“My dear aunt, I wish very much to be a witch. I would like to
enchant people and to know secret things. You can teach me all that.”
“Oh, my darling! if you come to be a witch, and the Gentiles know
it, you will have much trouble. All the children will cry aloud, and
make a noise and throw stones at you when they see you, and perhaps the
grown-up people will kill you. But it is nice to know secret things;
pleasant for a poor old humble woman whom all the world spits upon to
know how to do them evil and pay them for their cruelty. And I will
teach you something of witchcraft. Listen! When thou wilt tell a
fortune, put all thy heart into finding out what kind of a man or woman
thou hast to deal with. Look [keenly], fix thy glance sharply,
especially if it be a girl. When she is half-frightened, she will tell
you much without knowing it. When thou shalt have often done this thou
wilt be able to twist many a silly girl like twine around thy fingers.
Soon thy eyes will look like a snake's, and when thou art angry thou
wilt look like the old devil. Half the business, my dear, is to know
how to please and flatter and allure people. When a girl has anything
unusual in her face, you must tell her that it signifies extraordinary
luck. If she have red or yellow hair, tell her that is a true sign that
she will have much gold. When her eyebrows meet, that shows she will be
united to many rich gentlemen. Tell her always, when you see a mole on
her cheek or her forehead or anything, that is a sign she will become a
great lady. Never mind where it is, on her body,—tell her always that
a mole or fleck is a sign of greatness. Praise her up. And if
you see that she has small hands or feet, tell her about a gentleman
who is wild about pretty feet, and how a pretty hand brings more luck
than a pretty face. Praising and petting and alluring and crying-up are
half of fortune-telling. There is no girl and no man in all the Lord's
earth who is not proud and vain about something, and if you can find it
out you can get their money. If you can, pick up all the gossip about
people.”
“But, my aunt, that is all humbug. I wish much to learn real
witchcraft. Tell me if there are no real witches, and how they look.”
“A real witch, my child, has eyes like a bird, the corner turned up
like the point of a curved pointed knife. Many Jews and un-Christians
have such eyes. And witches' hairs are drawn out from the beginning
[roots] and straight, and then curled [at the ends]. When Gentile
witches have green eyes they are the most [to be] dreaded.
“I will tell you something magical. When you find a pen or an iron
nail, and then a piece of paper, you should write on it with the pen
all thou wishest, and eat it, and thou wilt get thy wish. But thou must
write all in thy own blood. If thou findest by the sea a great shell or
an old pitcher [cup, etc.], put it to your ear: you will hear a noise.
If you can, when the full moon shines sit quite naked in her light and
listen to it; every night the noise will become more distinct, and then
thou wilt hear the fairies talking plainly enough. When you make a hole
with a stone in a tomb go there night after night, and erelong thou
wilt hear what the dead are saying. Often they tell where money is
buried. You must take a stone and turn it around in the tomb till a
hole is there.
“I will tell you something more witchly. Observe [take care] of
everything that swims on water, on rivers or the sea. For so the
water-spirits who live in the water speak to the earth's witches. If a
man sees cloth on the water and gets it, that shows he will get a
sweetheart; the cleaner and nicer the cloth, the better the maid. If
you find a staff [stick or rod] on the water, that shows you will beat
your enemy. A shoe or cup floating on the water means that you will
soon be loved by your sweetheart. And yellow flowers [floating] on the
water foretell gold, and white, silver, and red, love.
“When you find a key, that is much luck. When you pick [lift it] up,
utter a male or female name, and the person will become your own. Very
lucky is a red string or ribbon. Keep it. It foretells happy love. Do
not let this run away from thy soul, my child.”
“No, aunt, never.”