Current superstitions : $b collected from the oral tradition of English speaking folk — John Shaqi
Current superstitions : $b collected from the oral tradition of English speaking folk
General
Current superstitions : $b collected from the oral tradition of English speaking folk
Folklore -- England; Folklore -- United States
83. "As a child, I constantly looked into lilies and tulips in the
expectation of finding fairies lying within them."
_Mansfield, O._
84. "I remember that as a child, while walking with a companion, she
cried: 'Why, a fairy lighted on my hand!' The child believed that this
had been the case."
_Cambridge, Mass._
85. The children used to fearfully look in the well, and on seeing the
reflected face in the bottom, would cry out, "Face in the well, pull me
down in the well," and would then run away quickly.
_Bruynswick, N.Y._
86. At the age of six or seven years, a child, while going to a spring to
draw water, saw a little creature with wings fly from one star to
another, leaving behind an arc of light. She cried to her aunt: "Oh,
aunt, I saw a little gold-boy!" Her aunt, somewhat shocked, rebuked the
child, who insisted on the literal truth of her vision.
_Mansfield, O._
87. Stick your thumb through a knothole and say:--
Old Gran'f'ther Graybeard, without tooths or tongue,
If you'll give me a little finger I'll give you a thumb.
Thumb'll go away and little finger'll come.
88. Go to the woodpile and say, "Johnnie with your fingers, and Willie
with your toes," and something (suthin) will come out of the woodpile and
tear off all your clothes (close).
_Gilsum, N.H._
PUNISHMENT.
89. An "eyewinker" placed in the palm of the hand will cause the ferule
to break when the teacher strikes the palm with it.
_Portsmouth, N.H._
90. Pine tar or pitch in the hand will prevent the blows of the ferule
from causing pain. (_Portsmouth, N.H._, sixty years ago.)
Believed by most schoolboys there at that time.
SPORT.
91. At croquet, if your ball was about to be sent flying, the safeguard
was to draw an imaginary X with your mallet, saying, "Criss cross." It
made your enemy's foot slip, and many a girl would get "mad" and not
play, if you did it often.
_Brookline, Mass._
92. Children believe it is unlucky to step on the cracks in the
flagstones, which are believed to contain poison. It is a game to walk a
long distance on such stones without setting foot on the interstices.
_Cambridge, Mass._
93. When children are tired of swinging, or think it is time for the
swinger to give way to another, the phrase is "let the old cat die."
After this has been said, it is unlucky to quicken the motion of the
swing again.
_General._
VARIOUS.
94. When a child loses a tooth, if the tongue is not put into the cavity
a gold tooth will come in place of it.
_New York and Northern Ohio._
95. The ideas of children about the significance of color are mixed. Thus
in croquet no child (in a town near Boston) would take the red ball,
because it was supposed to mean hate. Blue is the favorite color.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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