TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL. IV

1818 APPENDIX.
962. On the Alsolufion niglds (before Advent, before Christmas, befoi-e
Twelfthday, and Satnrday in Candlemas) tlie Gastein girls, as soon as it is
diirk, go to the sheef)-fold, and clidcli, hlindhj among the Jiock ; if at the
first clutch they have caught a raui, they are confident they'll be mari'ied
that year.'
953." Some, in t)ie middle of the night before Christmas, take a vessel
full of water, and ladle it out with a certain small measure into another
vessel. This they do several times over, and if then they find more
water than the first time, they reckon upon an increase of their goods
the following year. If tlie quantity remain tlie same, they believe their
fortune will stand still, and if there be less water, that it will diminish (see
258).
954 Some tie the end of a hall of thread to an inherited key, and unroll
the ball till it hangs loose, maybe an ell, maybe six; then they put it out
of window, and swing it back and forwards along the wall, saying ^harh,
harh ! ' From the quarter where they shall go a wooing and to live, they
will hear a voice (see 110).
955. Some, the day before Christmas, cut wood off nine sorts of trees,
make a fire of it in their room at midnight, strip themselves naked, and
throw their shifts outside the door. Sitting down by the fire, they say :
'
Here I sit naked and cold as the drift. If my sweetheart would come and
just throw me my shift! ' A figure will tlien come and throw the shift in,
and they can tell by the face who their lover will be.
966. Others take four onions, put one in each corner of the room, and
name them after bachelors ; they let them lie from Christmas to Twelfthday,
and the man whose onion then buds will present himself as a suitor;
if none have budded the wedding won't come oflT.
957. Some, the day before Christmas, buy the fag-end of a ivheat loaf
for a penny, cut a piece of crust off, tie it under their right arm, wear
it like that all day, and in going to bed lay it under their head, saying:
'
I've got into bed. And have plenty of bread ; Let my lover but come,
And he shall have some.' If the bread looks gnawed in the morning, the
match will come off that year ; if it's whole, there's no hope.
958. At midnight before Christmas-day, the men or maids go to the
stack of firewood, pull one log out, and look if it be straight or crooked ;
their sweetheart's figure shall be according (see 109).
959. Some, on Christmas eve, buy th-ee farthings worth of white bread,
divide it in three farts, and consume it along three streets, one in every
street;
in the third street they shall see their sweetheart.
960. The night before Christmas, you take two empty nutshells, with
tiny wax tapers in them, to stand for you and your sweetheart, and set
them afloat on a dishful of water. If they come together, your suit will
prosper ; if they go apart it will come to nought. (Ungewiss. Apotheker
p. 649.)
961. If a master is left in the lurch by his man, or a girl in the family
' Muchar's Gastein p. 14G.
2 953— y from Praetorii Saturnalia, Lips. 1603.