232 ©fant "Isore, Tsege'T^&r) ctnE Isijric/'. 



Teutonic mythology, the Ash is the most venerated of trees, and 

 the Scandinavian Edda, the sacred book of the Northmen, furnishes 

 a detailed account of the mystic Ash Yggdrasill, or mundane tree, 

 beneath whose shade was the chief or holiest seat of the gods, 

 where they assembled every day in council. (See Yggdrasill.) 

 According to the old Norse tradition, it was out of the wood of the 

 Ash that man was first formed ; and the Greeks entertained a similar 

 belief, for we find Hesiod deriving his brazen race of men from it. 

 The goddess Nemesis was sometimes represented with an Ashen 

 wand. Cupid, before he learnt to use the more potent Cypress, 

 employed Ash for the wood of his arrows. At the Nuptials of 

 Peleus and Thetis, Chiron appeared with a branch of Ash, from 

 which was made the lance of Peleus, which afterwards became 

 the spear of Achilles. Rapin writes of this tree — 



" But on fair levels and a gentle soil 



The noble Ash rewards the planter's toil. 

 Noble e'er since Achilles from her side 

 Took the dire spear by which brave Hector died ; 

 Whose word resembling much the hero's mind, 

 Will sooner break than bend — a stubborn kind." 



There exists an old superstition, that a serpent will rather 

 creep into the fire than over a twig of the Ash-tree, founded upon 

 the statements of Pliny with respecft to the magical powers of the 

 Ash against serpents. It was said that serpents always avoided 

 the shade of the Ash ; so that if a fire and a serpent were placed 

 within a circle of Ash-leaves, the serpent, to avoid the Ash, would 

 even run into the midst of the fire. Cowley, enumerating various 

 prodigies, says :— 



"On the wild Ash's tops, the bats and owls, 



With, all night, ominous and baleful fowls. 



Sate brooding, while the screeches of these droves 



Profaned and violated all the groves. 



»*♦*«♦ 



But that which gave more wonder than the rest, 

 Within an Ash a serpent built her nest. 

 And laid her eggs ; when once to come beneath 

 The very shadow of an Ash was death." 



There exists a popular belief in Cornwall, tliat no kind of 

 snake is ever found near the " Ashen-tree," and that a branch of 

 the Ash will prevent a snake from coming near a person. There 

 is a legend that a child, who was in the habit of receiving its portion 

 of bread and milk at the cottage door, was found to be in the habit 

 of sharing its food with one of the poisonous adders. The reptile 

 came regularly every morning, and the child, pleased with the 

 beauty of his companion, encouraged the visits. So the babe and 

 the adder thus became close friends. Eventual^ this became 

 known to the mother (who, being a labourer in the fields, was com- 

 pelled to leave her child all day), and she found it to be a matter 

 of great difficulty to keep the snake from the child whenever it 



