not learn to walk, they place it naked, either in the Spring or on 

 Midsummer-day, upon the turf, and scatter some Flax-seed on this 

 turf and on the infant itself: then, as soon as the Flax commences 



to grow, the infant should also begin to thrive and to walk. To 



dream of Flax is reputed to augur a good and happy marriage ; to 



dream of spinning Flax, however, betokens coming troubles. 



There is an old superstition that Flax will only flower at the time 

 of day at which it was originally sown. He who sows it must first 

 seat himself thrice on the sack, turning to the east. Stolen seeds 



mingled with the rest cause the crop to thrive. Flax when in 



bloom a(5ts as a talisman against witchcraft, and sorcery can be 

 practised even with the dry stalks. When the shreds are spun or 

 woven into shirts, under certain incantations, the wearer is secure 



from accidents or wounds. It was the goddess Hulda who first 



taught mortals the art of growing Flax, of spinning, and of weaving 

 it. According to the legendary belief in South Tyrol, she is the 

 especial patroness of the Flax culture in that districfl. Hulda is 

 also the sovereign of the Selige Fraulein, the happy fairy maidens 

 who keep watch and guard over the Flax-plants. Between Kropp- 

 biihl and Unterlassen, is a cave which is believed by the country 

 people to have been the entrance to Queen Hulda's mountain 

 palace. Twice a year she passed through the valley, scattering 

 blessings around her path — once in Summer, when the blue flowers 

 of the Flax were brightening the fields, and again during the myste- 

 rious " twelve nights " immediately preceding our feast of the 

 Epiphany, when, in ancient days, the gods and goddesses were 

 believed to visit the earth. Hulda visited the cottagers' homes in 

 the Winter nights to examine the distaff. If the Flax was duly spun 

 off, prosperity attended the family ; but laziness was punished by 

 trouble and blighted crops. Hulda's fairy people, the Selige 

 Fraulein, would sometimes visit deserving folks and aid the Flax- 

 spinning : there is a legend that a peasant woman at Vulpera, near 

 Tarash, thinking that she ought to reward her fairy assistants, set 

 before them a sumptuous meal, but they shook their heads sadly, 

 and, giving the poor woman a never-failing ball of cotton, they 

 said, " This is the recompense for thy goodwill — payment for pay- 

 ment," — and immediately vanished. 



FLEA-BANE. — The star-shaped yellow Flea-bane, or wild 

 Marigold {Inula dysetiterica) , received its name from the belief that its 

 odour was repulsive to fleas, gnats, and other insecfls. On the 

 flowers of this plant, as well as on those oi Agnus Castus, the Grecian 

 women were made to sleep during the feast of Thesmophoria. The 

 Arabs extol this plant highly as a remedy for wounds. One of 

 their traditions records that flowers of the Inula, bruised, were used 

 by the patriarch Job as an application to those grievous sores which 

 he so pathetically laments. Hence the Flea-bane is called by the 

 men of the desert " Job's Tears." 



