552 pPant Isore, "Iscge^/, anil "l^ijric/", 



a wondrous plant, which men might look for in vain, and returning 

 with it in its bill, holds it before the plug, which immediately 

 shoots out from the tree, as if driven by the most violent force. 

 But if one conceals himself before the woodpecker returns, and 

 scares it when it approaches, the bird will let the root fall ; or a 

 white or red cloth (representing water or fire) may be spread below 

 the nest, and the bird will drop the root upon the cloth after it has 

 served its own turn. This is Grimm's version of the matter, and 

 Pliny's account coincides, except that he adds that the plug is 

 driven out with an explosion, caused, as one may conclude, by 

 the eletflricity contained in the plant which is applied to it by 

 the bird. Now it is worthy of remark that the woodpecker is 

 mythically alleged to be a fire- or lightning-bearer; and so is 

 called by the Romans Picns Martins, after the god Mars, and 

 Picus Feronius, from the Sabine goddess Feronia, who had a 

 certain control over fire. In the Sanscrit, a species of Euphorbia 

 is called the Thunderbolt Thorn, and some others are termed 

 Thunderbolt-wood. It is curious to notice, by the way, that the 

 Indian name of the Sesame-flower, Vajrapushpa, connedis with the 

 thunderbolt the flower that opens treasure-caves. In Swabia, 

 they say that the hoopoe brings the Springwort, and lets it 

 fall into water or fire to destroy it : to obtain it, therefore, one 

 must have in readiness a pan of water, or kindle a fire ; the 

 original notion having been that the bird must return the plant 

 to the element from which it springs, — that being either the 

 water of the clouds, or the lightning-fire enclosed therein. The 

 connecTiion between the Springwort and the lightning is also 

 manifested in an old Swabian tradition, that when the plant is 

 buried in the ground at the summit of a mountain, it draws down 

 the lightning, and divides the storm, causing it to pass off to right 



and left. IntheOberpfalz, the Springwort is called J ohanniswurzel, 



because it is there believed that it can only be found among the 

 Fern on St. John's Night. It is said to be of a yellow colour, and 

 to shine in the night like a candle, resembling in this respe(ft the 

 Mandrake. Moreover, it never stands still, but darts about con- 

 tinually to avoid the grasp of men. Here then, in the luminosity 

 and the power of rapid movement attributed to the Springwort, we 



see the embodiment of eleeflricity in the plant. In Switzerland, 



the Spreiig-wurzel is carried in the right pocket, to render the bearer 

 invulnerable to dagger or bullet ; and in the Harz mountains it is said 

 to reveal treasures. With regard to this magical property of dis- 

 closing concealed treasures, a story is related by Kuhn in his North 

 German Legends, from which we learn that a shepherd who was driv- 

 ing his flock over the Ilsenstein, having stopped to rest, leaning on his 

 staff", the mountain suddenly opened, for there was a Springwort in 

 his staff" without his knowing it. Inside the mountain he discovered 

 an enchanted princess, who bade him take as much gold as he 

 pleased ; so he filled his pockets, and then prepared to retire ; but he 



