Shortly before midnight a pure white bowl is procured, that has never been touched by any lips save those of a new-born infant. If it is a woman whose fortune is to be tried (and it generally is) the child must be a male. The bowl is filled with water from a spring-well, after which twenty-six pieces of white paper about an inch square, on each of which must be written one letter of the alphabet, are placed in the bowl with the letters turned downward. These must be dropped in as the clock strikes midnight, or all will fail. All being ready, the maiden interested repeats the lines:—
Kind fortune, tell me where is he
Who my future lord shall be;
From this bowl all that I claim
Is to know my lover’s name.
The bowl is then securely locked away, and must not be disturbed till sunrise the following morning, when she is placed before it blindfolded. She then picks out the same number of letters as there are in her own name. After these are all out the bandage is removed from her eyes, and the paper letters spread out before her. She manages them so as to spell a man’s name as best she can with the letters at her disposal. The name thus found will be that of her future husband.