Chapter XIII: Fables and Proverbial Lore (10)

Most nations have a saying to the effect that the wearer knows best where the shoe pinches. The Chinese mean the same when they say Rats know Rats’ ways. “Let sleeping dogs lie” is a worldly-wise saying which the Chinese fully appreciate, only they apply it to tigers instead of dogs. “A chip of the old block” or “Like father like son” is expressed by Dragons give birth to Dragons and Phœnixes hatch Phœnixes. Nor has the Wise King’s saying “Spare the rod, and spoil the child” been ignored in China, the same idea exactly underlying a proverb in which the effects of due correction and spoiling are contrasted. “Two heads are better than one” is equally acknowledged in the saying, One man’s plan is short; two men’s plan is long.

Chinese proverbs regarding “Heaven” as the supreme arbiter of human affairs are more numerous than one would expect to find amongst a people so idol-ridden as the Chinese. It is noteworthy that in this connection “Heaven” is invariably used as we use it in popular sayings to imply “the one great Cause.” Thus, as we say, “Man proposes, God disposes” the Chinese say A thousand human schemes may be wrecked by one scheme of heaven. [185] Similar sayings are so numerous, that they suggest an as yet (apparently) unrecognized belief in a one all-powerful cause. Every student of Chinese is of course acquainted with the popular acceptation of the term. But it would almost seem (if the collection of proverbs before us is to be accepted as a guide) that the word more nearly expresses the Christian idea of the Creator than any other in the Chinese vocabulary.

“Murder will out” say we. The Chinese intimate that a Body buried in the snow is sure to be eventually discovered. Our estimate of the value of time, again, is reproduced in words that match with the proverb already quoted respecting prevarication: An inch of time is like an inch of gold. It is perhaps scarcely accurate to quote “Mens sana in corpore sano” as a proverb. But at all events the Chinese reproduce it in A calm mind makes a cool body. “The poor have no friends” is another very literal rendering of a Chinese proverb, and “Money makes the world wag” is very fairly rendered by In the presence of money all quarrels expire, or Money hides many offences; while as a concluding specimen I may quote the well-known “First come first served” expressed in Chinese by, The first who comes becomes prince, the second minister.

It cannot of course be pretended that the foregoing is by any means an exhaustive summary of the various proverbs which imply similar intentions on the part of their inventors, European or Asiatic. But it will suffice to show how striking are the agreements on certain well-defined subjects, and, it is hoped, to support the general principle laid down in these pages that Chinese thought is, at bottom, very similar to our own. It may well be that proverbs relating to temporal welfare only, spring up spontaneously and independently in each country. But what are we to make of the monotheistic spirit pervading the numerous sayings in which the “Heaven” of the Chinese answers to the “God” of Christian Europe or the “Jehovah” of the chosen race? Is this too the spontaneous invention of an isolated people, or is it the surviving trace of a long-forgotten worship, when the ancestors of the Chinaman and the Semite worshipped at the same shrine? This is not the place to discuss such a question, but it nevertheless suggests itself, and is worth a more careful investigation than has yet been accorded to it by the enthusiastic champions of Shang-ti and Shên. In the opinion of many, sufficient reason has not yet been adduced to justify a refusal to adopt the only phrase acknowledged by the Chinese to convey the idea expressed by our word “Creator” or “Almighty.”

In concluding these hasty sketches of the various departments of Chinese folk-lore, the writer cannot but express a hope that each division of the subject will before long receive fuller elucidation from competent pens. Conscious of the superficial character of much that is here written he can only regret that time and opportunity have not allowed him to deal more satisfactorily with the information at command. To those who look upon the folk-lore of a people as affording a key to many curious problems concerning its origin and progress, the foregoing chapters may afford useful hints. Many subjects might be dealt with more advantageously in special volumes than within the brief limits of a single chapter. The writer will however be satisfied if his efforts tend in any way to bridge the existing gulf between the two peoples, by illustrating, even to a limited degree, the Chinese assertion that “Men of the four seas are (after all) brothers.”

THE END.

NOTES

[1] Luther himself believed in the existence of a stone (the ætita), which superstition gave out was to be found in eagle’s nests, and which possessed the power of detecting thieves! It is not, we imagine, generally known that Luther was grossly superstitious—but he was. It is, we think, in the Colloquia Mensalia, edited by Lauterbach, that Luther is said to have expressed his belief in, among other traditions, the following—that three toads spitted on a stick extracted poison from wounds; that the swan sang sweetly before death; that the electors of Germany could touch for the scrofula, and that the 38th year of man’s life was one of peculiar danger to him.—Englishman.

[2] See Report N. C. B. R. A. S., 1873.

[3] Wade’s Wen ta pien, Ch. XVIII.

[4] Kelly’s Indo-European Traditions and Folk-lore, Preface, p. IX.

[5] 如意.

[6] Marriage of the Emperor of China: By L. M. F., p. 25.

[7] Children born between midnight and dawn are thought by the North country folk to be endowed with a sort of second sight, “so that they see spirits,” or, as a nurse puts it, “are bairns that see more than other folk.”—See Henderson’s Notes on Folk-lore, p. 3.

[8] If the Chinese lay great stress on the hour of birth, we no less attribute to the day a talismanic influence over the future of the newborn child; as witness the goodwives’ rhyme:—

Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for its living,
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is blythe and bonnie, and good and gay.

