pfant "bore, IseQer^/, an^ Ts>i^ric/. 



pecfting traveller passes by the Fern without noticing it, he will be 

 assuredly misled, even although well acquainted with the road. 

 This is the reason why, in Thuringia, they call the Fern Irrkraut, 

 the misleading plant. 



In Poland, there is a popular notion that the plucking of Fern 

 produces a violent thunderstorm. 



In Germany, they call the Fern Walpurgiskraut, the superstition 

 being that, on the Walpnrgisnacht, the witches procure this plant in 

 order to render themselves invisible. In Lombardy, there exists 

 a popular superstition akin to this. The witches, they say, are 

 particularly fond of the Fern ; they gathered it to rub in their 

 hands during a hailstorm, turning it from the side where the hail 

 falls the thickest. 



The root of the common Male Fern [Filix mas), was an im- 

 portant ingredient in the love-philtres of former days. An old 

 Gaelic bard sings: — 



" 'Tvvas the maiden's matchless beauty 

 That drew my heart anigh ; 

 Not the Fern-root potion, 



But the glance of her blue eye." 



In olden times the young scroll-like fronds of this Fern were 

 called Lucky Hands, or St. John's Hands, and were believed to pro- 

 te(ft the possessor from sorcery, witches' spells, and the Evil Eye. 

 In Germany, the Male Fern was formerly called Johatinisivurtzel; 

 and both on the Continent, and in England, it was the custom, on 

 Midsummer Eve, to gather this Fern, which was sold to the cre- 

 dulous, who wore it about their persons, and mingled it with 

 the water drunk by their cows, as a prote(5lion against all evil 

 sprits, and to ensure good luck. It is believed, in Thuringia, that 

 if anyone carries Fern about him, he will be pursued by serpents 

 until he throws it away. In Sweden, the plant is called Snake- 

 bane. 



An ancient notion prevailed, that the Male Fern had an 

 antipathy to the Reed; and that where one grew, the other was 

 sure to be absent. According to Dioscorides, "the root hereof is 

 reported to be good for those that have ill spleens; and being 

 stamped with swine's grease and applied, it is a remedy against 

 the pricking of the Reed." Other old herbalists state, that the 

 roots of the Male Fern, and the Lady Fern (Filix focmina), boiled 

 in oil, produced "very profitable ointments to heal wounds." The 

 Ophioglossum had, in olden times, the reputation of being a cure for 

 the bite of serpents. (See also Bracken). 



According to Cornish fairy mythology, the Fern was connecfted 

 with the Small Folk, who are believed to be the spirits of the 

 people who inhabited Cornwall thousands of years ago — long 

 before the birth of Christ. In the legend of the Fairy Widower, a 

 pretty girl, Jenny Permuen, a village coquette, one day set off to 

 "look for a place." At the juncflion of four cross roads, she sat 



