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he feel upon the subject, that he refused to participate in the 
act of tying it up. 
The name used by the man here referred to for this wood, 
is worthy of remark, as being pure Saxon; and is, I believe, 
the ordinary word for it, through a considerable portion of the 
Vale of Gloucester. 
This fact is sufficient to indicate with precision the 
ethnological source of the superstition ; and what Grimm in his 
“Deutsche Mythologie” says of it is so interesting, that I 
translate and give it entire, embodying, I may remark, some of 
his notes in his text. 
After mentioning the reverence paid to other trees in 
Scandinavia and Germany, he says :— 
“The Elder (Hollunder) also received distinguished honour. 
Hollan, indeed, signifies a tree or shrub, as in the 
Anglo-Saxon Cneovholan. Russius. Butcher’s broom. 
In low Saxon the Sambucus nigra is called Ellhorn. 
Arnkiel unsuspectingly relates, ‘Our forefathers also 
held the Ellhorn holy, wherefore whoever need to hew 
it down, (or cut its branches,) has first to make the 
request: ‘Lady Hllhorn give me some of thy wood, 
and I will give thee some of mine, when it grows in 
the forest;” the which with partly bended knees, 
bare head, and folded arms, was ordinarily done, as I 
myself, have often seen and heard, in my younger 
years. Thereafter are mentioned superstitions res- 
pecting Elder wands, Elder trees before stables, the’ 
shedding of water under them, and the Elder-mother, 
a Danish superstition. 
“The God Puschkait, a Lithuanian Deity, dwelt under this 
tree, and the Letts laid bread and beer for him near 
it. 
“The Saxon canons published during the reign of King 
Edgar, speak of the magic practised in “‘ Hllenum and 
e4c on odrum mislicum treovum (Ellan, and oak, and 
various other trees.”’) 
