"Fire, fire, burn bane,
God send me my tooth again!"
It is an ancient custom, when a family is sold up, to except the cradle, and leave it in the possession of its original owner.
The nails should not be cut for a year, or the child will become a thief. Bite them off, and all will be well.
When the child grows older, the nails should never be cut on Friday or Sunday. These are unlucky days, but, as the rhyme tells us, other days do very well:
"Cut them on Monday, cut them for health;
Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth;
Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news;
Cut them on Thursday, a pair of new shoes;
Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow;
Cut them on Saturday, a present to-morrow;
But he who on Sunday cuts his horn,
Better that he had ne’er been born!"
Still later in life, another verse says:
"Sunday shaven, Sunday shorn,
Better hadst thou ne’er been born!"
The hair should always be cut when the moon is waxing, and all clippings and combings should be burnt, or "the birds will take it for their nests." Probably the original idea, like that attached to the clippings of the nails, was that they should be destroyed, lest some enemy should use them to work an evil spell against the owner.
If the hair burn brightly when thrown into the fire, it means long life to the owner; if it smoulder, it is a sign of death.
If you swallow a hair, it will wrap itself round your heart and kill you. Howitt tells this seriously as having caused the death of Herbert Southey.