. The myths and fables of to-day; . is inclined to thieving,Fridays child is free in giving:Saturdays child works hard for his living. This saying is familiar to every one: — Whistling girls and crowing hensAlways come to no good ends. Or, as they say it in the Old Country: — A whistling woman and crowing neither fit for God nor men. An old woman, skilled in such matters,declares that when vagrant cats begin tocollect around the back-yards, its a suresign the winters broken. Whistling to keep ones courage up, or fora wind, are rather in the nature of an invoca-tion to some occult power
. The myths and fables of to-day; . is inclined to thieving,Fridays child is free in giving:Saturdays child works hard for his living. This saying is familiar to every one: — Whistling girls and crowing hensAlways come to no good ends. Or, as they say it in the Old Country: — A whistling woman and crowing neither fit for God nor men. An old woman, skilled in such matters,declares that when vagrant cats begin tocollect around the back-yards, its a suresign the winters broken. Whistling to keep ones courage up, or fora wind, are rather in the nature of an invoca-tion to some occult power than a sign. Sail-ors, it is well known, have a superstitious fearof whistling at sea, believing it will bring ona storm. 54 Myths and Fables Yawning is said to be catching. Well, ifit is not catching, it comes so near to beingso, that most persons accept it as a fact; andlaugh as we may, daily experience goes toconfirm it as such, and must continue to doso until some more satisfactory explanation isfound than we yet know V CHARMS TO GOOD LUCK The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike,No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm. /^~\F the things closely associated in the^-^ popular mind with good or bad luck,what in short one may or may not do to obtainthe favors or turn aside the frowns of fortune,the list is a long one. We say God blessme! when we sneeze, as an invocation togood luck. Then, for instance, it is consideredlucky to find a cast-off horseshoe, or a four-leaved clover, or to see the new moon overthe right shoulder, or to have a black cat inthe house, especially one that comes to youof its own accord. Then there also is the55 56 Myths and Fables lucky pocket-piece, which the owner will sel-dom part with, although I once heard a manloudly lamenting that he had sold his luckby doing so. There also is the lucky-boneof a haddock,^ the wishing-bone of a chicken,the lucky base-ball bat, and, what is still morestrange, the lucky spider, if one happens t
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