Observe which way the hedgehog builds her nest. To front the north, the south, the east of west. For if ‘tis true that common people say. The wind will blow the quite contrary way.
~Poor Robin’s Almanack (1733)
Hedgehogs have long been associated with Autumn months and when they are fully plumpened, they burrow under piles of leaves to hibernate during the coming cold. In Scottish folklore, they were associated with protection. Since Medieval times, hedgehogs were wrongly thought to steal milk from cows. It has since been proven that hedgehogs are lactose-intolerant. In England, when hedgehogs weren’t being accused of shape-shifting into witches, they were sometimes considered lucky.
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