Or, as another version has it:—

Born on a Sunday a gentleman,
Born on a Monday fair of face,
Born on a Tuesday full of grace,
Born on a Wednesday sour and glum,
Born on a Thursday welcome home,
Born on a Friday free in giving,
Born on a Saturday work hard for your living.

[9] Doolittle’s Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., p. 117.

[10] The ring of the door is bound with a white linen cloth in Holland—See Brand’s Pop. Antiq., vol. 2, p. 72. This appears to have had a superstitious origin quite distinct from the practice into which it has degenerated in England of “muffling” the knocker, so that its use may not disturb the mother and child.

[11] The Romans admired the number 3, and numerous Western superstitions are based on its being regarded as a “lucky number.”—See Predictions Realized, by H. Welby, p. 15.

[12] Doolittle’s Social Life of the Chinese, p. 121. Mr. Doolittle refers the tying of the wrists to a different motive. “It is,” he says, “thought that such a tying will tend to keep the child from being troublesome in after life and from meddling with what does not belong to it, just as though he or she was bound. When boys or girls are naughty or troublesome they are often asked if their mammas did not bind their wrists? Implying that if their wrists had been properly bound when an infant they would have been restrained from misconduct in subsequent life.” I am disposed, however, to refer the origin of the custom to the belief I have stated in the text, though the Chinese of to-day may look upon it rather as symbolical than efficacious as regard demons.

[13] Brand’s Pop. Antiq., vol. II. p. 73.

[14] The modern Greeks entertain a similar belief referring to the first eight days of a child’s life.

[15] Social Life of the Chinese, vol. I. p. 127.

[16] The first verse of a fragment given in Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties says:—

“Oh rock not the cradle when the baby’s not in,
For this by old women is counted a sin,
It’s a crime so inhuman it may na’ be forgi’en,
And they that would do it ha’e lost sight of heaven.”

[17] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II. p. 120.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 6.

[20] Brand’s Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. pp. 288–89.

[21] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 134.

[22] See Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. IV. pp. 12, 13.

[23] Henderson’s Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 22.

[24] In some parts of England wheat was cast on the head of the newly-made bride. The same practice obtains in Sicily. This was also a Hebrew custom. In Russia, when the priest has tied the nuptial knot at the altar, his clerk or sexton throws upon the bride’s head a handful of hops, wishing she may prove as fruitful as the plant thus scattered.

[25] Ovid notes the month of May as unlucky for marriages, and the old Roman Calendars forbade them on Feb. 11, June 2, Nov. 2, Dec. 1, &c. For much curious information on this subject see Brand’s Popular Antiq., Vol. 2, p. 168.

“If you marry in Lent
You will live to repent,”

says an old English north-country rhyme, and numerous are our other sayings about fortunate days for the all-important ceremony.

[26] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 74.

[27] Ibid., Vol. I. p. 94.

[28] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 86.

[29] Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. p. 95.

[30] The Jews also used lamps and torches in their marriage ceremonies or rather when the bridegroom came to conduct home the bride by night. See Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, Art. “Lamp.”—Hymen, the god of marriage, was always figured as bearing a torch, and there are numerous references to the use of torches at marriages in the classical poets. Homer, Euripides and Virgil refer to it, and Lane in his Modern Egypt, I. 201, notices a similar custom in vogue amongst the Egyptians.

Apropos of lamps and lanterns, it is interesting to note that the “Feast of lanterns” is not peculiar to China. The Egyptians had a “Feast of Lamps,” as had also the Jews. Josephus states that the latter was founded by Judas Maccabæus in celebration of the restoration of the Temple worship. Other Oriental nations also observe a similar festival.

[31] Middle Kingdom, Vol. II. p. 59.

[32] Platt’s Customs of Nations, p. 278.

[33] Brand’s Pop. Antiq., Vol. II. p. 169.

[34] Thorpe’s Mythology, Vol. II. p. 108.

[35] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 88.

[36] “It’s all very well to say that ‘the two are made one’—the question is, which one.”—American paper.

[37] “If you change the name and not the letter,
You change for the worse and not for the better.”

Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 26.

As a specimen of the absurd stories connected with weddings which obtain credence amongst the Chinese, I copy the following from a Shanghai Evening Courier of a few months back:—In some district of Chekiang, name and time not stated, a bride, long betrothed, on attaining the age of 18 made the usual preparations for marriage. At length the bridal chair arrived to convey her to her future home. Her friends went before her to open the door of the chair, but on doing so they started, screamed and ran away, saying there was a large snake in the chair. The bride, possibly thinking they were only in jest, went herself and looked into the chair, and saw, not a snake, but a large sheathed knife. Nothing daunted, she took the knife, put it in the box containing the lighter portions of her trousseaux, and ordered the chair-coolies to proceed. The marriage ceremonies being in due time completed, the young couple retired, and the bridegroom then observed that his bride had a moody and terrified look. Questioning her as to the cause, she told him the incident of the chair, the snake and the knife. He asked to see the knife: she gave it to him. He drew it from its sheath, but he had no sooner done so than his head fell off! The bride raised an alarm; the family crowded in. She told what had happened; they refused to believe her, and declared that she herself was the murderess. The Magistrate was sent for; he came, and on hearing the bride’s story, asked to see the knife, and, as in the husband’s case, when he drew it from the sheath, his head at once fell on the floor. The newly-made widow was then told to see whether she could wield the knife with safety. She took it, and approaching a large tree made a cut at it. It was cut through by that single blow, while the woman remained unharmed. Here the legend ends abruptly, as inconsequential in its finish as it is grotesque in texture. Yet it is astonishing what excitement was caused in the teashops of the City and Settlement for some days by the telling and hearing of the story.

