[CHAPTER XXIX.]
SAXON SUPERSTITION—CONTINUED: ANIMALS, PLANTS, DAYS.
The cat, dedicated to Frouma, Frezja, or Holda, in old German times, still plays a considerable part in Saxon superstition. Thus, to render fruitful a tree which refuses to bear, it will suffice to bury a cat among its roots.[57] Epileptic people may be cured by cutting off the ears of a cat and anointing them with the blood; and an eruption at the mouth is healed by passing the cat’s tail between the lips.
When the cat washes its face visitors may be expected, and as long as the cat is healthy and in good looks the cattle will likewise prosper.
A runaway cat, when recovered, must be swung three times round the hearth to attach it to the dwelling; and the same is done to a stolen cat by the thief who would retain it. In entering a new house, it is recommended to throw in a cat (sometimes also a dog) before any member of the family step over the threshold, else one of them will die.
The dog is of less importance than the cat, except for its power of giving warning of approaching death by unnatural howling.
Here are some other Saxon superstitions of mixed character:
1. Who can blow back the flame into a candle will become pastor.
2. New servants must be suffered to eat freely the first day they enter service, else their hunger will never be stilled.
3. Who visits a neighbor’s house must sit down, even were it but for a moment, or he will deprive the inhabitants of their sleep. (Why, then, do Saxon peasants never offer one a chair? or is a stranger too insignificant to have the power of destroying sleep?)