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434 The Book of Indoor and Outdoor Games |
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attempt one must relinquish all hope. The explanation of the difficulty is, that the funnel must not be held directly opposite the light, as the breath follows the sides of the funnel. To blow out the light the funnel must be held either above or below the candle.
It may here be also explained that where one finds contradictions after consulting the fates in several of the ways herein given, the only way of accommodating the predictions and being perfectly sure is where the promised fortune is confirmed by three fates agreeing to the same thing.
Counting the seeds of an apple in order to learn the true sentiments of the beloved is one of the old Hallowe'en customs.
The apple is secretly named, and the seeds counted in the following manner—familiar to many generations of children:
One, I love; two, I love;
Three, I love, I say;
Four, I love with all my heart;
Five, I cast away;
Six, he loves; seven, she loves;
Eight, they both agree;
Nine, he comes; ten, he tarries;
Eleven, he courts; twelve, he marries.
A further test of fortune is to toss an apple through a horseshoe suspended in a doorway. To the successful one happiness is pledged.
Walking downstairs backward, holding a lighted candle and a mirror before one's face, is said to insure the appearance of one's lover's face in the mirror when the foot of the staircase is reached. |
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