828 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A Tyrolese legend* relates how a boy who had climbed a tree 

 "overlooked the ghastly doings of certain witches beneath its 

 boughs. They tore in pieces the corpse of a woman, and threw 

 the iDortions in the air. The boy caught one, and kept it by him ; 

 but the witches, on counting the pieces, found that one was miss- 

 ing, and so replaced it by a scrap of alder- wood, when instantly 

 the dead came to life again." 



Similarly, also, they had their favorite flowers, one having been 

 the foxglove, nicknamed " witches' bells," from their decorating 

 their fingers with its blossoms ; while in some localities the hare- 

 bell is designated the "witches' thimble." On the other hand, 

 flowers of a yellow or greenish hue were distasteful to them.f 



In the witchcraft movement it would seem that certain plants 

 were in requisition for particular purposes, these workers of dark- 

 ness having utilized the properties of herbs to special ends. A 

 XJlant was not indiscriminately selected, but on account of pos- 

 sessing some virtue as to render it suitable for any design that 

 the witches might have in view. Considering, too, how multi- 

 tudinous and varied were their actions, they had constant need of 

 applying to the vegetable world for materials with which to 

 carry out their plans. But foremost among their requirements 

 was the power of locomotion wherewith to enable them, with 

 supernatural rapidity, to travel from one locality to another. Ac- 

 cordingly, one of their most favorite vehicles was a besom or 

 broom, an implement which, it has been suggested, from its being 

 a type of the winds, is an appropriate utensil " in the hands of 

 the witches, who are wind-makers and workers in that element." X 

 According to the "Asiatic Register " for 1801, the Eastern as well 

 as the European witches "practice their spells by dancing at 

 midnight, and the principal instrument they use on such occa- 

 sions is a broom." Hence, in Hamburg, sailors, after long toiling 

 against a contrary wind, on meeting another ship sailing in an 

 opposite direction, throw an old broom before the vessel, believ- 

 ing thereby to reverse the wind.* As, too, in the case of vervain 

 and rue, the besom, although dearly loved by witches, is still 

 extensively used as a counter-charm against their machinations — 

 it being a well-known belief both in England and Germany that 

 no individual of this stamp can step over a besom laid inside 

 the threshold. Hence, also, in Westphalia, at Shrovetide, white 

 besoms with white handles are tied to the cows' horns ; and, in 

 the rites connected with the midsummer fires kept up in different 

 parts of the country, the besom holds a prominent place. In Bo- 



* See Folkard's " Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics," p. 209. f Ibid., p. 10-1. 

 X See Kelly's " Indo-European Folk-Lore," pp. 225-227. 



* See Hardwick's "Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore," p. 117; also Grimm's 

 " Teutonic Mythology," 1883, iii, 1083. 



