WISH NO. VI._Telling fortunes by cards

The whole pack of fifty-two cards is taken, shuffled and cut in two

packets. They are now laid out face uppermost, in three rows of four

cards each, in all twelve cards. If in the first twelve cards any

court cards appear, they are taken out, filling up the spaces with

fresh cards; should these again be court cards, they are abstracted as

before, filling in the spaces as described; if not, they are thus

counted: Eleven must be made up of any _two_ cards, such as an ace and

ten (ace counting as one), and covered, or two and nine, each card

being covered as counted, three and eight, four and seven, five and

six, etc. If a court card appears, it is a stop and counts as nothing.

If, as the cards are covered, eleven can be made out of any of the two

cards, and continued to the end, exhausting all the cards, it is taken

that the wish will be gained; in that case all the court cards ought

to be on the top, as those cast aside at first are used at the last,

to cover each two cards as they count eleven. If the court cards

cannot be got to come out at the end, the wish is supposed to be

delayed, and if eleven cannot be made from nearly the beginning, it is

said, the wish will not be realized at all. To explain the meaning

more clearly, the following diagram is given. We will suppose they are

as follows:--

+------------+ +------------+ +------------+ +------------+

+------------+ +------------+ +------------+ +------------+

+------------+ +------------+ +------------+ +------------+

+------------+ +------------+ +------------+ +------------+

There are now removed the three court cards, viz.:--the jack of clubs

in the first row, the jack of diamonds in the second, and the king of

diamonds in the third. These are replaced by the nine of clubs in the

first row, five of spades in the second, and six of hearts in the

third. The cards are now to be covered. In the first row, four and

seven of spades, making respectively eleven covered by ten of clubs

and ten of spades. Eleven is now made, where possible, from all three

rows. In the second row will be found the six and five of spades;

these are covered by two and one of clubs. In the third row, one of

clubs and ten of hearts, covered by seven of diamonds and three of

spades. In the same row, five of diamonds and six of hearts, covered

by the two of diamonds and king of hearts. In the first and second

rows, nine of clubs and two of spades, covered by the four and eight

of diamonds. In the second row, three and eight of diamonds, covered

by the jack of hearts and queen of clubs. In the first and second row,

the one and ten of spades, covered by the three of hearts and three of

spades. In the first and third rows, four of clubs and seven of

diamonds, covered by the ten of diamonds and nine of hearts. In the

third row, nine of hearts and two of diamonds, covered by the five of

clubs and ace of diamonds. In the first and third rows, ten of clubs

and ace of diamonds, covered by the seven of hearts and queen of

diamonds. In the first row, four of diamonds and seven of hearts,

covered by the eight and five of hearts. In the first and third rows,

eight of hearts and three of clubs, covered by the seven of clubs and

jack of spades. In the first and second rows, seven of clubs and four

of hearts, covered by the two of clubs and eight of spades. In the

first and second rows, the three of hearts and eight of spades,

covered by the king and nine of spades. In the first row, two of clubs

and nine of spades, covered by the ace of hearts and six of diamonds.

In the first row, again, the ace of hearts and ten of diamonds,

covered by the two of hearts and six of clubs. In the first and third

rows, five and six of clubs, covered by the nine of diamonds and queen

of hearts. In the first row, five of hearts and six of diamonds,

covered by the king and eight of clubs. Then in the first and second

rows, the eight of clubs and three of spades, as there is only one

card remaining, viz.:--the queen of spades, the three other cards to

be covered, those put aside at first are taken up, the last two to be

covered being the nine of diamonds and two of hearts, covered by the

jack of diamonds and jack of clubs. In this case the wish is supposed

to be realized; but in some cases it will be found that it has not

made up the number eleven in the two cards, and then it is taken that

the wish may be either delayed or not fulfilled.