TREES IN MYTH AND LEGEND. 205 



The superstitions connected with the oak in Britain are 

 closely associated with the history of the Druids. During the 

 earliest times the forests of Britain were not only useful as a 

 means of subsistence and a secure retreat from enemies, but 

 they were also devoted to the most sacred rites of religion. 

 Groves of oaks were always favoured, and oak branches always 

 used in the religious ceremonies. We have the picture of the 

 Keltic Heaven god, whose image was a mighty oak, with the 

 white-robed Druids climbing the sacred tree to cut the mistletoe 

 and sacrificing it to the two white bulls beneath. According to 

 mythology the discovery of the mistletoe on the oak was a 

 circumstance of very rare occurrence, and therefore looked on 

 as indicative of the peculiar favour of heaven, and as a certain 

 sign that the tree on which it grew was chosen by the Deity for 

 religious reverence. Legend informs us that in Druid times 

 mistletoe was only found on the oak. These mistletoe-growing 

 oaks, it is believed, were destroyed after the last of the Druids 

 had gone. This is highly probable : but it is much debated 

 whether it was actually the mistletoe which the Druids used in 

 their religious ceremonies. Whatever may be the conditions 

 necessary for the germination and growth of mistletoe on oak, 

 they must be such as rarely coincide, or it certainly would be 

 much more common in this country. Oak woods and oak 

 trees border mistletoe-abounding orchards very generally, and 

 the trees themselves are often mingled in very close alliance ; 

 indeed, it would not be too much to say, from the great occur- 

 rence of oaks in the vicinity of orchards, that the birds must sow 

 the mistletoe seeds upon them more frequently than upon any 

 other kind of tree. Nevertheless, in Herefordshire for example, 

 where oaks and orchards are very common, there are very few 

 instances of mistletoe-bearing oaks, while the plant is quite 

 plentiful on apple trees. It is possible that the mistletoe of 

 the Druids may be confounded with a species of Loranthus 

 which is often found in association with oak trees in England. 



A relic of Druids' time and their belief of sustaining perpetual 

 fire was the Yule Log. This Yule Log was always made of oak. 

 Once every year all the fires belonging to the people were 

 extinguished to be re-lighted by the sacred fire of the Druids. 



Even as late as the birth of Edward III. we have an instance 

 of the sacred character which the oak had for the Welsh. 

 When Edward III. was born in Carnarvon Castle, in order to 



