America has a very rich folklore about sleep • A baby who laughs in its sleep soon has colic. • A baby whose empty cradle is rocked will not sleep well. • A bucket or pan of cold water secretly set under the patient's bed will cure night sweat. • A child sleeping with an old person will not grow because the elder absorbs the vitality of the younger. • A child smiling in its sleep will wake up fretful. • A dirty sock worn around your neck when you go to bed will cure a sore throat • A feather found in your hair on awakening in the morning means you have overslept an hour. • A forgetful person should sleep on hops to stimulate his memory. • A fork under your pillow rids you of nightmare. • A girl can gain a charming complexion by sleeping in the moonlight. • A growing baby sleeping in the moonlight goes crazy later in life. • A horse halter hanging on the head of the bed drives away nightmare. • A man can get rid of leg cramps by wearing in bed at night a woman's stockings; a woman, a man's socks. • A person always rests better or sleeps sounder in the dark of the moon. • A person sleeping flat on the bed may expect bad dreams. Always use one pillow at least. • A person sleeps well with two needles crossed beneath the pillow. • A person unable to sleep should get up and put some garlic in his shoes. • A person when disturbed by nightmare should turn his pillow over and make the sign of the cross on it. • A potato kept under the bed is a good remedy for night sweat. • A sleeping person will talk when his little finger is held in a glass of water. • A wife sleeping with her head to the south will soon become pregnant. • A woman who starts to make a bed and stops before completing her task will soon receive company. • Always leave your bed from the same side you entered it, to avoid bad luck. • Always sleep on an unironed sheet for luck; sleeping on an ironed sheet will cause bad luck. • Always sleep with a saint's picture over your bed for luck. • An open Bible kept under your pillow prevents restlessness at night. • Anything you dream while sleeping on a piece of wedding-cake will come true • As a method for learning the secrets of a person who is asleep, put his hand in a glass of water. • As a nightmare remedy, go to bed wearing your left garter. • As a protection against your sleep-walking, a Bible should be kept beneath your pillow. • As a remedy for backache, sleep with a knife beneath your mattress. • As a remedy for night sweat, turn your shoes upside down under the bed. • Breakfast served in bed is unlucky. • Bride and bridegroom sleeping with their heads to the north on their wedding night will always be happy. • Brown paper beneath your pillow will make you sleep better. • By sleeping with a cabbage under the head of your bed on New Year's night you have money all year. • Children who sleep with elderly people do not live long. • Children who snore in their sleep will some day be rich. • Dip your fingers in a pan of cold water before going to bed and nightmare will not come to you during the night. • Do not sleep so that the moon can shine on your face; your face will become crooked. • Do not sleep where the moon can shine on you; it will cause nightmare. • Don't let the moonlight shine on your face while you are sleeping, it will cause you to go crazy. • For bed wetting, cook a mouse, preferably by boiling, and make a sandwich of it, and feed it to the child. • For luck you may sleep with a small braid of your hair beneath your pillow. • For two persons to sleep in the same room is bad luck. • Fried rat is said to be a cure for children who wet their beds • Hold a mirror before the face of a person who is talking in his sleep, he will tell you what you want to know. • If a bridesmaid sleeps on a piece of wedding cake three nights, she will be married within a year. • If a cat be allowed to sleep on the bed, it will cure a person of rheumatism by absorbing the rheumatism. • If a daughter is desired, a woman should sleep under a blue and white blanket. • If a husband sleeps at the left side of his wife, she will get a girl; if at the right side, a boy. • If a person snores, lay a lemon under his pillow. • If a son is desired, a woman should sleep under a red and white blanket. • If a woman makes her beds in the morning, she is an energetic house-keeper; if at noon or later, a lazy one. • If an aged person sleeps with a child, it will absorb the child's strength. • If an axe with the point up is secretly laid under the bed of a person who has nightmare, a cure will soon follow. • If an onion is cut in half and laid under the pillow, a person will not walk while asleep. • If anyone starts to make a bed, it is unlucky for the owner if another person finishes it. • If on waking in the morning you are on your right side, you will be lucky that day; if on the left, unlucky. • If one goes to bed crying, he will get up singing • If one should comb his or her head after the sun goes down, ghosts will interfere with his or her sleep. • If one sleeps with his head to the food of the bed, he will soon be carried out the house feet foremost. • If one will get on a feather bed during a thunderstorm, lightning will not strike him. • If you are restless during the night, rub the bottom of your left ear and you will soon be asleep. • If you arise from the right side of your bed, good luck will come to you that day; if from the left side, bad luck. • If you crawl over anyone when getting out of bed, there will be a quarrel