1883.] TBEE MYTHS. 133 



In Germany a 'Frau Wachholder' (Dame Juniper) personifies 

 the genius of the Juniper tree, and is invoked to make robbers give 

 up their spoil. A branch of a Juniper bush is bent down to the 

 ground and kept down with a stone, the name of the real or supposed 

 thief being repeated at the same time, with injunctions to bring back 

 the booty. Whenever the desired result comes about, the stone is 

 removed and the branch set free. Here seems to be a counterpart 

 of the thief-catching staff or rod of Indian folk-lore, which survives 

 in many Aryan usages and customs. Like other trees with hispid 

 foliage, the Juniper has the special attribute of detaining fugitives ; 

 but sometimes it shields them as well. An Italian legend described 

 the Madonna as saved in her flight by a Juniper bush, just as in 

 German story the holy Walpurga is hidden from her pursuers by a 

 peasant in a patch of wheat. An aged crone of Signa, in Tuscany, 

 thus related the legend of the Madonna to De Gubernatis: — Our 

 Lady w^as flying with the infant Jesus, and Herod's soldiers were in 

 hot pursuit. As they went, the Broom trees and the Chick-peas 

 rustled, risking betrayal ; the Flax stood bolt upright and apart ; but 

 as the fugitives drew near, a Juniper bush parted its branches to 

 receive them, and closing, folded them in its friendly embrace. 

 Wherefore the Virgin then and there cursed both the Broom and the 

 Chick-pea, which from that day forth have never ceased to rustle. 

 The frailty of the Flax she forgave ; but she laid her blessing on the 

 Juniper : and to this day, at Christmastide, in nearly every Italian 

 stall, Juniper is hung, as bunches of holly are in England, France, 

 and Switzerland. 



Like the Holly, Juniper drives away evil influences of every kind 

 from house and fold, and is held to be peculiarly efiicacious in 

 protecting horses and cattle from the incorporeal monsters which 

 sometimes haunt and trouble them. 



In Germany, when it is desired to get horses into condition and 

 render them more tractable, a rural custom prevails of giving to each 

 on three Sunday mornings running, before the rising of the sun, three 

 handfuls of salt and six times twelve berries of the Juniper. 



In a very rare little work published at Bologna in 1621, the author, 

 Amadeo Castra, makes mention of a Bolognese custom on Christmas 

 Eve of distributing branches of Juniper to every house. He adds 

 that all writers are agreed as to its eflicacy against serpents and 

 venomous beasts ; that it supplied the wood of the Cross ; that it 

 covered the flight of Elias ; finally arriving at the conclusion that the 

 sanctity of the Juniper equals that of the Cedar ; that its usage is 

 not a fashion or superstition, but a holy mystery ; and that as its 

 fragrant smoke arises from our hearths we should remember that so 

 should our prayers ascend to the ears of the Deity. 



