When the right ear itches or burns, the person so affected will shortly cry; when it is the left, he will laugh. One version runs in this wise:—
“Left or right
Good at night.”
Late blossoming of vines or fruit trees will be followed by much sickness. This probably rests upon the theory that a mild autumn will be a sickly autumn, which is the same thing as saying that unseasonable weather is pretty sure to be unwholesome weather. The same prediction is expressed by the old saying that “A green Christmas makes a fat church-yard.” Both predictions agree with the observations of medical science.
A spoon in the saucer and another in the cup denote that the person using them will be a spendthrift, and probably come to want; but two spoons to one dish of ice-cream denote foresight and true thrift.
“Sing before you eat,
Cry before you sleep.”
Or, if you sing before breakfast, you will cry before supper.
Pull out one gray hair, and ten will grow in its place.
Should you happen to let drop your scissors, or other sharp instrument, and they should stick upright in the floor, it is a sign that you will soon see a stranger.[5]
Dropping the dishcloth has the same significance.
Two cowlicks, growing on the same person’s head, denote that he will eat his bread in two kingdoms—that is, be a traveller in foreign parts.