A Dorset girl who wanted to know her future husband picked an ash leaf with an even number of leaflets. She held it in her hand, then put it in her glove, then in her bosom, saying a rhyming line at each stage. The first man she met afterwards would be the one she married, and she could look him over as closely as she liked.
The Even Ash-leaf
Printed under 8 October · Dorset
Lore and belief
"The even ash-leaf in my hand, The first I meet shall be my man."
From Hone's Year Book, col. 1176. Read the original
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