THE DUTCH FORTUNE-TELLER
Below is the PDF for The Dutch Fortune Teller. I’ve tried to preserve as much of the dated charm of the original as possible, including misspellings. I may have a changed or added word or two, or punctuation, but have largely left the original untouched. It almost felt like translating from another language, because of the poor print quality and seventeenth century grammar. On the answer sheet in the PDF, you’ll notice I’ve left room for a modern summation of the predictive verse. Seriously, some translation required.
Like the Wheel of Pythagoras or Napoleon’s Book of Fate, it has a set list of questions from which the inquirer may draw and a procedure for arriving at an answer code. I have respected the original’s division of questions according to the sexes, but there are a few questions listed for Men and ‘Batchelors’ only that women today would also be interested in, so don’t feel limited to just the questions for your sex. Gay, lesbian and bi-sexual users this fortune teller can let their intuition be their guide where questions about future lovers/spouses are concerned.
One more, minor thing: one of the answers refers to a woman as a ‘Drab.’ According to Merriam Webster Dictionary Online, a ‘Drab’ was a slattern or prostitute.
HOW TO USE IT
For this, you’ll need the PDF printed out and a pair of dice. The instructions for how to consult the Dutch Fortune Teller are included in the PDF, but it’s in seventeenth-century English. So to make it simpler:
- Look over the list of questions, identify a question you want an answer to, and make a note of the two-letter code and associated number preceding that question.
- Turn to the ‘Wheels’ tables and find the Wheel with that particular two letter & number code in the upper-left corner of the square.
- Throw the dice and find the number in the inner-circle of the Wheel. Write it down, along with the associated word and the two-digit number on the ‘rim’ of the wheel next to the word.
- Find that ‘rim’ number and the associated word in the ‘Globes’ tables. Note the name and number in the center of the Globe, and find that list of answers in the answer table pages. The number of your fortune is the number you first cast with the dice.