Another charm consists in sticking pips upon the cheek, and naming several lovers, the truest being shown by that which remains longest.
Fingered leaves are supposed to have a magical character. If the terminating leaflets of the common ash are even (they being usually odd) they bring "luck or a lover."
The herb Paris, a common plant in thick woods, has very frequently its four leaves multiplied into five or six, and thus generally gets the name of true love. So the common Cinquefoil, called "Five-leaved grass," from having its leaves in five digitated divisions, are made six or seven by accessory leaflets, and the following rhyme is repeated in rural places:
"Five-leaved grass, with six leaves on,
Put it under your pillow, and you'll dream of your mon."
A powerful love-spell is produced by what is called the "Speechless hawthorn." In May or June a flowering branch of the hawthorn must be silently gathered in the evening, and the maiden gathering it must refrain from speech that night, as a single word spoken would break the spell. Hastening to bed as soon as possible, speechless she must place the hawthorn branch under her pillow, and then, in the visions of the night, the man whom fate has destined for her future husband will certainly present himself.
The common brake fern (Pteris aquilina), cut in two obliquely, shows the initial letters of a sweetheart's name.
Get a maiden egg, carefully break it, and fill half the shell with salt; then eat the salt as you go to bed, walking up stairs backwards, and backing into bed also; be sure and keep silence and you will dream of your lover: if he should offer a glass of water he will be a poor man; if a glass of wine, a gentleman.
On some Friday night go to bed, and put your shoes under your pillow, crossing the left shoe over the right, and say—
"On this blessed Friday night
I put my left shoe o'er my right,
In hopes this night that I may see
The man that shall my husband be,
In his apparel and in his array,
And in the clothes he wears every day;
What he does and what he wears,
And what he'll do all days and years;
Whether I sleep or whether I wake,
I hope to hear my true love speak."