234 SPaat "bofe, Tsege?^/, ani. Isijric/', 



the babe was sure to be cured; but if not, the operation would 

 probably be ineffecftual. The same writer relates another extra- 

 ordinary custom among rustics: they bore a deep hole in an Ash- 

 tree, and imprison a live shrew mouse therein : the tree then becomes 

 a Shrew- Ash, whose twigs or branches, gently applied to the limbs 

 of cattle, will immediately relieve the cramp, lameness, and pain 

 supposed to attack the animal wherever a shrew mouse has crept 

 over it. 



Lightfoot says that, in the Highlands, at the birth of an infant, 

 the nurse takes a green Ash stick, one end of which she puts into 

 the fire; and, while it is burning, receives in a spoon the sap that 

 oozes from the other, which she administers to the child as its first 

 food: this custom is thought to be derived from the old Aryan 

 pra(flice of feeding young children with the honey-like juice of the 

 Fraxinns Ornus. The sap of the Ash, tapped on certain days, is 

 drunk in Germany as a remedy for the bites of serpents. 



In Northumberland, there is a belief that if the first parings 

 of an infant's nails are buried under an Ash, the child will turn 

 out a "top singer." In Staffordshire, the common people believe 

 that it is very dangerous to break a bough from the Ash. In 

 Leicestershire, the Ash is employed as a charm for warts. In the 

 month of April or May, the sufferer is taken to an Ash-tree : the 

 operator (who is provided with a paper of new pins) takes a pin, 

 and having first struck it through the bark, presses it through the 

 wart until it produces pain; the pin is then taken out and stuck 

 into the tree, where it is left. Each wart is similarly treated, a 

 separate pin being used for each. The warts will disappear in a 

 few weeks. It is a wide-spread custom to stroke with a twig from 

 an Ash-tree, under the roots of which a horse-shoe has been buried, 

 any animal which is supposed to have been bewitched. 



An Ashen herding stick is preferred by Scotch boys to any other, 

 because in throwing it at their cattle it is sure not to strike in 

 a vital part, and so kill or injure the animal, a contingency which 

 may occur, it seems, with other sticks. It is worthy of note that 

 the lituus of the Roman Augur — a staff with a crook at one end — 

 was formed of an Ash-tree bough, the crook being sometimes pro- 

 duced naturally, but more often by artificial means. 



In many parts of England, the finding of an even Ash-leaf is 

 considered to be an augury of good luck ; hence the old saying, so 

 dear to tender maids — 



" If you find an even Ash or a four-leaved Clover, 

 Rest assured you'll see your true-love ere the day is over. " 



In Cornwall, this charm is frequently made use of for in- 

 voking good luck : — 



" Even Ash I thee do pluck, 



Hoping thus to meet good luck. 

 If no good luck I get from thee, 

 1 shall wish thee on the tree." 



