Fortune Through Words

(8-96) Fortune telling through words is probably my favorite form of all fortune telling. It is also most distinctively Chinese. Words have the same status as gods for Chinese. Ancient Chinese used to worship their words. In the old time, used paper with words can not be thrown away. They have to be gathered and saved and then buried at the end. There would be a tomb stone erect at the site, and a ceremony performed in the village. It is not surprising that Chinese would turn to their words for their fortune.

Chinese don't have alphabets. Each word is basically created through imitation of images. Later more words are invented through devices like combination, deconstruction, borrowing, rearrangement, etc. The way a word is constructed provides a good medium for fortune tellers to perform their art.

Telling fortune with words is also the most demanding way of forecasting the future. There is no formula to follow. Everything depends on the wit of the fortune teller. He can analyze the word any way he wants, and make associations any way he desires. There are many stories in the past that are entertaining and witty. However, it is very difficult to tell stories like that to someone who doesn't know Chinese at all. I have selected one story to tell here, because the word chosen is a simple one.

Long time ago, a businessman who had to travel frequently had trouble with his marriage. He and his wife had decided to be separated for a while. The trouble was they still had feelings for each other.

One day, they went to town for some business. They saw a booth with a man who did fortune telling by words. The husband thought why not let the fortune teller forecast their future and see if they should divorce. The wife did not object. They approached the booth, and asked the teller for a word. The teller asked the husband to draw a word from a bag. He drew a word "three". Three in Chinese is simply three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other. Both the husband and wife were embarrassed. The wife wondered if three meant her husband had an affair with a thrid person, or three meant she would be married three times. The husband was nervous too, and thought that was not a good sign.

The teller understood their psychology, and said: "Congratulations, you two will be together till your hair turns white, and live happily ever after." They were surprised and asked the teller to explain. The teller said: "Three means one from beginning to end. For the word has one on top, and another one in the middle, and one on the bottom. So, it's one from beginning to end, and you should stay together as one from beginning to end."

The two of them thanked the fortune teller, went home, resolved their problems, and lived happily ever after.



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