Northern mythology

DANISH TRADITIONS. 273
sons get possession of them, tliey may bewitcli the person
who had borne them^
16. If a person finds a broken needle on the ground,
before he has said his morning prayer,
blows or bad words^.
he will get either
17. If the eyes of a corpse stand open, it betokens that
one of the same family will die shortly after.
18. Clothes and linen that have belonged to one dead,
soon decay and fall in pieces, even as the corpse rots in
the grave.
19. A corpse must not be buried in the clothes of a
living person ; because as the clothes rot in the grave, so
will the person to whom the clothes had belonged consume
and waste.
20. When the tallow round a burning candle curls
itself like a shaving, it
forebodes the death of some one,
most commonly of the person towards whom it points^.
21. One must not weep over the dying, still less let
tears fall on them ;
for then they cannot rest in the grave'*.
22. If in the morning blue spots appear on the body,
they are the pinches of a spectre, and betoken the death
of a relative or dear friend.
23. It was the custom formerly, when a person died, to
cause the bells to toll immediately, while the departed
soul was passing to heaven^.
24. When dogs howl they forebode death.
^ In Swabia the superstition is universal, that cuttings of hair must be
burnt, or cast into running water ; for if a bird should get them and carry
them away, either the person's hair will fall off, or the witches may harm
him. Journal von und flir Deutschl. 1788, p. 441.
2 Holberg's Uden Hoved og Hale, Act 1 . Sc. 2.
3 In England too, on the same occasion, we say, " See ! there is a
winding-sheet in the candle." < See vol. i. p. 292.
5 Om- passing bell, still in use, though the belief in which it originated
has long ceased to prevail.
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