fulfilled. In reference to the pecuniary idea respecting the cuckoo, the children sing,

Robins and Wrens.—The robin is considered a sacred bird: to kill one is little less than sacrilege, and its eggs are free from the destroying hand of the bird-nester. It is asserted that the respect shown to it by man is joined in by the animals of the wood. The weasel and wild cat, it is said, will neither molest it, nor eat it when killed. The high favour in which this bird is held is usually attributed to the ballad of The Babes in the Wood. Few, however, among the peasantry of this district have even heard of it; and, however much that beautiful tale may have tended to popularise the belief, it is evident that we must trace the origin to a more remote source. One cause for the veneration in which it is held may be the superstition which represents him as the medium through which mankind are warned of approaching death. Before the death of a person, a robin is believed, in many instances, to tap thrice at the window of the room in which he or she may be. The wren is also a bird which superstition protects from injury; but it is by no means treated with such reverence as the robin. The praises of both are sung in the old couplet:—

Pigeons.—No one, it is believed, can die on pigeons' feathers. In the northern parts of the county, the same thing is said of game feathers,—a superstition also current in Kent.—Ingolsby Legends, Third Series, p. 133.

Wasps.—The first wasp seen in the season should always be killed. By so doing you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies throughout the year.

Bees.—The superstitious ceremonies and observances attached to these animals appear to be current throughout the kingdom, and by no means suffer any diminution in this county. Among others of less common occurrence, we have the belief that they will not thrive in a quarrelsome fammily.

The wild, or, as we term him, the humble bee, is not without a share of the superstitions which pertain to his more civilised brethren. The entrance of one into a cottage is deemed a certain sign of death.