in the family that day. • If you don't get to sleep before midnight, your sleep won't do you a bit of good. • If you get out of bed on the right foot, it indicates good luck all day; if on the left foot, bad luck. • If you get up on the wrong side of the bed, you will have a headache. • If you go to sleep during New Years Day, you will die during the year. • If you hang your clothes up at night, you will sleep well; if you throw them down, you will not sleep at all. • If you hurt your foot when getting out of bed in the morning and do not say anything bad, all day you will have good luck. • If you kiss a baby while it is asleep, it will grow up to steal. • If you lay a wet cloth on a sleeptalker's head, he will tell you his secrets. • If you leave your boots or shoes higher than your head, you will have a bad night's rest. • If you look at a sleeping baby and it likes you, the child will wake up. • If you look under your bed at night, you will never get married. • If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before you go to sleep. • If you sing in bed, you'll get a whipping. • If you sleep in school, you will be unfortunate. • If you sleep on your right side, good luck may be expected; if on the left, bad luck. • If you sleep with a knife under your pillow it will drive witches away. • If you sleep with your arms above your head, you will always have bad luck • If you sleep with your book under your head the night before an examination, you will pass successfully. • If you sleep with your books under your pillow, you will know your lesson the next day. • If you sleep with your head to the east, your dreams will be good; if to the west, bad. • If you sleep with your head to the foot of the bed, you will soon have a quarrel. • If you sleep with your shoes beneath the foot of the bed, you will not rest. • If you sleep with your shoes beneath the head of the bed, you will rest well. • If you sneeze after getting in bed, you will hear of a death in less than twelve hours. • If you start making a bed and stop before the task is completed, you will have a disappointment that day. • If you sweep under a person's bed while he is asleep in it, he will have bad luck. • If you talk in your sleep, it means you have enemies • If you whistle while you are in bed, the cat will bite you next morning. • If your first word on getting out of bed is bad, everything will go wrong that day. • If your first-born is a girl, and you want a boy, turn your bed around. • Insomnia is cured by keeping a four-leafed clover beneath your pillow. • It is bad luck to sleep after sunrise on Easter Sunday. • It is bad luck to sleep during a thunderstorm. • It is bad luck to change a sick person from one bed to another. • It is bad luck to lay (hang) your hat on the bed. • It is bad luck to sing after going to bed. • It is bad luck to sleep during a church service. Some member of your family will die. • It is bad luck to turn over in bed while dreaming. • It is lucky to sleep on a pillowcase having an embroidered greeting. • It is lucky to sleep with a newspaper beneath your bed. • It is unhealthy to have an east wind blow on you while sleeping • It is unlucky to sleep in a chair all night. • It is unlucky to stand on a bed. • Keep your shoes turned upside down at night and you will sleep well. • Make a person talk in his sleep by holding his hand in muddy water. • Make your beds early in the morning and you will be lucky all day. • Moonshine on the face of a sleeper will cause headache • Never climb over another occupant of the bed; bad luck will come to you. • Never lie where the moon can shine on your face while asleep; bad dreams will appear during the night. • Never sleep with the head of your bed to the west; you will not sleep well. • Never stop to do something else after you have begun to make a bed; you will be unlucky. • Night air is injurious to people • Night sweat can be stopped by putting a cup of cold sage tea under the bed. • Night sweat is prevented by keeping your shoes under the exact centre of the bed. • Nightmare is always worse on a rainy night. • Nightmare is driven away by an open pocketknife laid under the pillow. • Nightmare is prevented with a fork and knife crossed beneath your pillow. • On Friday the thirteenth, stay in bed • On New Year's morning get out of bed on your right foot and you will be lucky all year. • One of the two women who make a bed together will have a baby before the end of the year. • People who sleep badly should put a butcher-knife under the pillow. • Persons keeping the toes of their shoes pointed east during the night will not have nightmare. • Protect yourself against bad dreams by sleeping with a needle in the hem of your nightgown. • Rheumatism can be cured by sleeping with corks in your mattress; they absorb the disease. • Rid yourself of night sweat by keeping grape leaves under the sheet. • Salt anywhere under or in the bed is effective against sleeplessness. • Salt beneath the bed or under the sheet cures night sweat. • Scissors kept beneath the bed or mattress prevents a person from talking while asleep. • Shoes kept under the side of the bed with toes pointing out prevent night sweat. • Singing in bed means that you will soon weep in bed. • Sleep a Bible beneath your pillow and you will not have nightmare. • Sleep in the moonlight, and you will go blind. • Sleep with a cat and you will have bad luck. • Sleep with a feather under your pillow, and the weather will be fair the