THE ANGLO-SAXON HERBALS 15 



inhabiting alike the sea and the desolate fens, " where the elk- 

 sedge waxed in the water." If some were akin to the Formori 

 of the baleful fogs in Irish mythic history and the Mallt-y-nos, 

 those she-demons of marshy lands immortalised by the Welsh 

 bards, creatures huge and uncouth " with grey and glaring 

 eyes," there were others who exceeded in beauty anything 

 human. When Caedmon wrote of the beauty of Sarah, he 

 described her as " sheen as an elf." With the passing of the 

 centuries we have well-nigh forgotten the black elves, though 

 they are still realities to the Highlander and too real for him to 

 speak of them. But have we not the descendants of the sheen 

 bright elves in the works of Shakespeare, Milton and Shelley? 

 One feels very sure that our Saxon ancestors would have under- 

 stood that glittering elf Ariel as few of us are capable of 

 understanding him. He is the old English bright elf. Did not 

 Prospero subdue him with magic, as our ancestors used magic 

 songs in administering herbs " to quell the elf " ? Here is one 

 such song from the Leech Book of Bald, and at the end a 

 conjuration to bury the elf in the earth. 



" I have wreathed round the wounds 

 The best of healing wreaths 

 That the baneful sores may 

 Neither burn nor burst, 

 Nor find their way further, 

 Nor turn foul and fallow, 

 Nor thump and throle on, 

 Nor be wicked wounds, 

 Nor dig deeply down ; 

 But he himself may hold 

 In a way to health. 

 Let it ache thee no more 

 Than ear in Earth acheth. 



Sing also this many times, ' May earth bear on thee with all her 

 might and main/ " Leech Book of Bald, III. 63. 



This was for one " in the water elf disease," and we read 

 that a person so afflicted would have livid nails and tearful 

 eyes, and would look downwards. Amongst the herbs to be 



