CHAPTER XI 



MAGICAL PLANTS 



" I'll seek a four-leaved Clover, 

 In all the Fairy dells, 

 And if I find the charmed leaf, 

 Oh ! how I'll weave my spells." 



S. Lover. 



Plants used for Charms and Spells. 



In the olden days, the sick and poor were accus- 

 tomed to seek and find the reHef and cure of their 

 various ailments at the hands of the monks and nuns, 

 but after the Reformation it seems that this healing 

 art was gradually relegated to the wise woman of 

 the village, who was, more often than not, a witch. 

 One of the most curious and remarkable of these 

 many old superstitions was the belief that diseases 

 could be transferred from human beings to trees. 

 Children were passed through cleft trees to cast 

 out all witchcraft, and to protect them from the 

 influence of witches; and sometimes they were 

 passed through the branches of a maple, in order 

 that they might be long-lived. 



Patients with the ague were directed to proceed, 

 without speaking or crossing water, to a large and 

 lofty willow, to make a gash in it, breathe three times 

 into the crevice, close it quickly, hasten away 

 without looking back, and if they did this correctly, 

 the ague was warranted to leave them. 



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