130 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



twigs in different parts of Britain, and a few still linger 

 in the principality of Wales. In Wiltshire, also, and in 

 Devonshire, and all such places, where extensive commons 

 abound, or rocks and waterfalls, it was once the practice to 

 pluck an ash-leaf in every case where the leaflets were of 

 equal number, and to say, 



"Even ash, I do thee pluck, 

 Hoping thus to meet good luck ; 

 If no luck I get from thee, 

 Better far be on the tree." 



Traditionary reverence is also attached to me, even more 

 than to any other forest tree ; and in this you may recognize 

 evident traces of that mythological system, in which the 

 ash, Yggdrassil, or the world's tree the greatest and holiest 

 of all trees, which embraces the universe, and from whose 

 boughs descend the bee-feeding dew, figured so promi- 

 nently. Hence, without doubt, originated the strange 

 custom of passing children through a cleft ash-tree, which 

 also prevails in India with regard to other trees, when 



