A CONJURER SHOWING A YOUNG MAN HIS FUTURE WIFE.
Harries, Cwrtycadno, had a magic glass, so it is said, into which a person looked when he wished to know or see the woman he was to marry. A young man named Phillips, once had gone from the parish of Llanllawddog, to Cwrtycadno, to show Dr. Harries some of his father’s urine, which he took with him in a small bottle, as the old man was very ill. Harries examined it, and told the young man that his father would never get well again. The young man now decided to return home as soon as he could through Abergorlech, and Brechfa, where he intended staying for the night, as the journey was a long one. Just before he departed, however, Harries asked him, “By the way young man, would you like me to tell your fortune? I’ll do it for 2s. 6d.”; and so it was agreed. The conjurer had a large looking glass, the Magician’s Glass, which was covered with a large board. He took off this covering, and told the young man to look into the glass. so as to see his future wife. He did look stedfastly as he was directed, and saw in the glass the form of a young woman passing by. Meanwhile, the wizard himself had entered alone into a little side room, where he was speaking loudly to a familiar Spirit, or something; but he soon returned to the young man and asked him, “Did you see anything in the glass?” “Yes, I saw a young woman.” “Did you know her?” “No. I had never seen her before: she was a perfect stranger to me.” “Well,” said the conjurer, “whether you have met her or not, that young woman you saw in the glass is to be your future wife.”
Sometime after this, the young man and his brother, both being carpenters, were one day working on the roof of a house which had been damaged by a storm, and it so happened that some woman and her daughter, who were passing by, came to speak to them. When the women had gone away out of hearing, the young man, who had been to Cwrtycadno, said to his brother in surprise: “That young girl was the very one I saw in the Wizard’s Magic Glass.” This was their first acquaintance, and by and by they were married. My informant was their own son who is a carpenter, and lives about a mile from Bronwydd Arms Station, in Carmarthenshire. His name is Benjamin Phillips.