ii6 THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN 



In the " Canones editi sub Edgari Rege," it is 

 enacted that every priest forbid the vain practices 

 that are carried on w^ith elder-sticks. In a rare 

 old tract on Gloucestershire superstitions, a figure 

 is given of an elder-wood cross, borne constantly 

 about the person as a cure for rheumatism. This 

 cross consisted of a small piece cut from a young 

 shoot, just above or below a joint, so as to leave the 

 bud projecting at each end of it, after the fashion 

 of a rude cross. To be efficient, the elder must 

 have been grown in consecrated ground. In Tort- 

 worth, and a few other Gloucestershire church- 

 yards, there still exist such trees, and applications 

 for pieces from them are still made by some of the 

 older inhabitants of the villages. 



Many trees with which the name of Judas is 

 associated are regarded with awe, on account of 

 their connection with the devil. In Bohemia, the 

 willow is said to be the tree on which Judas hanged 

 himself, whence the superstition that the devil has 

 given it a peculiar attraction for suicides. 



The following stories of his satanic majesty seem 

 too good to miss, though they are in no wise con- 

 nected with plant lore, so may be deemed irrele- 

 vant in this chapter. 



This Serbian myth accounts for the hollow in the sole 

 of man^s foot : 



The devil stole the sun and set it on a lance, 

 which he left planted in the ground whilst he 

 went bathing with an archangel. The archangel 

 dived and brought up some sand. The devil 

 spaf on the ground, and a magpie arose from 

 his spittle, to mount guard while the devil also 

 dived. 



