36 
LANGUAGE AND 
wildly-suggestive pencil, and L. E. L. for her 
plaintive pen to reproduce. The poor, lovelost 
girl gathers a flower, and, according to her sim¬ 
ple method of divination, proceeds to pluck oil 
the florets, alternately repeating the words, 
“ He loves me,” “ he loves me not.” On arriv¬ 
ing at the last leaf, she joyously exclaims, 
“ He loves me!” and Faust, in spite of himself, 
overpowered by her childish innocence, breaks 
forth, “ Yes ! he loves thee : let this floral token 
be a decree of Heaven !” 
Dr. Zerffi, in his valuable notes to his edition 
of “Faust,” says, “It is a general custom for 
lovers to consult flowers, as a sort of oracle, as 
to whether their love is returned or not. The 
plan adopted is simple enough. A star-flower, 
which seems to be the favorite, is selected, and 
the person consulting it repeats the words 
“ Er liebt mich von Herzen 
Hit Schmerzen, 
Ja—oder nein.” 
A single leaf is pulled off at each recurrence 
of the words ja and nein , and the answer of the 
oracle is yes or no, as ja or nein is pronounced 
on pulling the last of the leaves.” 
