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508 The Book of Indoor and Outdoor Games |
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The one who has succeeded in peeling all his or her share of the apples when "time" is again called is crowned with the parings and given a prize. A tin apple-corer, holding a bunch of flowers, might answer for one.
Next follows the ceremony of discovering, by means of the "magic paring," the name of the future husband or wife. Each one takes the longest and best apple-skin resulting from his or her apple-paring, and, whirling it three times around the head, repeats: "I pare this apple round and round, My true-love's name to see upon the ground— I fling the unbroken paring round my head, Upon the floor, a perfect A is read."
To see which of two persons love one the better, two apple-seeds are secretly named and then stuck upon the cheek. The one that falls off is faithless, but the one that adheres the longer is the one to be trusted.
In the tub of water from which the apples have been withdrawn little balls of corn-meal dough may be dropped, each one containing the name of one of the persons present—written in pencil on a bit of paper. They soon begin to rise, and the first pair are eagerly seized, opened, and the names read, then the next, and so on. If the names of a pair are those of a boy and girl, their fates will be in some way united. If two girls' names come up together they will be fast friends and perhaps never marry. Two boys may expect the same fate if their balls come up together.
A "potato race" (described elsewhere) may be next on the programme, followed by a "Spelling-Bee."
A "teacher" and two leaders are chosen. The latter then in turn choose members of the company to be upon their respective sides until all have taken their places in |
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