Chapter IV: Part 4

Text size

These represent the four aces, the disappointment card and the inquirer and his wish. The remaining cards are now taken and turned up three at a time. We will suppose the first three are the nine, seven and eight of clubs; the next three the ten and jack of hearts, and eight of diamonds; and the seventh card, the queen of clubs--these are passed by. Begin again, counting one. We will suppose the next three are the eight of spades, the seven of clubs and the nine of hearts. Three are then counted from those laid face downwards on the table, and that card is turned up--we will suppose that to be the king of diamonds; the cards turned up by threes are gathered together and shuffled, and turned up by sevens as before. Should the nine of hearts fall on the fourth card the second time, that is to be turned up--we will suppose that to be the ace of diamonds. Proceed again as before, and this time we will imagine the nine of hearts to fall on the seventh--this may be the ten of diamonds--so that it could be said to the persons consulting that it is said he will get his wish; but supposing the nine of hearts to fall on the fifth card, and that turns out to be the nine of spades, he will be disappointed; and should it happen that _in the first reading_ the nine of hearts should come on, we will say, the first card, which might prove the nine of spades, then it is no use continuing the three times, as it is supposed there is no chance whatever of the wish being realized.

WISH NO. VI.

The whole pack of fifty-two cards is taken, shuffled and cut in two packets. They are now laid out face uppermost, in three rows of four cards each, in all twelve cards. If in the first twelve cards any court cards appear, they are taken out, filling up the spaces with fresh cards; should these again be court cards, they are abstracted as before, filling in the spaces as described; if not, they are thus counted: Eleven must be made up of any _two_ cards, such as an ace and ten (ace counting as one), and covered, or two and nine, each card being covered as counted, three and eight, four and seven, five and six, etc. If a court card appears, it is a stop and counts as nothing. If, as the cards are covered, eleven can be made out of any of the two cards, and continued to the end, exhausting all the cards, it is taken that the wish will be gained; in that case all the court cards ought to be on the top, as those cast aside at first are used at the last, to cover each two cards as they count eleven. If the court cards cannot be got to come out at the end, the wish is supposed to be delayed, and if eleven cannot be made from nearly the beginning, it is said, the wish will not be realized at all. To explain the meaning more clearly, the following diagram is given. We will suppose they are as follows:--

There are now removed the three court cards, viz.:--the jack of clubs in the first row, the jack of diamonds in the second, and the king of diamonds in the third. These are replaced by the nine of clubs in the first row, five of spades in the second, and six of hearts in the third. The cards are now to be covered. In the first row, four and seven of spades, making respectively eleven covered by ten of clubs and ten of spades. Eleven is now made, where possible, from all three rows. In the second row will be found the six and five of spades; these are covered by two and one of clubs. In the third row, one of clubs and ten of hearts, covered by seven of diamonds and three of spades. In the same row, five of diamonds and six of hearts, covered by the two of diamonds and king of hearts. In the first and second rows, nine of clubs and two of spades, covered by the four and eight of diamonds. In the second row, three and eight of diamonds, covered by the jack of hearts and queen of clubs. In the first and second row, the one and ten of spades, covered by the three of hearts and three of spades. In the first and third rows, four of clubs and seven of diamonds, covered by the ten of diamonds and nine of hearts. In the third row, nine of hearts and two of diamonds, covered by the five of clubs and ace of diamonds. In the first and third rows, ten of clubs and ace of diamonds, covered by the seven of hearts and queen of diamonds. In the first row, four of diamonds and seven of hearts, covered by the eight and five of hearts. In the first and third rows, eight of hearts and three of clubs, covered by the seven of clubs and jack of spades. In the first and second rows, seven of clubs and four of hearts, covered by the two of clubs and eight of spades. In the first and second rows, the three of hearts and eight of spades, covered by the king and nine of spades. In the first row, two of clubs and nine of spades, covered by the ace of hearts and six of diamonds. In the first row, again, the ace of hearts and ten of diamonds, covered by the two of hearts and six of clubs. In the first and third rows, five and six of clubs, covered by the nine of diamonds and queen of hearts. In the first row, five of hearts and six of diamonds, covered by the king and eight of clubs. Then in the first and second rows, the eight of clubs and three of spades, as there is only one card remaining, viz.:--the queen of spades, the three other cards to be covered, those put aside at first are taken up, the last two to be covered being the nine of diamonds and two of hearts, covered by the jack of diamonds and jack of clubs. In this case the wish is supposed to be realized; but in some cases it will be found that it has not made up the number eleven in the two cards, and then it is taken that the wish may be either delayed or not fulfilled.

CURIOUS GAMES WITH CARDS

_By Which Fortunes Are Told in a Most Singular and Diverting Manner._

LOVERS' HEARTS.

Four young persons, but not more, may play at this game, or three by making a dummy hand. This game is played exactly the same in every game, making the queen, which is called Venus, above the ace; the ace in this game only stands for one, and hearts must be led off by the person next the dealer. He or she who gets most tricks this way (each taking up their own and no partnership) is supposed to have most lovers, and the king and queen of hearts in one hand is said to denote matrimony at hand; but woe to the unlucky one who gets no tricks at the deal, or does not hold a heart in his or her hand; to them are ascribed misfortune in love and long tarry before they marry.

LOVE'S LOTTERY.

Let each one present deposit any sum agreed on, or a certain number of counters; put a complete pack of cards well shuffled in a bag, let the parties stand in a circle and the bag being handed round, each draw three; pairs of any kind are supposed to be favorable omens of some good fortune about to occur to the party and get back from the pool the sum that each agreed to pay. The king of hearts is here made the god of love, and claims double, and professes to give a faithful swain to the fair one who has the good fortune to draw him; if Venus, the queen of hearts, is with him, it is the conquering prize, and clears the pool; fives and nines are reckoned crosses and misfortunes, and pay a forfeit of the sum agreed on to the pool, besides the usual stipend at each new game; three nines at one draw is supposed to portend the lady will be an old maid, three fives, a bad husband.

