I think it was Alfred Hitchcock. I had a book that was a collection of short stories. Three of them are standing out at the moment.
One involved a boy who found an old piece of scrimshaw that his grandfather (or something) had picked up in his travels. His grandfather told him it was a good luck talisman, of something of that sort, and that you could make a wish on it. The kid sneaks out of bed and downstairs, where his parents are having a bridge game with some friends. He listens to their conversations, where they gossip about other people in the town, using all kinds of cliches and various idioms - “if wishes were horses, Joe would ride”, “Her tongue wags at both ends”, etc etc. Kid falls asleep and makes a wish. Next day all the odd little things his parents had said came true - literally. Suddenly Joe had a herd of horses that kept appearing from nowhere. The town busybody’s tongue suddenly flapped at both ends, etc. etc.
Story 2: A guy has a boarder who keeps a birdcage in his room - but always keeps it covered. One day, curiosity gets the better of the guy, and he sneaks a peek into the cage, only to find that there’s a little miniature house inside. And, apparently, little miniature people. He ends up pissing off the little miniature people, and they move out, which in turn pisses off his boarder, who also moves out, leaving the cage (and house) behind. A new group of mini-people move in, but they’re complete slobs. The main thrust of the story was that the mini-boarders were good luck, but the slobby people brought slobby-good luck.
Third story that I remember involved a guy named Pie(?) who was, for some odd reason, floating at the top of the room. Can’t remember much more than that.
And I just remembered another one, that might help me find this after all - I’m pretty sure it was called “The Extra Berth” or the “something” Berth - it was about a ship with a haunted cabin, as told by some sailor (and for whatever really odd reason, through the mysterious mechanics of my brain, I remember that this story was the first time I’d ever seen the word “sinewy”.
Maybe that will help me find it, but in case it doesn’t… Anyone know?