heir
sweethearts, but what did the stupid one (the devil) do, but appear to
the foolish things in his own person."

_The Washing Test_.

Another well-known and often practised form of divination was for a young
woman to take an article to wash, such as a stocking, to the water-spout
or _pistyll_, and with her she carried two pieces of wood wherewith to
strike the article which was being washed. She went on her knees and
commenced striking the stocking, saying the while:--

"Am gyd-fydio i gyd-ffatio."

We'll live together to strike together.

It was thought that her future husband would then appear, take hold of
the other piece of wood, and join her in her work; should the wraith
appear, a marriage within six months followed.

_Troi Crysau or Clothes Drying Test_.

Young maidens washed linen after the household had retired, and placed
the articles by the fire to dry, and then watched to see who should come
at midnight to turn the clothes. In this case, again, the evil one is
said to have entered the kitchen to perform this work for the young
woman, and also it is affirmed that a coffin has, ere this, moved along
through the room, a sure prognostication that she was doomed to die
single. _Bardd Cwsg_ mentions this practice.

He writes in the third part of his book, where a devil is accused in the
Parliament of Hell, thus:--"Aeth nos _Ystwyll_ ddiweddaf i ymweled a dwy
ferch ieuanc yng Nghymru _oedd yn troi crysau_, ac yn lle denu'r genethod
i faswedd, yn rhith llanc glandeg, myned ag elor i sobreiddio un; a myned
a thrwst rhyfel at y llall mewn corwynt uffernol."

"He went on the night of _Epiphany_ to visit two young girls in Wales,
who were turning shirts, and, instead of enticing them to folly, in the
form of a handsome young man, he took to the one a coffin to sober her,
and to the other he appeared in a hellish whirlwind, with a horrible
noise."

Happy, however, is the young woman should the man she loves appear, for
he is to be her husband.

_Hemp Seed Sowing_.

A young married woman, a native of Denbighshire, told me that if a young
woman sowed hemp seed, the figure of her lover would appear and follow
her. This was to be done by night on Hallow Eve. I find from _English
Folk-Lore_, p. 15, that this divination is practised in Devonshire on St.
Valentine's Eve, and that the young woman runs round the church
repeating, without stopping, the following lines:--

"I s