No. 42 Flower Oracles
Plucking one by one the petals of the ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), children ask:
Rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief,
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.83
Girls then take a second flower, and, getting some one else to name it, proceed, in order to determine where they are to live:
Big house, little house, pigsty, barn.
And in like manner use a third to discover in what dress they are to be married:
Silk, satin, calico, rags.
Finally, they consult a fourth, to find out what the bridal equipage is to be:
Coach, wagon, wheelbarrow, chaise.
Another version gives for the second line of the first formula:
Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.
In Switzerland, girls in like manner say, as they pick off the flower-leaves of the common daisy (Bellis perennis):
Be single, marry, or go into the cloister?
And boys—
Rich, poor, moderate?
The marguerite (Doronicum bellidiastrum) is asked in the same country:
Heaven, hell, purgatory, paradise?
And in Styria is called “Love’s Measure,” because it determines the return of affection according to the well-known formula, “He loves me, he loves me not,” for which a French equivalent is:
Je t’aime, un peu, beaucoup,
Tendrement, pas du tout.
But in Switzerland again the questions for the marguerite exactly match ours:
Nobleman, beggar-man, farmer, soldier, student,
Emperor, king, gentleman.
The verse is similar in Italy. It is curious to see the precise correspondence of English and Continental forms.
Mediæval writers do not mention this use of flower-petals, but frequently allude to the custom of drawing spires of grass, to secure the longer (or shorter, as might be agreed). Thus lads might draw grasses, for the purpose of deciding to which of the two a maiden might belong as a partner. This was so usual a way of deciding a controversy that it was even recognized in law, where the parties to a suit drew straws from a thatch or sheaf. Children still resort to a like arbitrament, where one holds the straws in the hand, and the other draws, the shorter straw winning. To our surprise, we find that girls in Massachusetts still keep up the mediæval usage; they draw stalks of grass in the field, and match them, to decide who shall begin a game—be “it.”84
We have seen that the formula “Loves me, loves me not,” was used in the Middle Age with grasses. In Italy the oracle is consulted by means of the branch of a tree. A twig is taken having alternate leaves, and they are detached one by one, the consulter always turning the head as the words of the oracle are spoken. The formulas for this purpose closely resemble our own: thus, “This year, another year, soon, never,” which is exactly identical with the English “This year, next year, some time, never;” or, “He loves me, longs for me, desires me, wishes me well; wishes me ill, does not care;” or, as in the Swiss form given, “Paradise, Purgatory, Caldron” (that is, Inferno).