[38] A recent home paper contains the following:—In a village not far from Berlin, an old couple lived very quietly upon their little property. Both had carefully purchased their coffins some years ago, as is often the case among country folks. The coffins were placed in a stable, and were used as receptacles for different things, especially for storing up baked fruit, and other articles to be kept for winter use. Not long ago the man died suddenly. The son, who was a soldier quartered at Berlin, hastened at the summons to pay the last respects to his father’s remains. In the meantime, the mother had, with the help of another son who lived with her, put all the articles together in one of the coffins, and in the other had duly placed the mortal remains of her husband. By some mischance the first-named coffin was buried, and the mistake was only discovered after the funeral, which, to the great distress of the family, had to be repeated.

[39] Two or three amusing stories are told of Yorkshire people who kept their coffins ready for use. One of these relates to a man with a projecting Roman nose, who had a place cut away in the coffin-lid to fit it: and another case was that of an old lady who had two holes cut in the sides to let his Satanic Majesty have free egress should he happen to get inside.

[40] A cat was not permitted to come near a corpse in Scotland. Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 233. “All fire is extinguished where a corpse is kept, and it is reckoned so ominous for a dog or a cat to pass over it, that the poor animal is killed without mercy.”—Pennant’s Tour in Scotland.

[41] We know an old lady, as blithe a body as ever lived in this world, who, years ago, prepared becoming garments ready for her last journey. David Garrick’s widow religiously preserved her wedding-sheets, that they might serve her for a shroud. In 1763 a young married lady was, at her express desire, buried in all her wedding finely, consisting of a white negligée and petticoats, quilted into a mattress, pillow, and lining for her coffin; her wedding-shift was her winding-sheet, and she wore a fine point-lace tucker, handkerchief, ruffles, and apron, and a lappethead of the same costly materials. Diamond earrings were placed in her ears, gemmed rings on her fingers, and a valuable necklace round her neck; white silk stockings, and silver-spangled shoes with stone buckles completed her costume. A Norfolk gentleman preserved such a happy recollection of matrimonial life, that when, at the age of ninety-one, he lay on his death-bed, he gave instructions that he should be buried in his wedding-shirt, which he had carefully kept for the purpose; that garment being supplemented with his best suit of clothes, his best wig, his silver-buckled shoes, black wrist ribbons, and his favorite walking-cane. Margaret Coosins, who was buried in Cuxton Churchyard, Kent, in 1683, ordered her body to be attired in scarlet satin, put in a mahogany coffin having a loose lid, and placed upon trestles in a vault under a pyramidal monument, the glass doors of the vault being covered with green silk curtains. Another example of vanity strong in death was afforded us a few years ago, when a wealthy court milliner left strict injunctions behind her that her body should be enfolded in point-lace.—Chambers’ Journal.

[42] Moresin says a candle was an Egyptian hieroglyphic for life.—Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 236.

[43] Middle Kingdom, Vol. II. p. 262. This superstition appears to be perhaps the most wide-spread of any connected with death. When a death takes place, in many parts of Europe, all the doors and windows should be unfastened, as it is thought that the first pains of purgatory are inflicted by the soul squeezing through the closed doors. We have something like this in Swift’s “Journey from this World to the Next,” where the spirits, conversing on their way to the throne of “Micros,” relate to each other how they had to wait till an open door or window in the house in which the death had taken place, enabled them to get free from it. There is a curious superstition in Devonshire that the departure of life is delayed where any lock is closed in the dwelling or any bolt shot. See Popular Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 231.

[44] The following extract from the same journal merits reproduction:—“In many parts of the Highlands it is believed to this day that the last person buried has to perform the duty of sentinel over the churchyard, and that to him the guardianship of the spirits of those buried before is in some degree committed. This post he must occupy until a tenant of the tomb releases him. It is not esteemed an enviable position, but one to be escaped if possible; consequently, if two neighbors die on the same day, the surviving relations make great efforts to be first in closing the grave over their friend. I remember an old nurse, who was mourning the death of a sweet girl she had reared, exclaiming with joy, when she heard, on the day after her funeral, of the death of a parishioner; ‘I thank God my dear darling will have to watch the graves no longer!’ A ludicrous but striking illustration of this strange notion occurred some years ago in the parish of A——. An old man and an old woman, dwelling in the same township, but not on terms of friendship—for the lady, Kate Ruadh, was more noted for antipathies than attachments—were both at the point of death. The good man’s friends began to clip his nails, an office always performed just as a person is dying. He, knowing that his amiable neighbor was, like himself, on the verge of the grave, roused himself to a last effort and exclaimed ‘Stop, stop; you know not what use I may have for all my nails in compelling Kate Ruadh to keep Faire Chlaidth in place of doing it myself.’” In the statistical account of Scotland, xiv., 210, Parishes of Kilfinichen and Kilviceuen, County of Argyle, we read: “The inhabitants are by no means superstitious, yet they still retain some opinions handed down by their ancestors, perhaps from the time of the Druids. It is believed by them that the spirit of the last person buried watches round the churchyard till another one is buried, to whom he delivers his charge.” In the same work, xxi., 114, it is said: “In one division of the country, where it is believed that the ghost of the person last buried kept the gate of the churchyard till relieved by the next victim of death, a singular scene occurred when two burials were to take place on the same day. Both parties staggered forward as fast as possible, to consign their respective friend in the first place to the dust. If they met at the gate, the dead was thrown down until the living decided by blows whose ghost should be condemned to porter it.” It was the duty of the last person interred to stand sentry at the graveyard gate from sunset until the crowing of the cock every night until regularly relieved. This, sometimes, in thinly-inhabited parts of the country, happened to be a tedious and severe duty; and the duration of the “Faire Chlaidth” gave the deceased’s surviving friends much uneasiness.

