Or man be to marry me,
I hope him this night to sec.'"FRIEDRICH and others assert that the saying in Luke xi. 12--"Or if he
shall ask an egg shall he give him a scorpion?"--is a direct reference to
ancient belief that the egg typified the good principle, and the scorpion evil,
and which is certainly supported by a cloud of witnesses in the form of
classic folk-lore. The egg, as a cosmogenic symbol, and indicating the origin
of all things, finds a place in the mythologies of many races. These are
indicated with much erudition by FRIEDRICH, "Symbolik der Natur," p.
686.
In Lower Alsatia it is believed that if a man will take an Easter egg into
the church and look about him, if there be any witches in the congregation
he may know them by their having in their hands pieces of pork instead of
prayer-books, and milk-pails on their heads for bonnets;(WOLF, "Deutsche
Mährchen und Sagen," p. 270). There is also an ancient belief that an egg
built into a new building will protect it against evil and witchcraft. Such
eggs were found in old houses in Altenhagen and Iserlohen, while in the
East there is a proverb, "the egg of the chamber" ("Hamasa" of ABU
TEMMAN, v. RÜCKERT, Stuttgart, 1846), which seems to point to the same
practice.
The Romans expressed a disaster by saying "Ovum ruptum est" ("The
egg is smashed"). Among other egg-proverbs I find the following:--
His eggs are all omelettes (French); i.e., broken up.
Eggs in the pan give pancakes but nevermore chicks (Low German).
Never a chicken comes from broken eggs (Low German).
Bad eggs, bad chickens. Hence in America "a bad egg" for a man who is
radically bad, and "a good egg" for the contrary.
Eggs not yet laid are uncertain chickens; i.e., "Do not count your chickens
before they are hatched."
Tread carefully among eggs (German).
The egg pretends to be cleverer than the hen.
He waits for the eggs and lets the hen go.
He who wants eggs must endure the clucking of the hen (Westphalian).
He thinks his eggs are of more account than other people's hens.
One rotten egg spoils all the pudding.
Rotten eggs and bad butter always stand by one another; or "go well
together."
Old eggs, old lovers, and an old horse are either rotten or for the worse.
"All eggs are of the same size" (Eggs are all alike), he said, and grabbed
the biggest.
As like as eggs (Old Roman).
As sure as eggs.
His eggs all have two yolks.