next day. • Sleep with a horseshoe under your pillow on New Year's Eve for luck all year. • Sleep with cedar bark or leaves in a bag under your pillow and you will not have night sweat. • Sleep with rice beneath your pillow for luck. • Sleep with the windows tightly closed at night to prevent the bad night air from bringing an illness. • Sleeping with a dog will cure rheumatism. The animal absorbs the rheumatism. • Sleep-walking can be prevented by secretly keeping a glass or pan of water under the victim's bed. • Someone throwing a pillow at you will give you bad luck. • Tea made from hot water and corn silk will cure bed wetting in children. • The first time you sleep beneath a new blanket or a new quilt your dream will come true. • The first time you sleep in a strange bed put a penny under the pillow for luck. • The girl who sleeps on a love letter from her beau will soon hear from him again. • The head of the bed must never be placed toward the rising sun, as cause the sleeper will rise with a bad headache. • The night of your wedding always sleep with head to the east and feet to the west for luck. • The person who crawls into bed over the footboard will be unlucky. • The person who keeps a Bible under his pillow will not talk in his sleep. • The person who keeps his shoes under the bed will have night sweat. • The person who on arising in the morning finds a feather in his hair will be surprised that day. • The person who sleeps in the moonlight will soon die. • The person who sleeps with his shoes beneath the bed will be restless all night. • The person who sleeps with legs spread apart will never snore. • The snores of a sleeper can be stopped at once by telling him to stop snoring. • The woman who keeps a man's pocketknife beneath her pillow will not be molested by nightmare. • Three persons sleeping together in the same bed will have bad luck. • Tie a big red onion to the bedpost and it keeps the ones in the bed from having colds • To awake in the morning with a feather in your hair denotes a letter in the mailbox. • To cry in your sleep is a sign of death. • To cure chills, put a bowl of water under the bed. • To cure cramp, turn your shoes upside down when you go to bed. • To cure night sweat, lay an axe or hatchet under your bed. • To dream of your future mate, sleep with a four-leafed clover beneath your pillow. • To get up after going to bed is bad luck. • To get up before dawn and see the moon over your left shoulder is unfortunate. • To have another person's shoes beneath your bed will give you a sleepless night. • To keep yourself from snoring, put a Bible under your head. • To lie or sleep crosswise on the bed brings misfortune. • To make a person talk while asleep or to understand what a sleeptalker is saying, hold his big toe. • To memorize a lesson while asleep, sleep with the book beneath your head. • To memorize a poem while asleep, say it twice after you have gone to bed. • To memorize anything while asleep, write it on a piece of paper and hold the paper in your hand all night. • To move a bed while someone is in it is unlucky. • To place your feet on a bed is unlucky. • To prevent and cure fever, cut onions and put them under the bed. • To prevent night sweat, keep your shoes under the bed so that the toes point toward the foot of the bed. • To prevent nightmares smell your finger after you have held it about ten minutes between your little and next toe • To prevent nightmares, lay a knife under your pillow and stuff the keyhole of the bedroom door with cotton. • To put an umbrella on the bed causes disputes. • To rest well at night let your diet be light or else you'll complain with stomach and pain. • To say one's prayers after getting into bed is unlucky. • To sleep on your back is a cause of dreams; also, this causes bad dreams say some. • To sleep with a razor and a bible under your head wards of nightmares. • To sleep with your head raised high will give you wrinkles. • To sleep with your left stocking about your neck prevents a sore throat. • To sweep under a bed in which there is a sick person is bad luck. • To talk while asleep is a sign you have done something wrong. • Two pieces of silver may be kept under your pillow for luck. • Unlucky will be the bride who sleeps in her husband's arms the first night she is married • Wake a person gently so that the soul will have time to come back from the dream-world. • Waking up before time to get up is bad luck. • Water in a bucket or pan beneath the bed cures insomnia. • When three people make up a bed together, the oldest will die first. • Whistle at the sleeper and he will stop snoring. • Whistling in bed brings bad luck. • Whoever gets out of bed on the left foot will be cross all day. • You can ask a sleeptalker questions and he will answer correctly, provided you do not mention his name. • You can rid yourself of nightmare by sleeping with a rusty file beneath the mattress. • You can sleep well at night by having a knife and fork crossed beneath your pillow. • You prolong your life by sleeping on your right side, because sleeping on your left side weakens the heart • You should keep your bed pushed flush against the wall for luck. • You will not sleep well, unless your bed rests east and west --- the direction in which the earth revolves. • You will sleep soundly, if you always carry seven grains of red popcorn in your hip pocket. • Your bedroom should never have a clock; to hear one ticking while you are in bed is a bad omen.