[45] Ethnological Review, Vol. II. No. 3, p. 231.

[46] In Madagascar as amongst the natives of the Carribbees, New Guinea and Kergistan, it is believed that the dead can use the things destroyed as offerings to their manes, such as guns, &c., &c.

[47] For much here given I am indebted to the Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 188 et seq. Mr. Chris. T. Gardner, of H. B. M. Consulate, Canton, has also kindly furnished me with several useful notes and memoranda.

[48] See Eitel’s Fung-shuey.

[49] Pop. Antiq., Vol. II. p. 282.

[50] Why is Death commonly harbingered by apparitions in female shape, according to the superstitions of the East and the North, as well as of classical antiquity? The Greeks held that human life was controlled by the Fates. The Northmen had their Valkyriur, or female choosers of the slain. The companions of Anastasius in the prison at Constantinople saw “the frightful hag, the harbinger of the plague, hovering with her bat’s wings over their drear abode, and with her hooked talons numbering one by one her intended victims.” And now we are told that the thieves of our Indian cities have found out a way of utilizing this weird fancy. Some “old offenders,” in female disguise, go about the streets of Madras exactly at twelve at night and knock at the doors of houses inhabited by natives. “There is a strange belief among the uneducated natives that the she-devil Dengue (the name of the prevailing epidemic) raps at their door at that hour of the night, and that if any inmate opens he will be struck dead by her.” The unsuspecting natives—forgetting the hour—open, see the ominous figures, and “many of them drop down in a fainting fit.” The visitors make the best of the occasion.—Pall Mall Gazette.

[51] I find the following paragraph in an old newspaper, but cannot verify its statements:—The least mortality is during the mid-day hours, mainly from 10 to 3 o’clock. About one-third of the total deaths noted were children under five years of age, and they show the influence of the latter still more strikingly. At all the hours from 10 in the morning until midnight the deaths are at or below the mean; the hours from 10 to 11 A.M., 4 to 5 and 9 to 10 P.M., being minima, but the hour after midnight being the lowest maximum; at all the hours from 2 to 10 A.M. the deaths are above the mean, attaining their maximum at from 5 to 6 P.M., when it is 45½ per cent. above.

[52] Dion Cassius, who wrote in the third century of our era, gives the explanation of the nature of the Egyptian week, and of the method in which the arrangement was derived from their system of astronomy. It is a noteworthy point that neither the Greeks nor Romans in his time used the week, which was a period of strictly Oriental origin. The Romans only adopted the week in the time of Theodosius, toward the close of the fourth century, and the Greeks divided the months into periods of ten days [as the Chinese do also]; so that, for the origin of the arrangement connecting the days of the week with the planets, we must look to the source indicated by Dion Cassius. It is a curious illustration of the way in which traditions are handed down, not only from generation to generation, but from nation to nation, that the Latin and Western nations, receiving the week along with the doctrines of Christianity, should nevertheless have adopted the nomenclature in use among astrologers.—Contemporary Review.

[53] It must not however be supposed that in the “Good old Times” our ancestors were one whit better than the Chinese, and I quote the following in full from “Predictions Realized” as giving a good means of comparison between the belief of “Christian England” and “Heathen China” in the 17th century.

In an old MS., the writer, after stating that the most learned mathematicians have decided that the 1st of August, the 4th of September, and the 11th of March, are most injudicious to let blood; and that philosophers have settled that the 10th of August, 1st of December, and 6th of April are perilous to those who surfeit themselves in eating and drinking,—continues as follows assigning reasons why certain days should be marked as infelicitous:—

“I will repeat unto you certain days yet be observed by some old writers, chiefly the ancient astrologians who did allege that there were 28 dayes in the yeare which were revealed by the Angel Gabriel to the good Joseph, which ever have been remarked to be very fortunate dayes either to purge, let bloud, cure wounds, use marchandises, sow seed, plant trees, build houses, or taking journies, in long or short voyages, in fighting or giving of battaile, or skirmishing. They also doe alledge that children who were borne in any of these dayes could never be poore; and all children who were put to schooles or colledges in those dayes should become great schollars, and those who were put to any craft or trade in such dayes should become perfect Artificers and rich, and such as were put to trade in Marchandize should become most wealthy, the dayes be these: the 3d and 13th of January, ye 5th and 28th of Feb., ye 3d, 22d, and 30th of March, the 5th, 22d, and 29th of April, ye 4th and 28th of May, ye 3d and 8th of June, the 12th, 13th and 15th of July, ye 12th of August, ye 1st, 7th, 24th and 28th of September, the 4th and 15th of October, ye 13th and 19th of November, ye 23d and 26th of December. And thus much concerning ye dayes which are by ye most curious part of ye learned remarked to be good and evill.”

