Northern mythology

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108 SWEDISH TRADITIONS.
As many times as he repeats his note so
many years will
the person live, or pass in single blessedness. But the
maidens are wary and provident withal. That he may
not afflict them by declaring too many years of maidenhood,
they have established the rule that ten is the highest
number he may lawfully cry. If he cries oftener than
ten times, they say he sits on a bewitched bough (pa galen
qvist), and give no heed to his prediction.
Much depends on the quarter whence the note of the
cuckoo is first heard. If heard from the north, the year
will be one of sorrow ; if from the west or east, one of
prosperity ; if from the south, it will be a good butter
year;
or a year of death, according to another account
SWEDISH POPULAR BELIEF ^.
1. Be careful not to meet with Sweepings in the doorway,
if you wish to be married in the same year.
2. If a maiden and a youth eat of one and the same
beet-root, they will fall in love with each other.
3. If on midsummer night nine kinds of flowers are
laid under the head, a youth or maiden will di-eam of his
or her sweetheart.
4. A youth may not give a knife or pins to a girl, because
they sever love.
5. A girl must not look in a looking-glass after dark,
nor by candle-hght, lest she lose the good will of the
other sex.
6. A bride must endeavour to see her bridegroom before
he sees her; she will then have the mastery.
7. She must, for the same reason, during the marriage
ceremony, place her foot before his.
8. For the same reason, she must take care to sit down
first in the bridal chair.
1
Thiele, iii. 108 sq. edit. 1820. Grimm, D. M. pp. 640 sg.
2 Grimm, D. M. Anhang, p. cviii. edit. 1835.