CHAPTER XIX 



legends of mythological fame 



The Legend of the Poppy. 



*' Stars they are, wherein we read our history, 

 As astrologers and seers of eld ; 

 Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery, 

 Like the burning stars, which they beheld." 



Longfellow. 



The true opium poppy {Palaver somniferum) has 

 white flowers, with a large purple stain at the base 

 of the petals. 



Greek legend gives the origin of the plant thus: 

 When gathering flowers upon the plain of Enna, 

 Persephone, " herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis 

 was gathered," and Demeter, inconsolable for the 

 loss of her daughter, set out to seek her throughout 

 Sicily. As darkness falls, she hastens to Mount 

 Etna, and at its flame lights two torches, wherewith 

 to continue her search over all the world, and on her 

 journeying she calls on the gods to aid her in her 

 search and restore her lost child. They, powerless 

 to do what she demands and yet moved to compas- 

 sion by her grief: 



" To soothe awhile the poignance of her woe, 

 Large, heavy-headed poppies round her sow." 



At sight of which she stoops and eats the juice- 

 filled seeds, and heart and brain yield to the soothing 



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