In the Book of Knowledge, we find the following “Evil Days:”—

“Astronomers say that six days of the year are perilous of death; and therefore they forbid men to let blood of them, or take any drink; that is to say, Jan. 3, July 1, October 2, the last of April, August 4, the last day going out of December. These six days with great diligence ought to be kept, but namely [? mainly] the latter three, for all the veins are then full. For then, whether man or beast be knit in them within seven days, or certainly within fourteen days, he shall die, And if they take any drinks within fifteen days, they shall die; and if they eat any goose in these three days, within forty days they shall die; and if any child be born in these three latter days, they shall die a wicked death. Astronomers and astrologers say that in the beginning of March, the seventh night, or the fourteenth day, let the blood of the right arm; and in the beginning of April, the 11th day, of the left arm; and in the end of May, 3d or 5th day, on whether arm thou wilt; and thus, of all the year, thou shalt orderly be kept from the fever, the falling gout, the sister gout, and loss of thy sight.”

A Book of Presidents (precedents), published in London in 1616, contains a Calendar, many of the days in which have the letter B affixed: “which signifieth such dayes as the Egyptians note to be dangerous to begin or take anything in hand, as to take a journey or any such like thing.” The days thus marked are:—

January 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 15, 17, 19.
February 7, 10, 17, 27, 28.
March 15, 16, 28.
April 7, 10, 16, 20, 21.
May 7, 15, 20.
June 4, 10, 22.
July 15, 20.
August 1, 19, 20, 29, 30.
September 3, 4, 6, 7, 21, 22.
October 4, 16, 24.
November 5, 6, 28, 29.
December 6, 7, 9, 15, 17, 22.

[54] We often hear the warning given by old dames to young people never to go courting on Friday; but, on the other hand, Good Friday is stated to be the best day in the whole year to begin weaning children.

[55] One of the cardinal principles of astrology was this: That every hour and every day is ruled by its proper planet. Now, in the ancient Egyptian astronomy there were seven planets; two, the sun and moon, circling round the earth, the rest circling round the sun. The period of circulation was apparently taken as the measure of each planet’s dignity, probably because it was judged that the distance corresponded to the period. We know that some harmonious relations between the distances and periods was supposed to exist. When Kepler discovered the actual law, he conceived that he had in reality found out the mystery of Egyptian astronomy, or, as he expressed it, that he had “stolen the golden vases of the Egyptians.” Whether they had ideas as to the nature of this relation or not, it is certain that they arranged the planets in order (beginning with the plants of longest period), as follows.

1—Saturn.
2—Jupiter.
3—Mars.
4—The Sun.
5—Venus.
6—Mercury.
7—The Moon.

The hours were devoted in continuous succession to these bodies; and as there were twenty-four hours in each Chaldean or Egyptian day, it follows that with whatever planet the day began, the cycle of seven planets (beginning with that one) was repeated three times, making twenty-one hours, and then the first three planets of the cycle completed the twenty-four hours, so that the fourth planet of the cycle (so begun) ruled the first hour of the next day. Suppose, for instance, the first hour of any day was ruled by the Sun—the cycle for the next day would therefore be the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, which, repeated three times, would give twenty-one hours; the twenty-second, twenty-third, and twenty-fourth hours would be ruled respectively by the Sun, Venus, and Mercury, and the first hour of the next day would be ruled by the Moon. Proceeding in the same way through this second day, we find that the first hour of the third day would be ruled by Mars. The first hour of the fourth day would be ruled by Mercury; the first hour of the fifth day by Jupiter; of the sixth by Venus, and of the seventh by Saturn. The seven days in order, being assigned to the planet ruling their first hour, would therefore be—

1. The Sun’s day (Sunday.)
2. The Moon’s day (Monday, Lundi.)
3. Mars’ day (Tuesday, Mardi.)
4. Mercury’s day (Wednesday, Mercredi.)
5. Jupiter’s day (Thursday, Jeudi.)
6. Venus’ day (Friday, Veneris dies, Vendredi.)
7. Saturn’s day (Saturday, Ital. il Sabbato.)

—Contemporary Review.

[56] In some parts of England certain days are chosen for cutting a baby’s nails; Friday is the most unlucky which can be selected.

[57] A recent article in a home Magazine on North Country folk-lore says:—Never allow a female to enter the house first on Christmas Day: it is an ill omen, and will cause loss and calamity to the family. Burn all the Christmas decorations in the shape of holly and ivy by the twelfth day, or your house will be haunted with evil spirits all the year.

[58] This falls with us on July 15.

[59] There is a rule generally believed in, in South Germany, that if no snow fall at Christmas there will be snow at Easter, and vice versa; the rule being “Weisse Weihnacht grüne Ostern, grüne Weihnacht weisse Ostern.”

[60] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II., p. 328.—The Æthiopians regarded the dog as a portentous animal.