MATRIMONY.

Let three, five, or seven young women stand in a circle, and draw a card out of a bag. It is taken that she who gets the highest card will be the first married of the company, whether she be at the present time maid, wife, or widow, and she who has the lowest has the longest time to stay ere the sun shines on her wedding day; she who draws the ace of spades will never bear the name of wife; and she who has the nine of hearts in this trial will have one lover too many to her sorrow.

CUPID'S PASTIME.

Amusement may be caused by this game to all those playing, and at the same time it is supposed that some curious particulars may be learned concerning the future fates of the consultants.

Several may play at the game, it requiring no special number, only leaving out nine cards on the table not exposed to view; each person puts a trifling sum in the pool, and the dealer double. The ace of diamonds is made principal, and takes all the other aces, etc.; twos and threes in hand are said to show luck; fours, a continuance in the present state; fives, trouble; sixes, profit; sevens, worries; eights, disappointment; nines, surprises; tens, settlements; jacks, sweethearts; kings and queens, friends and acquaintances; ace of spades, death; ace of clubs, a letter; and the ace of diamonds with ten of hearts, marriage.

The ace of diamonds being played first, or should it be amongst the nine, the dealer calls for the queen of hearts, which takes next. If the ace be not out and the queen conquers, it is supposed that the person who played her will be married that year without a doubt, though it may perhaps seem unlikely at that time; but if she loses her queen, she must wait longer. The ace and queen being called, the rest go in rotation as at whist; kings taking queens, queens jacks, and so on, and the more tricks taken, the more money the winner gets off the board on the division; those who hold the nine of spades are to pay a penny to the board, and it is said they will have some trouble; but the fortunate fair one who holds the queen and jack of hearts in the same hand is supposed soon to be married, or if she is already within the pale of matrimony, a great rise in life by means of her husband; those who hold the ace of diamonds and queen of hearts clear the money off the board and end that game; it also professes to betoken great prosperity.

WEDDING BELLS.

You select the four kings from a pack, and lay them side by side in a row upon the table.

The lady who wishes to know her fortune gives to each of these cards the name of some gentleman of her acquaintance who might be likely to woo her in marriage. It is usual to pronounce these names aloud before the company. The name given to the king of hearts is, however, an exception. This secret the lady keeps to herself. To these four kings, you can also add a queen, which then denotes the old maid.

Now, take the rest of the pack, shuffle it thoroughly, let the person in question cut three times and commence. Under each of the above-named picture-cards you lay a card in turn, and as often as a spade is placed under a spade, a heart under a heart, _et cetera_, that is, as often as a card of the same suit is placed under one of these picture-cards, the picture-card is turned from its position.

The first time it takes a direction from left to right, the second time it lies upside down, the third time it is raised again to a position from right to left, and the fourth and last time it regains its former upright position.

That one of the four kings who, after these different changes, first resumes his upright position, is to be the happy husband. If it should happen to be the old maid, you can imagine what is in store for you.

MARRIAGE QUESTIONS.

After having learned from the cards who is to be the husband, the questions next asked are, usually: How much will he love his wife, why he marries her, and what is his profession. These questions are answered in the following manner:

Gather up the cards, shuffle them thoroughly, and let the person cut them three times. Then tell off the cards upon the table, as you recite the following sentence:

Heartily, painfully,
Beyond all measure.
By fits and starts.
Not a bit in the world.

You repeat this sentence until the king of hearts makes his appearance. If it happens that, as you lay this upon the table, you pronounce the word "heartily" he will love his future wife heartily, and so on.

Now as to why he marries her. Count off the cards upon the table, while you repeat the following sentence:

For love, for her beauty,
For his parents' command,
For the bright, golden dollars,
For counsel of friends.

The sentence by which you discover what is his profession is the following:

Gentleman, alderman, clergyman, doctor,
Merchant, broker, professor, major,
Mechanic, lawyer, shipmaster, tailor.

This method of telling fortunes is very entertaining in society, when you have not the book to find more particular answers.

* * * * *

THE SHREWESBURY POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS

GYPSY WITCH DREAM BOOK

BY THE QUEEN OF THE ROMANIES

160 Pages Paper Covers Price 30 cents.

(Edited by Carleton B. Case.) The completeness of this work is attested by its numerous exclusive interpretations of dreams based upon modern subjects, as the aëroplane, automobile, baseball, cabaret, chauffeur, football, golf, manicure, moving pictures, phonograph, tango, turkey-trot, telephone, typewriter, wireless, and many others, found in no other similar work. The best of the old and all the new interpretations are given. Whether you take your dreams seriously or find in their decipherment merely a pleasant pastime, you will appreciate the perfection of this newest and most complete Dream Dictionary.

SOME IRISH SMILES

BY CARLETON B. CASE

160 Pages Paper Covers Price 30 cents.

A volume of genuine Irish humor with several hearty laughs to every page; a book to be read and passed along to one's chums, that all may enjoy its fun. The wit of our friends from the Emerald Isle is proverbial, and none is so ready to see and appreciate the point of it as the American. Its humor is so spontaneous that it creates laughter in spite of one's self, and that is the kind of wit all of us prefer. This little 160 page book is for laughing purposes only, and will be carefully read from cover to cover by every purchaser.

SHREWESBURY PUBLISHING CO.

Publishers 526 W. 26 St. New York

End of Project Gutenberg's Telling Fortunes by Cards, by Mohammed Ali

Comments

Telling fortunes by cardsChapter IV: Part 4

0%11 min left in chapter