232 Of ant Tsore, T^ege'f^/, oni. Tsuric/. 



have the strength of twenty men, he will discover precious metals 

 in the bowels of the earth, he will comprehend the present and the 

 future. Up to the present time, however, no one has been able to 

 secure this precious seed. It ripens but for a minute, and the 

 Devil guards it with ferocious vigilance." 



De Gubernatis, in his Mythologie des Plantes, publishes a com- 

 munication sent him by the Princess Marie Galitzin Prazorovskaia, 

 on the subjecl; of the flowering of the Fern, the details of which she 

 obtained from a Russian peasant. " On Midsummer night, before 

 twelve o'clock, with a white napkin, a cross, a Testament, a glass 

 of water, and a watch, one seeks in the forest the spot where the 

 Fern grows ; one traces with the cross a large circle ; one spreads 

 the napkin, placing on the cross the Testament and the glass of 

 water. Then one attentively looks at one's watch : at the precise 

 midnight hour the Fern will bloom : one watches attentively ; for 

 he who shall see the Fern-seed drop shall at the same time see 

 many other marvels ; for example, three suns, and a full moon, which 

 reveals every objecft, even the most hidden. One hears laughter ; 

 one is conscious of being called ; if one remains quiet one will hear 

 all that is happening in the world, and all that is going to happen." 

 In a work by Markevic, the author says : — "The Fern flowers 

 on Midsummer night at twelve o'clock, and drives away all unclean 

 spirits. First of all it put forth buds, which afterwards expand, 

 then open, and finally change into flowers of a dark red hue. At 

 midnight, the flower opens to its fullest extent, and illuminates 

 ever\'thing around. But at that precise moment a demon plucks 

 it from its stalk. Whoever wishes to procure this flower must be 

 in the forest before midnight, locate himself near the Fern, and 

 trace a circle around it. When the Devil approaches and calls, 

 feigning the voice of a parent, sweetheart, &c., no attention must 

 be paid, nor must the head be turned, for if it is, it will remain so. 

 Whoever becomes the happy possessor of the flower has nothing 

 to fear : by its means he can recover lost treasure, become invisible, 

 rule on earth and under water, and defy the Devil. To discover • 

 hidden treasure, it is only necessary to throw the flower in the air : 

 if it turns like a star above the Sun, so that it falls perpendicularly 

 in the same spot, it is a sure indication that treasure is concealed 

 there." 



A very ancient method prescribed for obtaining the mystic 

 Fern-seed is given by Dr. Kuhn. At the Summer solstice, if you 

 shoot at the Sun when it has attained its mid-day height, three 

 drops of blood will fall: they must be gathered up and preserved, 

 for that is the Fern-seed. 



The Franche-Comte peasantry talk of a mysterious plant that 

 misleads travellers. According to a German authority, this plant 

 is no other than the Fern on Midsummer night. As we have 

 seen, on that night the Fern is reputed to flower, and to let fall its 

 seed: he who secures this seed, becomes invisible; but if the unsus- 



