^afro<^ucfTon. xxi. 



what we have designated poetical legends must be included the 

 numerous fairy tales in which flowers and plants play a not un- 

 important part, as well as the stories which conneifl plants with 

 the doings of Trolls, Elves, Witches, and Demons. Many such 

 legends, both English and foreign, will be found introduced in the 

 following pages. 



It has recently become the fashion to explain the origin of 

 myths and legends by a theory which makes of them mere symbols 

 of the phenomena appertaining to the solar system, or metaphors 

 of the four seasons and the different periods in a day's span. 

 Thus we are told that, in the well-known story of the transforma- 

 tion of Daphne into a Laurel-bush, to enable her to escape the 

 importunities of Apollo (see p. 404), we ought not to conceive the 

 idea of the handsome passionate god pursuing a coy nymph until in 

 despair she calls on the water-gods to change her form, but that, on 

 the contrary, we should regard the whole story as simply an alle- 

 gory implying that " the dawn rushes and trembles through the 

 sky, and fades away at the sudden appearance of the bright sun." 

 So, again, in the myth of Pan and Syrinx (p. 559), in which the 

 Satyr pursues the maiden who is transformed into the Reed from 

 which Pan fashioned his pipes, the meaning intended to be con- 

 veyed is, we are told, that the blustering wind bends and breaks 

 the swaying Rushes, through which it rustles and whistles. Prof. 

 De Gubernatis, in his valuable work La Mythologie des Plantes, gives 

 a number of clever explanations of old legends and myths, in ac- 

 cordance with the " Solar" theory, which are certainly ingenious, 

 if somewhat monotonous. Let us take, as an example, the German 

 story of the Watcher of the Road, which appears at page 326. In 

 this tale a lovely princess, abandoned for a rival by her attracflive 

 husband, pines away, and at last desiring to die if only she can be 

 sure of going somewhere where she may always watch for him, is 

 transformed into the waj^side Endive or Succory. Here is the 

 Professor's explanation : — " Does not the fatal rival of the young 

 princess, who cries herself to death on account of her dazzling 

 husband's desertion, and who even in death desires still to gaze on 

 him, symbolise the humid night, which every evening allures the 

 sun to her arms, and thus keeps him from the love of his bride, who 



