132 TBEE MYTHS. [Dec, 



Ipecause it bears no fruit ; but De Gubernatis supposes because of its 

 longevity and the ease with which it multiplies. 



In Catullus, the Elm is husband and the A''ine the wife. So, too, 

 the Sanscrit Kalidasa makes the Mango the husband of a climbing 

 plant, a species of Jasmine. When the charming Sakuntala comes 

 into the presence of the young King Dushyanti, one of the female 

 courtiers murmurs in the King's ear : ' This navamallika (Jasmine) 

 that you call the light of the forest is married of her own free will to 

 sahakara (the Mao go).' 



In the 'Iliad,' Achilles bridges the enchanted streams Xanthus and 

 Simois with the trunks of an Elm tree. When Achilles kills the 

 father of Andromache, he raised in his honour a tomb around which 

 the nymphs came to plant Elms. At the first notes of Orpheus's 

 lyre, bewailing the loss of Eurydice, there sprang up, we are told, a 

 forest of Elms. In Sicily the Fig trees are often trimmed with Elm 

 sprays with the idea of thus preventing the early figs from dropping off 

 before they are ripe. 



The Juniper (De Gubernatis says*) is much venerated in Italy, 

 in Germany, and on the shores of the Baltic, by reason of its alleged 

 power to dispel evil influences. In Esthonias, holes and crevices in 

 the walls of dwellings are beaten with a branch of Juniper, lest evil 

 spirits bring sickness there. When the wicked spirits draw nigh and 

 see the Juniper, they take themselves off. At Pistoja, the explanation 

 given of a local custom of hanging a branch of Juniper over every 

 door is that whenever witches see the Juniper they are impelled by 

 an uncontrollable desire to count the leaflets ; but these are so 

 numerous that they never can make the number right, and in despair 

 take flight lest they be surprised and detected. There is an 

 analogous belief in Germany. In Waldeck, according to Dr. 

 Maunhardt, when a child falls sick, it is customary for the parents to 

 put a lock of wool and a piece of bread in a bunch of Juniper, that 

 the evil spirits may find employment in eating and spinning therein, 

 and so forget the child, with whom, it is feared, they have been 

 over- busy : 



'Ihr Hollen und HoUinen, 



Hier bring ich euch was zu siDinnen, 



Und was zu essen ; 



Ihr soUt spinnen und essen, 



Und meines Kindes vergessen.' 



Ye fiends and ministers of hell, 



Here bring I wherewithal that ye may spin. 



And eat likewise ; 



Eat, therefore, and spin, 



And forget my child. 



* La Mythologie des Plantcs, vol, 2. 



