To make the toy, cut a piece of pasteboard, a few inches in diameter, into a circle, and ornament the edges with some pieces of fancy paper. Then mark on the white surface of the pasteboard twenty equal divisions, by means of lines radiating from the centre, and within each division place a number ranging in order from one to twenty. The figure of the Prophet should be made so that he has a venerable and sedate appearance, should be clothed in a robe reaching to his feet, and he should hold in one hand a small rod for a wand, which is to be made pointing downwards. The figure may perhaps be purchased, but it is better that it should be made, as it may then be more readily adapted to the taste or fancy, and it can be easily cut out of wood, cork, cardboard, or some other material. It will add much to the general appearance if the Prophet be supplied with a loose white beard.
When the card and figure are finished, the card is to be mounted upon a small wooden stand, through the centre of which a steel wire is placed, and the figure of the Prophet is to be fixed on the wire in such a manner that it may revolve freely.
The next thing to be done is to draw up a table of prognostications, which must equal in number the spaces marked upon the cardboard disc. This may be done in many ways. Sometimes the company present may be requested each to supply a set, or to supply alternately one of a set; or it is better, perhaps, that he who is about to show off the oracle should previously have supplied himself with several sets, one of which, of course, must only be used at a time. The sets should be so arranged that each one is complete in itself, and the various prognostications in a set should bear some sort of relation one to the other.
When all is ready, the performer should desire some one of the company to have his or her fortune told. The prognostications to be used are then to be handed to some other person, and the figure of the Prophet is to be set spinning, and according to the number of the division at which the wand of the Prophet points when it comes to a standstill, so, according to the prognostication bearing the corresponding number, may the fortune of the inquirer be expected to be.
The following prognostications may either be used, or may serve as models upon which tables can be drawn up:—
1.—At the end of a changeful life, wealth.
2.—Early and prosperous marriage.
3.—Great success at school.
4.—A speedy and important journey.
5.—Will spend much time from home.