480 pfant boi'e, he^erpj, aTiel bijric/. 



had the ferryman returned to his cottage, ere a company of fierce 

 Danes rushed in, but knowing that he could be of service to them, 

 they did him no harm. During the day and night, Osmund was oc- 

 cupied in ferrying the troops across the lake. When the last com- 

 pany had landed, Osmund kneeled beside the bank, and returned 

 thanks to Heaven for the preservation of his wife and child. Often 

 in after years did he speak of that day's peril ; and his daughter 

 called the Fern by her father's name. Gerarde, in describing the 

 stem of the Osmunda, which, on being cut, exhibits a white centre, 

 calls this portion of the Fern the " heart of Osmund, the water- 

 man," probably in allusion to the above tradition. 



Our Lady's Plants. — See Lady's Plants. 



Ox-Eye. — See Moon Daisy. 



PALASA. — Palasa is a Sanscrit word, meaning " leaf," but 

 in course of time it became applied to the Butea frondosa as well as 

 the name Parna, which also signifies a leaf. The modern Indian 

 name of the tree is Dhak. The Palasa is in India a sacred tree, 

 and has a special cultus; as such, it is held to be imbued with the 

 immortalising Soma, the beverage of the gods. According to the 

 Vedas, it owed its origin to a feather dropped by a falcon who, 

 when the gods were pining for the precious Soma fluid, succeeded 

 in stealing some from the demons who had charge of it. In flying 

 off" with its prize, the falcon was wounded by an arrow shot by one 

 of the demons, which wounded it and caused a feather impregnated 

 with the divine fluid to fall to earth, where it took root and became 

 a Palasa-tree (called also Parna), which has a red sap and scarlet 

 blossoms — emblems of the sacred fire. The falcon was a trans- 

 formed god — some say Indra— hence the tree which sprang from 



the god-bird's feather was in its nature divine. The Palasa was 



much employed by the Hindus in religious ceremonies, particularly 

 in one connecfted with the blessing of calves to ensure them proving 

 good milkers. To this end, at the time of the sacrifice offered in 

 the new moon (the season of increase), the priest, on behalf of the 

 Hindu farmer, sele(51:ed a Palasa-branch that grew on the north-east, 

 north, or east side of the tree, and cut it off, saying, " For strength 

 cut I thee." Then, having stripped off" the leaves, he struck both 

 calves and dams with it, blessing the latter and bidding them be 

 good milkers and breeders, and profitable animals to their masters. 

 This done, he stuck up the Palasa rod eastward of the holy fire, and 

 bade it protecft the cattle. The objecfl in thus touching the cattle 

 was that the divine Soma contained in the rod might pass into and 

 enrich the udders of the beasts. The Palasa is triple-leaved, and 

 hence was deemed to typify, like the trident, the forked lightning, 

 an appropriate attribute, inasmuch as it originally sprang from a 

 god of the lightning. In this respecft, it resembled the rod of 



Mercury (a fire-god), the Sami, and the Rowan rod. The staff" of 



the Brahman ought to be made of Palasa wood. (See Dhak.) 



