Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
At the conclusion of the sacrificial ceremony the tube containing the bamboo fortune-telling sticks was placed in the Emperor's hand by one of the priests. His courtiers and the attendant priests stood round in breathless suspense, watching him as he swayed the tube to and fro; at length one fell to the ground; there was dead silence as it was raised by a priest and handed to the Emperor.
It approved of and stole from Freemasonry; looted the Latter-day Rosicrucians of half their pet words; took any fragments of Egyptian philosophy that it found in the Encyclopaedia Britannica; annexed as many of the Vedas as had been translated into French or English, and talked of all the rest; built in the German versions of what is left of the Zend Avesta; encouraged White, Gray and Black Magic, including spiritualism, palmistry, fortune-telling by cards, hot chestnuts, double-kernelled nuts and tallow droppings; would have adopted Voodoo and Oboe had it known anything about them, and showed itself, in every way, one of the most accommodating arrangements that had ever been invented since the birth of the Sea.
While Tom Leslie has gone around to Broome Street on his undeclared errand, and while the ladies are making an excuse to while away the time until his return, in the discussion of the after-dinner provocatives to indigestion recommended, let us enter a little more closely upon a subject merely indicated in the foregoing chapter, and then sneered at by at least one of the conversationists that of the fortune-telling imposition which so largely prevails, especially in the great cities, and the general course of human superstition in connection with it.
"Instead of bracing up your energies now to rook some money out of our venerable senior, you turn your thoughts to fortune-telling!" "I was just wishing to consult the fates," lady Feng proceeded, "as to how much I shall lose to-day. Can I ever dream of winning? Why, look here. We haven't commenced playing, and they have placed themselves in ambush on the left and right."
This illustrious lady does not advertise in the newspapers; in fact, her fortune-telling is done on the sly, as if she were yet an apprentice, and a little ashamed of her bungling jobs, for which, by the way, she only charges half price.
You did that jolly well, only go slower, and pretend to look for things in the hand before you say them. Everything's free at the fête, so you'll get no money for your fortune-telling." Gloom was on each young brow. "It's like this," he went on, "there is a lady fortune-teller in a tent in the park." "Then we may as well get along home," said Dicky.
‘Hem!’ said the girl, ‘I was wishing—’ ‘What? to ask me a question?’ ‘Not exactly; but you seem to know everything; you mentioned, I think, fortune-telling.’ ‘Do you wish me to tell your fortune?’ ‘By no means; but I have a friend at a distance at sea, and I should wish to know—’ ‘When he will come back?
From this emotion she drew her conclusions, and she chuckled to think of how true a fortune she could tell the visitor on these premises. Mother Cockleshell's fortune-telling was not entirely fraudulent, but when her clairvoyance was not in working order she made use of character-reading with good results. "Won't the Gorgios lady have her fortune told?" she asked in wheedling tones.
If Miss Carter was young, Belle was younger still. The days went by. Hong served them delicious meals. Timmy was angelic. They unearthed halma, puzzles, fortune-telling cards. The rain fell steadily; the eaves dripped; the paths were sheets of water. "It certainly gets on your nerves doesn't it?" said Miss Carter, when the darkness came on Thursday night.
These would be hanging on the outskirts of a wide circle of people assembled round some itinerant juggler, opposed, in his turn, by a noisy band of music, or the classic game of 'Ring the Bull, while ventriloquists holding dialogues with wooden dolls, and fortune-telling women smothering the cries of real babies, divided with them, and many more, the general attention of the company.
Word Of The Day