Babies born with teeth are said by the Magyar peasants to be the children of witches; see Varga János, A babonák Könyve, Arad, 1877, p. 70.
Babies born with teeth are regarded as different to other children, in some parts of England, but the superstition is vague. A friend had a servant who was born with a grey lock, and the writer has often seen the girl; it was regarded as somewhat uncanny. Francisque Michel mentions in his Histoire des Races Maudites, that in the Valley of Argelès old women, when quarrelling with a cagot, shew their tongue "ou derrier l'oreille"; this is to remind the poor man of the wisp of hair on his ear, which is considered uncanny.
Page [120]. The incident of the lad disguising himself so as to be exactly like his comrades occurs also at p. [241], in "[The Secret-Keeping Little Boy]." To be able to select the right person from several is looked upon as a test of the magic power of the person tried as in this case.
Cf. Naaké. "Golden Hair," p. 107.
Vernaleken. "How Hans finds his Wife," p. 284.
Folk-Lore Record, 1883. Ananci Stories, p. 284; and the Polish story, "Prince Unexpected," ib. 1884, p. 13.
S. ja T. i. "Kulta-orit," p. 187.
Cf. Folk-Lore Record, 1880, "Mons Tro," p. 220.
Page [121]. In the Lapp story, "Patto-Poadnje." Friis, p. 78, the Stallo's wife suspects there is something wrong with the soup, which is in reality made of her late husband, but the man fools her by saying he cut his finger while making it.
In the Finnish story, "Tynnyrissä kaswanut Poika," ("The Boy who grows in a Barrel"), S. ja T. i., p. 105, there are nine cakes made of a woman's milk. Cf. "How the widow saved her son's life," Sagas from the Far East, p. 207.