Magic Plantain.
To the one who really has captured the magic fern a pretty card or silk badge, bearing a pictured fern and some appropriate motto, is given, as a token that the entire company wish all possible good luck to the possessor.
The Plantain Test.
To test fortune in this way, fill a large pan or bowl with clean dry sand; provide as many plantain-plants as there are players, and to the roots of all but one tie, with a narrow ribbon, a bonbon which contains within its wrapper a verse indicating that the wrong plant has been chosen. To the one reserved from the rest attach a small piece of coal, or charcoal, wrapped in a bonbon paper which also encloses a verse describing the magic powers of the coal. Place all of the plants in the sand, making them look as though growing there. All this should be prepared before the party assembles, that no one may know to which plant the coal is fastened.
When the appointed time arrives, explain to the company that to the root of one of the plants in the bowl is fastened a coal which, according to old superstition, will secure to the finder perfect health for life. Then let each person in turn pull from the sand one of the plants. The one who finds the coal should be heartily congratulated, as she is supposed to have gained the good will of fortune and to be exempt from all the ills that flesh is heir to. The plantain is not difficult to secure, as it grows in almost every grass-plot, much to the annoyance of those who take pride in their lawns. Should the name be unfamiliar to some of our readers, the accompanying illustration will help them recognize the weed.
A pretty charm for the watch-chain can be made of the coal which is to bring the finder such good luck,[B] by having it cut to a proper size and shape, and a gold or silver band put around it. This will make it a souvenir, carrying out the old idea that the magic coal should be worn upon the person to bring the coveted good fortune.
Rhymes to be enclosed in the paper with the magic coal:
Where my roots are intertwined
Lo, the magic coal you find.
Buried deep beneath the sand,