SOME TREE LORE 73 



towered above the grass, and that it was a wood- 

 in itself. When the Dryads remonstrated with 

 Erisichthon, he boasted that he would fell the tree, 

 even if it enshrined the goddess herself. When the 

 grand old oak shuddered at the last stroke that was 

 given it, a voice came from the trunk saying: " I, 

 a nymph most pleasing to Ceres, am beneath this 

 wood, and dying do rejoice at the punishment 

 which will be meted out to thee." 



The punishment which Ceres decreed for Eri- 

 sichthon was that he should be tortured by famine, 

 so dire and terrible that he was finally compelled 

 to eat portions of his own body. 



In most tree legends the oak is regarded as 

 sacred, the reason probably being that the Druids 

 offered sacrifices in oak groves, and consulted these 

 trees in their worship. From this probably arises 

 the generic name of the oak: Quercus, from queer o^ 

 to seek. 



One of the famous oracles consulted by the 

 priests was the Talking Oak of Dodona, and it 

 possessed most miraculous powers. A staff cut 

 from one of its branches always guided the traveller 

 in paths of safety, and conducted him to the desired 

 haven. 



Mercury's wonderful cane must have come from 

 this tree, and it is said that the vessel in which 

 Jason went in search of the Golden Fleece, had 

 her figurehead cut from a portion of one of its 

 branches, and the success of the voyage was thereby 

 assured. 



Some of the groves were sacred to the celestial 

 gods, and others to lesser deities. The forest of 

 Mount Ida, the foster-home of Jupiter, was one 



