pPant boi-c, "becje"t2t)/, cmel "bijricy, 45 1 



serpents. The pit was dark, but at tlie bottom she found a himinous 

 stone; the serpents were hun^ay; tlie queen of the golden-horned 

 serpents guided them to the luminous stone, and the serpents licked 

 it, and satisfied their hunger; the young girl did the same, and 

 remained in the pit until Spring. On the arrival of Spring, the 

 serpents interlaced themselves in such a manner as to form a 

 ladder on which the young girl ascended to the mouth of the pit. 

 But in taking her leave of the queen of the serpents, she received, 

 as a parting gift, the power of understanding the language of plants, 

 and of knowing their medicinal properties, on the condition that 

 she should never name the Mugwort, or Tchornobil (that which was 

 black): if she pronounced that word, she would forget all that she 

 had come to know. The damsel soon understood all that the 

 plants talked about; but, one day, a man suddenly asked her, 

 "What is the plant which grows in the fields by the side of the 

 little footpaths?" Taken by surprise, the girl replied, Tchornobil; 

 and, at the same moment, all her knowledge forsook her. From 

 that time, it is said, the Mugwort obtained the additional name 



of Zabytko, or the Herb of Forgetfulness. In Little Russia, 



Mugwort has obtained the name of Bech, which has a legendary 

 etymology. The story goes, that the Devil had, one day, offended 

 his brother, the Cossack Sabba, who took him and bound him, 

 saying he should remain a prisoner until he did him some 

 great service. Soon afterwards, a troop of Poles arrived in the 

 neighbourhood, and began to make merry at a rustic feast, leaving 

 their horses to graze. The Cossack Sabba wished to seize their 

 horses, and promised the Devil his liberty if he would aid him to 

 accomplish his objecft. The Devil despatched certain demons to the 

 fields where the horses were feeding, who caused Mugwort to 

 spring up. As the horses trotted away, the plant moaned '^Bech, 

 Bech": and now, whenever a horse treads on the Mugwort, recol- 

 ledling the horses of the Poles, the plant always moans, "Bech, 

 Bech"; hence, the name which has been given to it in the Ukraine. 



The Japanese manufacflured a kind of tinder, called Moxa, 



from the dried leaves of Mugwort, and, according to Thunberg, 

 twice in a year, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, 

 were indiscriminately burnt with it, either to prevent disorders, or 



to cure rheumatism, &c. Astrologers state that Mugwort is a 



herb of Venus. 



MUSHROOM. — On account of their apparently spontaneous 



generation. Porphyrins calls Mushrooms sons of the gods. In 



Indo-European mythology, the Sun-hero is represented as some- 

 times hiding under a Mushroom. He also appears as King of the 

 Peas, and in a Russian legend, in this capacity, gives battle to 



the Mushroom tribes. In Wales, the poisonous Mushroom is 



called Bwyd Ellyllon, or the meat of the goblins. In many 



parts of England it is believed that the changes of the moon 



2 G — 2 



