posed that they dreaded being counted individually, an idea which gave rise to the popular couplet shouted by all urchins:
"One, two, three,
What a lot of fishwives I do see."
They believed that a hare's foot brought bad luck. I, like other boys, have been pursued many a time for throwing a clod of earth or some other missile into their creels and shouting, "There is a bad's fit in your creel!" but I will leave it to my audience to decide whether it was solely from superstition that they resented the outrage.
A third popular idea was that they would not cross a line drawn across the road in front of their path, but would make a detour or climb the wall to avoid stepping over it. I never saw the experiment made, so I cannot vouch for its truth. I know I firmly believed it, but it had to be done right in front of an advancing column of fishwives, and all my experimental researches into their superstitions were conducted in a safer strategical position at the rear.
North Indian Notes and Queries, Vol. V. 7-9.
Popular Religion.
297. Sun Worship: rites on the first day of the new year. Red powder offered. The worshipper tastes of all the food offered.
299. Taboos during small-pox.
300. Sacred Pool at Amritsar. Legend of a holy man walled up in a chamber beneath the pool. [Dedicatory Sacrifice?]
301. Worship of the Sami tree. It has scarlet thorns. Worshipt by the old Rajputs before war, when they also shot at a dummy foe, and held athletic games.
304. Omens taken from floating lamps regarding the safety of friends absent upon a voyage.
306. Worship of the Asoka tree: it gives offspring.
307. Saharanpur: Sacred song of the Sweepers.
