THE HAZEL. 



THE HAZEL {Corylus avelland). — RECONCILIATION. 

 Peace. 



Time was when the human race had no common bond of 

 union. Deaf to the cries of nature, the lover abandoned his 

 mistress ; the mother snatched from her child the wild fruit 

 with which he sought to satisfy his hunger. If misfortune 

 united them for a moment, the sight of an oak laden with 

 acorns, or of a beech-tree bearing abundant mast, made them 

 enemies. Then the world was filled with woe. There was 

 neither law, nor religion, nor intelligible language. Man 

 understood not his nature ; his reason slept, and he was oft 

 as cruel as the most ferocious beasts, whose bowlings he 

 imitated. 



The gods took pity upon mankind ; Apollo and Mercury 

 prepared gifts and came down upon earth. The god of 

 harmony received from the son of Mala a tortoise-shell with 

 which he made a lyre, and gave to Mercury, in exchange, a 

 hazel-rod, which had the power to inspire with a love of 

 virtue, and to reconcile hearts divided by hatred and envy : 

 thus provided, the two sons of Jupiter presented themselves 

 to men. Apollo sang forthwith of that Eternal Wisdom 

 which made the world ; he told them how the elements were 

 produced, and how charity unites by its gentle influence all 

 created beings ; and taught his hearers that they must 

 appease the anger of the gods by prayer. At his voice you 

 might have seen mothers, pale and trembling, draw near him, 

 holding their little infants in their arms ; hunger ceased ; 



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