Note 23.1 — Chapter XV · THE COUVADE AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE STRENGTH OF THE BLOOD-TIE—CONCLUSION OF THE INQUIRY INTO THE THEORY OF THE LIFE-TOKEN.

Leonard Vair is quoted viii. Rev. Trad. Pop., 122; and Wolf, Nied. Sag., 259 (Story No. 162). Southey, iv. Commonplace Bk., 244, quotes the same story from another writer, doubtless copied from Vair. To dream of a dead fish is in Germany and Austria a presage of death. Compare also with the superstitions mentioned in the above paragraph the parallel superstition, of which effective use is often made in modern literature, and which represents a household clock stopping when the head of the family dies. At Pforzheim it was believed that when the palace clock was out of order one of the reigning family died. Grimm, Teut. Myth., 1756, 1806, 1801.