If the enquirer put his or her finger into the same
plate thrice or even twice, it was quite conclusive.[610]
[The sliced apple; the white of egg in water; the salt cake or salt
herring.]
These forms of divination in the house were practised by the company in
a body; but the following had to be performed by the person alone. You
took an apple and stood with it in your hand in front of a
looking-glass. Then you sliced the apple, stuck each slice on the point
of the knife, and held it over your left shoulder, while you looked into
the glass and combed your hair. The spectre of your future husband would
then appear in the mirror stretching forth his hand to take the slices
of the apple over your shoulder. Some say that the number of slices
should be nine, that you should eat the first eight yourself, and only
throw the ninth over your left shoulder for your husband; also that at
each slice you should say, "In the name of the Father and the Son."[611]
Again, take an egg, prick it with a pin, and let the white drop into a
wine-glass nearly full of water. Take some of this in your mouth and go
out for a walk. The first name you hear called out aloud will be that of
your future husband or wife. An old woman told a lady that she had tried
this mode of divination in her youth, that the name of Archibald "came
up as it were from the very ground," and that Archibald sure enough was
the name of her husband.
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