166 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



special awe. To them, a gnarled and shattered oak 

 was the most mystical thing in the world and prob- 

 ably it is ! As an indication of the personal regard 

 which primitive people have for certain trees, wit- 

 ness the fact that not more than two or three cen- 

 turies ago it was the custom in certain parts of 

 Westphalia to make a formal announcement of each 

 death in a family to the nearest oak. 



There was a great mass of superstition and 

 peasantry practice in which various trees figured 

 throughout the Middle Ages. In Europe and oc- 

 casionally in England, it was believed that a child 

 could be cured of rupture by passing it through a 

 split oak branch. The tree-wound was bound to- 

 gether and plastered up with clay or loam. If it 

 healed, the child likewise would be cured. The lin- 

 den was long considered sacred in Germany and 

 was looked upon as the habitation of the goddess of 

 Love. The people of the same country also re- 

 vered the elder and associated it with Huldah or 

 Hilda, the mother of the Elves. It is quite curious 

 that despite its prepossessing character, the walnut 

 was generally believed in the northern countries to 

 be diabolical in origin and the hereditary enemy of 

 the oak. It was maintained that when these two 

 trees grew close together, one or the other must 

 wither and die. 



