CHAPTER XLIII.

Caution of our Ancestors--Magpies--Flight of Birds--Swarming of Bees--Howling of Dogs--Lowing of Cattle--Crowing of Cocks--Stockings wrong side out--Sign of a Letter coming--Sneezing of a Cat--Various Signs and Omens--How to prevent Ill Luck--Reputed Witches--Print of a Caldron, what it denoted--Unlucky to pass over a Balance--When not to pare your Nails--Touching a Dead Body--Funeral Processions--Storks--How to Sit--Marriages--A Prophetic Rhyme--Wedding Ring--Throwing Slippers, Besoms, Salt, and Rice after Newly-married Persons--Charms for Bridegrooms and Brides--Mothers and Children--Rules to be observed at Baptisms--How to treat Young Children 387