stick, tritons, centaures, dwarfes, gyants, imps, calcars, 

 Robin Goodfellow, the spoorn, the mare, the man in the oak, 

 the hell-wain, the fire drake, the puckle, Tom Thumbe, hob- 

 goblin, Tom Tumbler, boneless and such other bugs," that 

 they became fearful of their own shadows. 



Superstitions connected with animals and plants were 

 innumerable and amazing in their folly. The imaginary 

 basilisk was thought to be deadly to all serpents and to 

 mankind, killing the former with its breath and the latter 

 with a mere glance of its eyes; persons carrying its black 

 blood about them obtained gracious favors from princes and 

 great potentates, as well as immunity from diseases and from 

 witchcraft. The superstition of the mandrake has been nar- 

 rated at length by an early writer: "The mandragora, or 

 alrun, is a very rare herb that can be hardly found except 

 below the gallows where a pure youth has been hanged. He 

 who seeks the herb should know that its lower part has the 

 shape of a human being, and that its upper part consists of 

 broad leaves and yellow flowers. When it is torn from the 

 soil it sighs, shrieks and moans so piteously, that he who 

 hears it must die. To find it one should go out before sun- 

 rise on a Friday morning, after having stopped his ears with 

 cotton, wax or pitch,, and take with him a black dog with- 

 out a single white hair. The sign of the cross must be made 

 three times over the mandrake, and the soil dug up carefully 

 all around it so that it be attached only by fine rootlets. 

 Then tie it by a string to the tail of the dog and coax him 

 forward by, a piece of meat; the dog will pull out the man- 

 drake, but he, falls struck dead by the terrible shriek of the 

 mandrake. Then 'take it home wash in red wine, wrap it in 

 red and white silk, lay it in a shrine, wash it again every 

 Friday and dress it in a white frock. It will reveal to its 

 owner hidden things and future events, and procure for him 



173 



