Current Superstitions Part 8

One's my love, Two's my love, Three's my heart's desire.

Four I'll take and never forsake, Five I'll cast in the fire.

Six he loves, Seven she loves, Eight they both love, Nine he comes, Ten he tarries, Eleven he goes, Twelve he marries.

Thirteen honor, Fourteen riches, All the rest are little witches.

_Baldwinsville, N.Y._

Some change the latter lines of this formula into

Thirteen they quarrel, Fourteen they part, Fifteen they die with a broken heart.

167. Similar rhymes commonly repeated in northern Ohio, after naming an apple and counting the seeds, are,--

One I love, Two I love, Three I love, I say.

Four I love with all my heart, And five I cast away.

Six he loves, Seven she loves, Eight they both love.

Nine he comes, Ten he tarries, Eleven he courts, And twelve he marries.

_Prince Edward Island and Mansfield, O._

168. Lay in the hand four apple-seeds and have some one name them, then pick them up, saying,--

This one I love all others above, And this one I greatly admire, And this one I'll take and never forsake.

And this one I'll cast in the fire.

_St. John, N.B._

169. A love divination by way of apple-seeds, much practiced when a number of young people were spending the evening together, or perhaps by grown-up boys and girls in district schools as they ate their noon-day lunch about the stove, was as follows:--

Two seeds were named, one for a girl and one for a young man, and placed on a hot stove or in front of an open fire. The augury, concerning the future relations of the young people was derived from the behavior of the two seeds. If as they heated they jumped away from one another, the two persons would become estranged or their friendship die; if the seeds moved nearer together, marriage was implied; if the one named for the girl moved towards the other, it signified that the young woman was fonder of the young man than he was of her, and so on.

_Northern Ohio._

170. "A common project in my girlhood was to place an apple-seed on each of the four fingers of the right hand, that is, on the knuckles, first moistening them with spittle. A companion then 'named' them, and the fingers were worked so as to move slightly. The seed that stayed on the longest indicated the name of your future husband."

_Stratham, N.H._

171. Name apple-seeds and place on the lids of the closed eyes. Wink and the first to fall off shows the name of your future husband.

_Winn, Me., New York, and Pennsylvania._

172. To name apple-seeds, put one on each temple, get some one to name them, and the one that sticks the longest will be the true one.

173. Name apple pips, put them on the grate, saying,--

If you love me, live and fly; If you do not, lie and die.

BABIES.

174. Kiss the baby when nine days old, and the first gentleman you kiss afterward will be your future husband.

_New England._

BED.

175. Go upstairs backward, into a chamber backward, and into bed backward. Drink some salt and water, and if you dream of some one bringing you drink it will be your future husband.

_Maine and Salem, Ma.s.s._

176. The first time two girls sleep together let them tie two of their big toes together with woollen yarn, and the one with the shortest piece of broken string left attached in the morning will be married first.

_Northern Ohio._

177. If two girls on sleeping together for the first time tie their waists together with string or thread, and the thread gets broken in the night, the first man who puts his arm round the waist of either will have the first name of the man whom that girl will marry, whether that man is the one or not.

_Province of Quebec._

178. After getting ready for bed in silence, take a ball of string and wind about the wrist, repeating,--

I wind, I wind, This night to find, Who my true love's to be; The color of his eyes, The color of his hair, And the night he'll be married to me.

_Chestertown, Md._

179. Name the bed-posts for four different men. The one you dream about you will marry.

_General._

180. The first time you sleep in a room name the corners each with a different (man's) name. The first corner you face on waking indicates whom you will marry. (_New England._) The same thing is done with the bed-posts in Ohio.

181. Put four names of boys on four slips of paper and take one blank slip. Intermingle them, and then without looking at them put one under each leg of the bed and one under the pillow. The name of the last will be that of your future husband.

_Franklin, Ma.s.s._

182. Rub the four bed-posts with a lemon and carry the lemon in the pocket the next day, and the first man you speak to you will marry.

_New Hampshire._

BIBLE.

183. Read the third verse of the third chapter of Hosea, Joel, and Amos for three Sundays in succession, and the first gentleman you walk with you will marry.

_Nashua, N.H._

184. Put the end of a key in the Bible, on the verse of Solomon's Song reading, "I am my beloved's and he is mine;" close the book and bind it round with string or garter, each girl supporting the key with the first finger of the right hand. One of them repeats a verse to each letter as the other girl names it, beginning the alphabet, till it turns at the initial of the future husband or lover.

_General in the United States._

BIRDS.

185. When you see a turkey-buzzard flying alone, repeat,--

Hail! Hail! Lonely, lonesome turkey-buzzard: Hail to the East, hail to the West, Hail to the one that I love best.

Let me know by the flap of your wing Whether he (or she) loves me or not.

Note the manner of the bird's flight: if he flaps his wings your lover is true; if not, the lover is false.

_Tennessee._

186. When the call of the first turtle-dove is heard, sit down and remove the shoe and stocking from the left foot, turn the stocking inside out, in the heel of which if a hair is found, it will be of the color of the hair of the future husband or wife.

_Tennessee._

In Mt. Desert, Maine, and Prince Edward Island the same project is tried on hearing the first robin.