530 pPaat Isopc, Tsegef^/, aai. Isijrlc/. 



Pennant remarks that the Scotch farmers carefully preserve their 

 cattle against witchcraft by placing branches of Honeysuckle and 

 Mountain Ash in the cowhouses on the 2nd of May ; the milkmaids 

 of Westmoreland often carry in their hands or attached to their 

 milking-pails a branch of the Rowan-tree, from a similar super- 

 stitious belief; the dairymaids of Lancashire prefer a churn- 

 staff of Rowan-wood to that of any other tree, as it saves the 

 butter from evil influences; and in the North of England a branch 

 of " Wiggin " (Mountain Ash) is frequently hung up in stables, it 

 being deemed a most efficacious charm against witchcraft. Formerly, 

 in some parts of the country, it was considered that a branch or 

 twig held up in the presence of a witch was sufficient to render her 



deadliest wishes of no avail. In an ancient song, called the 



•' Laidly Worm of Spindlestone Heughs " is an allusion to this 

 power of the Rowan-tree over witches : — 



" Their spells were vain ; the hags return'd 

 To the queen in sorrowful mood, 

 Crying that witches have no power 

 Where there is Roan-tree wood." 



In Cornwall, the Mountain Ash is called " Care," and if there is a 

 suspicion of a cow being bewitched or subjecfted to the Evil Eye, 

 the herdsmen will suspend a branch over her stall, or twine it round 

 her horns. Evelyn says that the Mountain Ash was reputed to be a 

 preservative against fascination and evil spirits, "whence, perhaps, 

 we call it ' Witchen ; ' the boughs being stuck about the door or 

 used for walking-staves." In Wales, this tree was considered so 

 sacred in his time, that there was not, he tells us, a churchyard 



without one of them planted in it. At the present time, in 



Montgomeryshire, it is customary to rest the corpse on its way to 

 the churchyard under a Mountain Ash, as that tree is credited with 



having furnished the wood of the Cross. In olden times, collars 



of the wood of the Rowan-tree were put upon the necks of cattle, 

 in order to protect them from spells or witchcraft. In many parts 

 of England, it was formerly the custom in cases of the death of 

 animals supposed to be bewitched, to take out the heart of one of 

 the vicftims, stick it over with pins, and burn it to a cinder over a 

 fire composed of the wood of a Rowan-tree, which, as we have seen, 

 has always been considered a terror and dread to witches. 



" Black luggie, lammer bead, 

 Rowan-tree and red thread, 

 Put the witches to their speed." 



A witch touched with a branch of this sacred tree by a christened 

 man was deemed doomed to be the victim carried off by the 



Devil, when he next came to claim his tribute. Like the 



Hazel, Thorn, and Mistletoe, it was deemed, according to Aryan 

 tradition, to be an embodiment of the lightning, from which it 

 sprang, and was, moreover, thought to possess the magical power 

 of discovering hidden treasure. In the days of the Fenians, 



