24 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



No farther away from us than Bohemia the 

 first apple borne by a tree is sometimes plucked 

 and eaten by a woman who has given birth to 

 many children. It is believed that this will 

 make the tree, in the gardener's phrase, a free 

 bearer. The Galelareese, a Moluccan tribe, 

 think that if a tree do not bear fruit it must 

 be a male ; so they change its sex by dressing 

 it up in a woman's petticoat, whereupon, of 

 course, it will become prolific. These people 

 will not shoot with bow and arrows under a 

 fruit-tree. They think the tree will copy the 

 bow, and let fall its fruit, as the arrows drop to 

 the ground. Again, when they eat a water- 

 melon, they will not mix the pips they spit out 

 of their mouths with the pips that have been 

 put aside for seed. They think that if the pips 

 that have been spat out do germinate, spring 

 up and blossom, the blooms will fall as the pips 

 fell from the mouth, and thus these pips will 

 be fruitless. 



Not only is it believed that men can thus 

 influence trees intentionally and unintentionally, 

 by imitative magic, but it is also believed that 

 they can themselves be similarly influenced. 

 Mr. Frazer quotes the Galelareese beliefs that 



