163. A lump (enlarged papilla) on the tongue is a sign one has told a lie. Mansfield, O.
PROJECTS.
Love divinations or love charms, I have found, are popularly known as "projects" in parts of New England and on Mt. Desert. On Prince Edward Island and in various parts of the Canadian provinces the practice of such divinations is usually spoken of as "trying tricks." If a number of young people are together, one will say, "Let's try tricks." In the Middle and Western United States the usual colloquial expression for these love divinations is "trying fortunes." One girl will say to another at some appropriate time, "Let's try our fortunes."
APPLES.
164. Eat an apple at midnight before the glass, saying,--
Whoever my true love may be, Come and eat this apple with me,
holding the lamp in the hand. The true love will appear. Winn, Me.
165. Throw a whole apple-paring on the floor, after swinging it three times around your head. It will form your true love's initial letter. General in the United States.
APPLE-SEEDS.
166. When eating an apple, snap it with the fingers and name it for a person of the opposite sex. Count the fully developed seeds (all of the others are kisses), and the last one must correspond to the following formula:--
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.
