March Winds 



ones, and they came, rather dry in the leaves after their 

 journey, but with rich purple flowers still fresh enough to 

 proclaim them as good forms. Only later I learnt that 

 my friend, having hunted diligently but in vain, consulted 

 a high authority, and was told that they only grew in a 

 limited area near Messina, many miles from his intended 

 wanderings. Such is the kindness of the hearts of good 

 gardeners that in spite of all this, those two good men 

 contrived to get me the plants, and now they have revived 

 from their first and perilous sleep in their new home. 



It must have been to get a higher price for the roots, 

 and deter others from collecting them, that the herbalists 

 invented such lies as to the difficulties of digging up the 

 Mandrake. They declared that it screamed so fearfully 

 during the operation that all who heard it died, so the 

 best way to obtain it was to loosen it a little in the ground 

 and tie it to the tail of a hungry dog and set his meal be- 

 yond his reach. His struggles to reach it pulled up the 

 root, its screams killed the dog, and you returned later on 

 to collect your prize from the corpse. I have dug up 

 many a one, and though I found the large root took a 

 deal of digging 



" There was silence supreme ! Not a shriek, not a scream, 

 Scarcely even a howl or a groan," 



and I, and moreover my dog who watched the operation, 

 were none the worse. Nor have I ever found one with a 

 root showing more resemblance to the human form than 

 any bifid Parsnip does. The usual run of old drawings 

 represented the human-shaped body as below ground 

 forming the roots, and the leaves and fruits issuing from 

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