Domestic folk-loreThiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger)
History
Domestic folk-lore
Thiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger)
Folklore; Superstition
"Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd even in thy birth."
And once more, in _Titus Andronicus_ (Act ii., sc. 1), Aaron speaks
of Tamora as
"----fetter'd in amorous chains--
And faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes,
Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus."
It was not very long ago that a curious case of this superstition was
brought before the guardians of the Shaftesbury Union, in which an
applicant for relief stated his inability to work because he had been
"overlooked" by his sister-in-law. Although his wife had resorted
for help to a wise-woman, yet she was unable to remove the spell
under which he lay, and thus the unfortunate man, incapable of labour,
applied for relief, which he did not obtain.
In the next place, some of the superstitions connected with the teeth
are quaint, and afford opportunities to the credulous for drawing
omens of various kinds. Thus, to dream about teeth is held to be a
warning that sorrow of some kind is at hand; and it is even unluckier
still to dream of one's teeth falling out. It is also frequently the
custom, for the sake of luck, to throw a tooth when extracted into
the fire, a practice which, as we have already seen, is frequently
most scrupulously kept up in the case of young children, to make
sure of the remainder of their teeth coming properly. Furthermore,
to have teeth wide apart is a sign of prosperity, and is said to
indicate one's future happiness in life. As an instance of this piece
of folk-lore we may quote the following, narrated by a correspondent
in _Notes and Queries_:--"A young lady the other day, in reply to an
observation of mine, 'What a lucky girl you are!' replied, 'So they
used to say I should be when at school.' 'Why?' 'Because my teeth
were set so far apart; it was a sure sign I should be lucky and
travel.'" Trivial as many of these superstitions may seem, yet they
are interesting, inasmuch as they show how minutely the imagination
has at different times surrounded the human body with countless items
of odd notions, some of which in all probability originated from
practical experience, while others have been the result of a thousand
circumstances, to ascertain the history of which would be a matter of
long and elaborate research.
Passing on to the hair, there is a popular notion that sudden fright
or violent distress will, to use Sir Walter Scott's words, "blanch at
once the hair." Thus, in Shakespeare's _1 Henry IV._ (Act ii., sc.
4), Falstaff, in his speech to Prince Henry, says:--
"Thy father's beard is turned white with the news."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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