[61] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II., p. 328.

[62] Popular Antiquities, Vol. III., p. 188.

[63] Pop. Antiq., Vol. III. p. 170.

[64] See Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III. p. 22; and Treaty Ports, &c., p. 169.

[65] Confucius himself was not above his countrymen in this respect, for in the Due Medium he remarks:—“The reason of perfect ones enables them to foreknow things; if a nation be about to flourish there will be happy omens, and unlucky ones if it totter to its fall. These will appear in the divining herb sz’, in the tortoise, and in the airs and motions of the four members. When either happiness or misery is about to come sages will foreknow both the good and the evil. So that the supremely sincere are equal with the gods.”—Middle Kingdom, II. 276. See Ante, page 6. This inferentially encourages a resort to “wise men” to learn future events, but can scarcely have been intended to pass approval on fortune-tellers.

[66] I quote this with some slight alterations from a home magazine article, as I could hardly improve on the description.

[67] Number three is greatly in favor for luck; school-boys insist that the third time will be fair, or will result in success. There is an old superstition or maxim, call it which we may, that three handfuls of sand on a dead body are as good as a funeral.—Chambers’ Journal.— Falstaff, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, is entrapped a third time in the belief that “there is luck in odd numbers.”

[68] The Japanese believe that some women are liable, while sound asleep and dreaming, to have their heads leave their body and roam about. It is dangerous to arouse them till the head returns!

[69] The following is a résumé of the article in question:—

During sleep the thoughts wander into various channels and are not within the control of the dreamer. There is an old Chinese book called “Shin-rai” which contains an account of an official named “Sen mu” who divined fortunes from dreams, therefore in ancient times dreams must have been deemed of importance.

Dreams are divided into five classes.

First,—are dreams of Gods and Idols, Ancients, Ancestors &c., and olden times.

Second.—Dreams of matters unthought of in waking hours; but these dreams are usually complete, and perfectly remembered upon awaking. This class of dreams is that from which fortunes are usually divined.

Third.—Dreams in accordance with daily thoughts and events past or present. These are not real dreams of fancy, but merely the thoughts of our waking hours continued in sleep.

Fourth.—Dreams of impossibilities. These originate from a wearied mind or body and are useless for divination.

Fifth.—This class contains miscellaneous dreams, such as receiving gifts, outwitting opponents, or being guilty of “sharp practices.”

There are various spells, charms and other means to avert the evil influences of unlucky dreams. One of these is to write certain Chinese characters on a piece of paper and paste it on the ceiling of a sleeping room; Shu ya jin, the god of night, (the Morpheus of Japan) is herein addressed.

The Tapir is said to “eat dreams.” If sketched on screens, or on the paper wrapper of the pillows, or used as a design in the patterns of the bed quilts, dreams will be warded off. Those who awake in a state of fright after horrible dreams are to call out, “Tapir come eat, Tapir come eat.”

The following are of good portent to dream of. Those mentioned in the text are not included.

A summer scene with green Wistaria.—In the first dream of the new year to see a hawk (or falcon) or to see egg plant (Nasubi.)—To dream of fine weather succeeding a storm.—Placing large stones in a garden.—Climbing cliffs.—To be buried in the earth, dead or alive.—Of planting trees.—Digging drains.—Of land slips.—Of being in a cave.—Trees growing from the mats of a room.—Crossing the sea.—Chewing unboiled rice.—Having one’s hair dressed.—Praying at a Shrine.—The hair growing white.—Seeing no bori (flags on bamboo poles.)—Sitting in an elevated room.—One’s own body giving forth radiance.—To have side-arms at hand (swords &c.)—Removing to a newly-built house.—Wearing a hat of hemp mino gasa or kasa.—Women wearing a sword.—Wearing a Kamori (head dress).—Cleaning out a well.—Of rice bags.—Of spitting out gold and silver.—Seeing a looking-glass.—Of sweeping away cobwebs.—A ship in full sail.—Riding in carriages.—Travelling on a wide road.—Crossing a bridge.—Drinking milk.—Of a funeral.—Of archery (targets, bows and arrows.)—Collecting wild flowers.—Rice raining from the skies.—Drinking water from a valley.—Of Torii (perches at Shintô shrines.)—Of rainy weather.—Receiving a present of a fan.—Being in prison.—Scattering seed.—Climbing hills.—Gathering dragon flies.—Being stung by a centipede.—Horsemanship.—Cats and rats.—Bathing.

The following are unlucky subjects to dream of:—

Frosty weather.—Black lowering clouds.—Mulberry trees broken.—Eating persimmons.—Giving a friend a sword.—The hair falling out.—Perspiring violently.—Catching cold, or coughing.—Eating wheat flour jelly (ame.)—Playing on tsusumi (small drum).—Meeting a crowd of people.—Using a walking stick.

Females who dream of swallowing the sun or moon bring forth children who become remarkable characters in history. The mother of Nichi ren sho nin dreamed she swallowed the sun, hence the boy’s name.—The mother of Hideyoshi, when enceinte, had a similar dream, from which the child was named Hideyoshi maro.

To dream of the Ni-ô-son or of folding up screens is a sign of old age.—Dreaming of running water is an emblem of family happiness, (peace between husband and wife.)—If the outer shutters are split, it is an indication that the servants are faithless and will desert the dreamer’s service.—To dream of getting wet from a sudden shower of rain, foretells an invitation to a feast.

