way, and hung in the young
woman's bedroom. If in the morning the leaves appeared fresh, it was a
sign that she should be married within the year; if, however, the leaves
were found hanging down or dead, this indicated her death, or that she
was not to get a husband within that year. We can well understand that a
sharp young person would resort to means to keep the plant alive, and
thus avert what she most feared.

The following instance of _Rhamanta_ I received from a young woman who
witnessed the work done. She gave me the name of the party, but for
special reasons I do not supply names.

A young woman was madly in love with a young man, and she gave the
servant man a jug of beer for procuring a frog for her. This he did; and
she took the poor creature to the garden, and thrust several pins into
its back. The tortured creature writhed under the pain, but the cruel
girl did not cease until the required number had been inserted. Then she
placed the frog under a vessel to prevent its escape, and turning to my
informant, she said, "There, he will now come to our house this evening."
The man certainly came, and when he entered she smiled at my informant,
and then both went together to the lacerated frog, and the pins were
extracted one by one from its back, and the wounded animal was set at
liberty. My informant said that the hard-hearted girl mumbled something
both when inserting and extracting the pins.

It was believed that the spirit of a person could be invoked and that it
would appear, after the performance of certain ceremonies, to the person
who was engaged in the weird undertaking. Thus a young woman who had
gone round the church seven times on All Hallow Eve came home to her
mistress, who was in the secret that she was going to _rhamanta_, and
said, "Why did you send master to frighten me?" But the master had not
left the house. His wife perceived that it was the spirit of her husband
that had appeared to the girl, and she requested the girl to be kind to
her children, "for," said she, "you will soon be mistress here." In a
short time afterwards the wife died, and the girl became her successor.

I obtained the preceding tale from the Rev. P. Edwards, son of the Rector
of Llanwyddelan, Montgomeryshire, and the lady who related the tale of
herself to Mr. Edwards said the occurrence took place when she was
servant girl.

There are several versions of the above tale to be met with in many
places in Wa