THE FORTUNE TELLER
"Try your luck Sir. Very good Fortune Teller. I
see by your face that you are a very lucky man. Two girls like you but you like
only one. I can tell you everything". With these words the Fortune Teller will follow one on the
main roads of the larger Cities. His stock in trade consists of three or four
books, a board, two sets of dies, his business card and a bundle of
credentials. His business cards bear the words "TRY YOUR LUCK" and
then follows his name.
He will produce his credentials one by one to support
his claim regarding his capabilities. He is a great student of Human
Psychology. He moves about his business very slowly which tends to add impressiveness
to the whole proceeding. He begins by handing the two sets of dies to his client.
Each set comprises of four ordinary dies joined together with a pin pushed
through the center. He now invites his client to roll the dies over the board.
This done the Fortune Teller gets hold of his pencil and one of the books and
starts what appears to be some calculation which only he can understand. When
he concludes his calculation he exclaims "that very good!" That's all
he says and his client now is made eager to learn what is in store for him but
the wily one is too clever for him.
"Will the saheb please place some money on the
board—anything you like" he continues and on the sight of the silver disc
he asks the party to think quickly of a flower. "It must be a rose"
says Mr. 'Know All' when his victim acknowledges it. I must admit that when
this interlude was perpetrated on me for the first time I was surprised how he
knew the name of the flower I had in mind but subsequently it was explained by
another F. T. how this is done. When a person is asked to think of the first flower
that enters his mind there is nine chances out of ten that he will think of a
rose. When one is askedto think of a flower the F. T. is busy turning over the
leaves of one of his books. He stops at a certain page and then remarks
casually "to me it appears that you are thinking of arose".
It is only natural that most of my good readers will
be laughing now within themselves and if I should have been within hearing
distance I would hear the argument "What if the person thought of a lily
or any other flower." WELL! WELL! WELL! there is a very small chance of
this happening and when it does occur the F. T. is prepared to meet it. He will
simply say something like this "Oh it was a Lily? I should have thought of
that. I see that your good and bad stars are in conflict with one another and
he will then turn over a few more pages of the book as if to impress on the
party that his fate may be determined on another page.
In order to afford my kind reader an opportunity to
satisfy himself as to the feasibility of this small mental test I request you
kindly to break your reading here for a little while and try it on any person
who happens to be near you. Just ask the person to concentrate on the first flower
that enters her mind and there is nine chances out of ten she will think of a
Rose. If however the person thinks of any other flower you can pass it off by
saying that the concentration was not sufficiently strong in order to transmit
a mental image to you.
The F. T. now proceeds to ask the over-anxious person
if he has any relative in a foreign land. Whether the reply is in the
affirmative or the negative he is told "Yes I know there is a distant
relative whom you have not seen. This man has built up a great fortune the major
portion of which will be inherited by you. You shall see with your own eyes the
wealth that will come your way. If you will only give me a little more money I
will show you. What is a few annas compared to what you will be worth in a
short time?"
The fortune teller (F.T.) goes on to perform another intriguing trick, one in which writing appears on Eddie Joseph's palms. And then continues with the Lucky Face scam which Eddie Joseph continues to describe:
But the F. T. does not stop here. Having succeeded in
startling his customer to a certain extent he has yet another surprise to
spring. "Now what is the greatest ambition of your heart—write it down.
Don't tell me" and when this is done the paper is rolled into a pellet and
burnt down to ashes. From the ashes the original pellet is later reproduced and
a prediction is found written thereon underneath the question.
Here too the Fortune Teller had to depend on the
Conjurer's guile to attain his objective. You will of course understand that it
was a dummy that was destroyed. Now it only remains for me to explain the
appearance of the mysterious additional writing. This was done behind his
bundle of books after he had gained possession of the pellet. The question of
suspicion cannot arise here as in all appearances he is supposed to be noting
on his pad the replies to his questions such as "What is your name?" "When were you born?" and so on.
The foregoing explanations
do not by any means exhaust the fund of artifices that are at the disposal of the
Mystery Mongers of this country. I have only cited those that are generally employed
and hope that it was found to be of some interest by my readers. THANKS.
Eddie Joseph was born and raised in India, later moving to the UK. He repeated the description of the Lucky Face scam in his book Magic and Mysteries of India (Abbott's, 1941) along with many other Indian conjuring and psychic tricks that he was acquainted with.
Quite astonishing that this psychic con trick goes back so far in history and yet still continues today with the same patter, psychology and technique. It must be very profitable indeed.
Someone did catch the opening line on camera as he was accosted by a fortune teller in London. You can see it on YouTube here.