As you come near the end somebody or something will
hold the other end tight in the kiln. Then you call out, "Who holds?"
giving the thread at the same time a gentle pull. Some one or something
will thereupon pull the other end of the thread, and a voice will
mention the name of your future husband or wife.[601] Another way is
this. Go to the barn alone and secretly. Be sure to open both doors and
if possible take them off their hinges; for if the being who is about to
appear should catch you in the barn and clap the doors to on you, he or
she might do you a mischief. Having done this, take the sieve or
winnowing-basket, which in Lowland Scotch is called a _wecht_ or
_waicht_, and go through the action of winnowing corn. Repeat it thrice,
and at the third time the apparition of your future husband or wife will
pass through the barn, entering at the windy door and passing out at the
other.[602] Or this. Go to a southward running stream, where the lands
of three lairds meet, or to a ford where the dead and living have
crossed. Dip the left sleeve of your shirt in the water. Then go home,
take off the shirt, hang it up before a fire to dry, and go to bed,
taking care that the bed stands so that you can see your shirt hanging
before the fire. Keep awake, and at midnight you will see the form of
your future spouse come into the room and turn the other side of the
sleeve to the fire to dry it.[603] A Highland form of divination at
Hallowe'en is to take a shoe by the tip and throw it over the house,
then observe the direction in which the toe points as it lies on the
ground on the other side; for in that direction you are destined to go
before long.
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