Not another word must be spoken, and, if the rite has been duly performed, the desired knowledge will be communicated in a dream. There are different versions of the words to be repeated. One of them avoids a direct invocation of the Saint, and begins thus:—
“Le jour Saint Thomas,
Le plus court, le plus bas,
Je prie Dieu incessamment
De me faire voir en dormant
Celui qui doit être mon amant, etc.”[208]
Another charm consists in placing two fronds of agrimony, each bearing nine leaflets, crosswise under the pillow, and securing them by means of two new pins, also crossed. The future husband is sure to appear in a dream.[209]
The name of the future husband may be discovered by writing the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper, cutting them apart, and, when getting into bed, just after extinguishing the light, throwing them into a basin or bucket of water. Next morning the bits of paper which float with the written side uppermost indicate the name. This charm is efficacious on Midsummer Eve.[210]
The trade of the husband that is to be may be guessed at by throwing the white of a raw egg into a glass of water, and exposing it to the rays of the noonday sun at Christmas or Midsummer. The egg in coagulating assumes curious and fantastic forms, and these are interpreted to denote the trade or profession of him whom the girl who tries the charm is destined to marry. A sort of divination to the same effect is also practised by pouring molten lead into water.
A spell which requires to be performed in society is as follows. On any of the solemn nights about Christmastide, when spells are supposed to be efficaciously used, a number of girls meet together and make a chaplet in perfect silence, by stringing grains of allspice and berries of holly alternately, placing, at intervals of twelve, an acorn, of which there must be as many as there are persons in the company.