Part 26 (1/2)

2. Hindu poem, translated by Sir William Jones.

3. ”Flower-lore,” p. 118.

4. Folkard's ”Plant Legends,” p. 245.

5. ”Flower-lore,” p. 120.

6. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 231.

7. ”Flower-lore,” p. 2.

8. Ibid.

9. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 235.

10. Ibid., p. 239.

11. ”Flower-lore.”

12. Folkard's ”Plant Legends,” p. 44.

13. Folkard's ”Plant Legends,” p. 395.

14. ”Flower-lore,” p. 13.

15. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 714.

16. ”Flower-lore,” p. 14.

17. ”Flower-lore,” p. 14.

18. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 233; ”Flower-lore,” p. 15.

19. See Baring-Gould's ”Myths of the Middle Ages.”

20. ”Flower-lore,” p. 12.

21. See chapter on Folk-Medicine.

CHAPTER XX.

PLANT SUPERSt.i.tIONS.

The superst.i.tious notions which, under one form or another, have cl.u.s.tered round the vegetable kingdom, hold a prominent place in the field of folk-lore. To give a full and detailed account of these survivals of bygone beliefs, would occupy a volume of no mean size, so thickly scattered are they among the traditions and legendary lore of almost every country. Only too frequently, also, we find the same superst.i.tion a.s.suming a very different appearance as it travels from one country to another, until at last it is almost completely divested of its original dress. Repeated changes of this kind, whilst not escaping the notice of the student of comparative folk-lore, are apt to mislead the casual observer who, it may be, a.s.signs to them a particular home in his own country, whereas probably they have travelled, before arriving at their modern destination, thousands of miles in the course of years.

There is said to be a certain mysterious connection between certain plants and animals. Thus, swine when affected with the spleen are supposed to resort to the spleen-wort, and according to Coles, in his ”Art of Simpling,” the a.s.s does likewise, for he tells us that, ”if the a.s.se be oppressed with melancholy, he eates of the herbe asplemon or mill-waste, and eases himself of the swelling of the spleen.” One of the popular names of the common sow-thistle (_Sonchus oleraceus_) is hare's-palace, from the shelter it is supposed to afford the hare.

According to the ”Grete Herbale,” ”if the hare come under it, he is sure that no beast can touch hym.” Topsell also, in his ”Natural History,”

alludes to this superst.i.tion:--”When hares are overcome with heat, they eat of an herb called _Latuca leporina_, that is, hare's-lettuce, hare's-house, hare's-palace; and there is no disease in this beast the cure whereof she does not seek for in this herb.”

The hound's-tongue (_cynoglossum_) has been reputed to have the magical property of preventing dogs barking at a person, if laid beneath the feet; and Gerarde says that wild goats or deer, ”when they be wounded with arrows, do shake them out by eating of this plant, and heal their wounds.” Bacon in his ”Natural History” alludes to another curious idea connected with goats, and says, ”There are some tears of trees, which are combed from the beards of goats; for when the goats bite and crop them, especially in the morning, the dew being on, the tear cometh forth, and hangeth upon their beards; of this sort is some kind of laudanum.” The columbine was once known as _Herba leonis_, from a belief that it was the lion's favourite plant, and it is said that when bears were half-starved by hybernating--having remained for days without food--they were suddenly restored by eating the arum. There is a curious tradition in Piedmont, that if a hare be sprinkled with the juice of henbane, all the hares in the neighbourhood will run away as if scared by some invisible power.

Gerarde also alludes to an old belief that cats, ”Are much delighted with catmint, for the smell of it is so pleasant unto them, that they rub themselves upon it, and swallow or tumble in it, and also feed on the branches very greedily.” And according to an old proverb they have a liking for the plant maram:--