[70] Amongst the Japanese, in order to produce dreams of an absent friend or lover, it is recommended to turn the sleeves of the bed-quilt to the foot of the bed.

[71] Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. p. 268.

[72] Journal of the N. C. B. Royal Asiatic Society, 1869–70, p. 78.

[73] China Mail, Sept. 19, 1872.

[74] Journal N. C. B. R. A. S. 1853–54, pp. 34 et seq.

[75] Lancashire Folk-lore, p. 256.

[76] Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 393.

[77] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II., p. 313.

[78] Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. III., p. 98.

[79] Mr. Alabaster, in his work on Siamese Buddhism, “The Wheel of the Law,” gives the number of diagrams as 108.

[80] Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, Art. “Thor’s Hammer.”

[81] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. 2, p. 311.

[82] Not long ago a native said to me, “Would you like A to hate B?” speaking of a bad man who had a very evil influence over a good honest man. Without thinking, I replied, “Yes; it would be the best thing that ever happened.” He only answered me by a gesture of the hand, which literally means, “Leave it to me.” The next day he secured a bit of the bad man’s hair, and sewed it into the coat of the good man. Strange enough, as chance fell out, that day an event happened which opened the eyes of the latter to his friend’s character, and they parted company. Of course nothing would persuade the native that it was not the effect of his charm.—The Inner Life of Syria, by Isabel Burton.

[83] In France, an old woman told me to take a small piece of hair exactly at the top of my head and twist round a little slip of wood tightly, to cure a relaxed uvula, or sore throat.—Correspondent, Notes and Queries.

[84] The Hakkas are a separate, and it is believed older, race than the Cantonese. They speak a different dialect.

[85] Popular Antiquities, Vol. III., p. 259.

[86] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II. p. 308.

[87] Louis Napoleon in his will emphasizes the solemn declaration: “With regard to my son, let him keep as a talisman the seal I used to wear attached to my watch.” This piece of fetishism would appear to have formed yet another link between the imperial exile that has passed from our midst, and those Latin races whose cause he affected to represent, whose superstition he certainly shared.—Chambers’ Journal.

[88] Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II. p. 314.

[89] correspondent of the Indian Pioneer says that, among the articles taken as fines from the Dufflas are certain gongs supposed to be very ancient, and which they appear to regard with the greatest reverence. For the edification of readers curious in such matters, we may observe that gongs, or bells, are also among the holy paraphernalia, or fetishes, of the Neilgherry Todas. A Duffla Chief would sooner part with half his kingdom than with his gong.

[90] Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Bib. Lit., Art. Bell.

[91] While these pages are passing through the press I come across the following paragraph in the Paris correspondence of a leading London Journal. The rumour it gives may be entirely untrue, but I quote it as a specimen of ordinary newspaper gossip in 1875 on the subject under notice:—“It is now known that the Napoleonic talisman is safe; and, so long as that talisman remains in the Bonapartist family, the tradition is that, however much the eagle’s wings may be clipped, the imperial bird will soar at last. On the afternoon of September 4, 1870, as the Empress Eugenie was flying from her apartments to the dentist’s cab which was to take her out of Paris, she pointed to several large boxes containing important papers, and to a small but extremely heavy metal casket, and said to M. Thelen, one of the few faithful servants that remained with her to the last—‘Save those papers, but above all save that casket, and preserve it as you would your own soul.’ In that mysterious casket, doubly and trebly locked, the Napoleonic talisman lay. M. Thelen had the boxes and casket thus confided to him transferred with all possible speed to the house of his sister in one of the quietest suburbs of Paris. But the September 4 Government soon got wind of the affair, and their emissaries were not long before making a descent at the house of M. Thelen’s sister. They found and carried off the papers, but the casket containing the talisman escaped them. It had been concealed in a hole in the wall behind a small map representing the seat of war. In due time the talisman was conveyed to Chiselhurst, where it now is; and so long as it remains in the keeping of the Imperial family, it will be safe to bet on the restoration of Napoleon IV. As the curious reader would, perhaps, like to know in what the talisman consists, I may inform him that it is a large sapphire which Napoleon I. cribbed from the crown of Charlemagne when he took the indecent liberty of having that monarch’s coffin opened up at Aix-la-Chapelle.”

[92] I speak in the text of writers in the English language. But Du Halde gives some interesting details in his well-known work. Colonel Yule, in his Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 290, draws attention to this fact in a note upon the Taosse (Taoists), whom he defines as “worshippers of the mystic cross Swasti. Apparently they had at their command the whole encyclopædia of modern spiritualism. Du Halde mentions amongst their sorceries the act of producing by their invocations the figures of the Laotseu and their divinities in the air, and of making a pencil to write answers to questions without anybody touching it.” This is evidently a Chinese version of Mr. Daniel Home’s alleged powers, and the coincidence is more than strange.

[93] 機筆靈靈日有精神我今取爾用事指明.

[94] 妙奪天機.

[95] (大王菩薩.)

[96] (雲遊大仙.)

[97] 成.

[98] 是也.

[99] 見笑.

[100] 蒙諸君厚禮我今要請別而去.

[101] 請去.

[102] (曉迷魂法者).

[103] (仙婆).

