LEGENDS OF MYTHOLOGICAL FAME 171 



swallowed as a wonderful narcotic till the end of 

 time. 



" The use of this drug, if abused, will generate in 

 the consumer one quality of each of the animals 

 to which Postimani was transformed. He will be 

 mischievous like a mouse, fond of milk like a cat, 

 quarrelsome like a dog, filthy like an ape, savage like 

 a boar, and high-tempered like a queen." 



On account of the sleep-bringing qualities of the 

 plant the Greeks, who regarded Hypnos as the 

 greatest healer and consoler of human misery, 

 represented him as crowned with poppies, and 

 reclining on a bed of them. The poppy is the symbol 

 of sleep, consolation, and death. 



The Legend of the Narcissus. 



On account probably of its poisonous qualities, 

 the ancients regarded this beautiful plant as typical 

 of deceit, and dedicated it to Demeter, and her 

 daughter Hecate, the queen of Hades. 



Some legends identify it with the flowers which 

 Pluto caused to spring up to lure Persephone from 

 her Sicilian home. As she stoops to gather the 

 Elysian bloom, the whole plain quakes and trembles, 

 and suddenly Dis appears, seizes Persephone, and 

 places her in the waiting chariot, to bear her away 

 to the gloomy kingdom of which she became queen. 



" Narcissus " is derived from the Greek word 

 *^ vdpKT),^^ meaning torpor, in allusion to its narcotic 

 properties, and Homer says that, though the nar- 

 cissus '' delights heaven and earth by its beauty, 

 yet at the same time it causes stupidity, madness, 

 and even death." 



