Northern mythology

NETHERLANDISH TRADITIONS. 329
13. St. John's wort gathered before sunrise is good
against lightning.
14. To be lucky at play, a person should carry about
him a clover leaf of four lobes.
15. It is not good to comb the hair or cut the nails on
a Friday.
16. A spider seen in the morning forebodes good luck;
in the afternoon bad luck.
17. For an ague it is good to enclose a spider between
the two halves of a nutshell, and wear it about the neck ^
18. To cure the toothache, rub the teeth with a bone
from the churchyard : it is an infallible remedy.
19. If the bed of a dying person stands in a cross direction
with the rafters, he will have a long and painful
death.
20. Two forks across forebode strife or enmity.
21. To overthrow a saltcellar is not good : strife will
follow.
22. When an egg is eaten the shell should be broken.
23. To be secure against ague, eat on Easter-day two
eggs that were weighed on Good Friday.
24. To eat no flesh on Easter-day is good for the toothache.
25. If a person feels a tickling in the palm of the hand,
he will receive money.
26. The howling of a dog forebodes the death of a
person in the neighbourhood.
27. If on Christmas eve you take a piece of fir and
stick it in the fire, but let it not be quite burnt out, and
put what remains under the bed, thunder will never fall
on the house.
28. Three candles burning in one room forebode a marriage
^.
1 See Ashmole's Diary.
2 In such case the Danes say, " there is a bride in the room."