[104] (司命灶君).

[105] (大學).

[106] (七姊).

[107] (織女星).

[108] (昴星).

[109] (七姑星).

[110] 蠱毒.

[111] 咒.

[112] Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) says: “This mode of divination by accepting as an omen the first sacred words which in particular circumstances should be presented to the eye or ear was derived from the Pagans, and the Psalter or Bible was substituted for the poems of Homer or Virgil. From the fourth to the fourteenth century these sortes sanctorum, as they are styled, were repeatedly condemned by the decrees of councils, and repeatedly practised by Kings, Bishops and Saints.”

[113] 女.

[114] Pop. Antiquities, Vol. III., p. 350.

[115] Ibid., Vol. III., p. 357.

[116] 爾雅.

[117] N. & Q. C. & J., Vol. II., p. 69.

[118] Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, p. 107.

[119] Predictions Realised, p. 87.

[120] Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 166 et seq.

[121] Pop. Antiquities, Vol. III., p. 160 et seq.

[122] Alexander, if we may credit the account given by Quintus Curtius, was terrified by blood flowing from inside his soldiers’ bread during the siege of Tyre in 332 B.C. His seer, Aristanda, foresaw in this crimson efflux of the vital stream out of the commissariat a happy issue for the Macedonian; and the warriors thus never took Tyre. From the year 1004, the alarming spectacle of the bleeding host and bread, as well as the bewitched bloody milk, several times in each century, gave simple folk a scare. But the victims of superstition have the bump of casualty remarkably developed, and, in 1410, thirty-eight Jews were burnt to ashes because they had tortured the consecrated host until it bled.—Chambers’ Journal.

[123] The object of the ceremony is, according to the myth, to cleanse the Jewish race in general, and the participators of the rite in particular, from the guilt of Calvary. It does not appear that the Chinese Jews have any legend of similar import.

[124] A correspondent of Notes and Queries writes: “Wife-beating, to the effusion of blood, may be a novel method of securing luck in herring-fishery, but to draw blood is practised in some of the fishing villages on the north-east coast of Scotland, under the belief that success follows the act. The act must be performed on New Year’s day, and the fortune is his only who is the first to shed blood. If the morning of the New Year is such as to allow the boats of the village to put to sea, there is quite a struggle as to which boat will reach the ground first, so as to gain the coveted prize, the first to shed blood of the year. If the weather is unfavorable for fishing, those in possession of guns—and a great many of the fishermen’s houses possess one—are out, gun in hand, along the shore, before daybreak, in search of some bird or wild animal, no matter how small, that they may draw blood, and thus make sure of one year’s good fortune.”

Mr. Latouche in his Travels in Portugal (1875) narrates a story illustrative of the national belief in the wehr wolf (lobis-homem), in which a Portuguese “wise woman” is reported as saying that “if a lobis homem can murder and drink the blood of a newly born child, the enchantment ceases and she is a lobis-homem no longer.”

[126] Lady Fanshaw, visiting the head of an Irish sept in his moated baronial grange, was made aware that banshees are not peculiar to Scotland. Awakened at midnight by an awful, unearthly scream, she beheld by the light of the moon a female form at the window of her room, which was too far from the ground for any woman of mortal mold to reach. The creature owned a pretty, pale face, and red, dishevelled hair, and was clad in the garb of old—very old—Ireland. After exhibiting herself some time, the interesting spectre shrieked twice and vanished. When Lady Fanshaw told her host what she had seen he was not at all surprised. “A near relation,” said he, “died last night in this castle. We kept our expectation of the event from you lest it should throw a cloud over the cheerful reception which was your due. Now, before such an event happens in the family and castle, the female spectre you saw always becomes visible. She is believed to be the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors married, and whom he afterward caused to be drowned in the moat, to expiate the dishonor done to our race.”—All the Year Round.

[127] Chalmers.

[128] 雷峰塔 Lüi-fung Tă, “Thunder-Peak Pagoda,” or “The Story of Han-wăn and the White Serpent,” Translated from the Chinese by H. C., Interpreter in Her Majesty’s Civil Service in China.

[129] Chinese Readers’ Manual, p. 6.

[130] Chinese Readers’ Manual, p. 284.

[131] The Aymara Indians believe that witches make waxen images of those they wish to injure, and stick thorns in them. They dislike any one having in his possession a portion of their body, hair, &c., such ownership conferring on the possessor the power of injuring the original owner. An Indian will pay a large sum to get back hair or other substances, which have thus passed into other hands. See Eth. Review, Vol. II., No. 3, p. 236.—The Chinese superstition, based on a similar belief, is that amputated limbs, &c., should be buried or burned.

[132] The quotations which here follow are from Mr. Gardner’s article. I have however taken the liberty of occasionally altering the text.

[133] Che-wan-luk, Sec. xviii.

[134] “The Pʻoh of drought is doing mischief.”—The Pʻoh is the Shên of drought. In the South there is a man of two or three feet high, naked and having his eyes in the top of his head. He runs like wind. His name is Pʻoh. Where he appears there is drought. Another name is “the Mother of Drought.” It belongs to the class of elves.—Book of Poetry, Ta Ya.

When the shên of mountains and rivers caused floods or drought or pestilence they made a special sacrifice to drive them away. This was called Ying.—Tso-chuen.