Out of her breast there sprang a rose,
And out of his a brier.
They grew till they grew into the church top,
And then they could grow no higher;
And there they tyed in a true lover’s knot,
Which made all the people admire.[176]
A story is told in Japan of a faithful couple who, after enjoying long years of happiness, died at last at the same moment; their spirits withdrew into a tall pine-tree of great age, which a god had once planted as he passed that way. On moonlight nights the lovers may be seen raking together the pine-needles under the tree, which to this day is known as the Pine of the Lovers.[177]
A certain Chinese king had a secretary, Hanpang, for whose young and beautiful wife he conceived a violent passion. Failing in his designs upon her, the king threw Hanpang into prison, where he shortly died of grief. His wife, to escape the royal suit, threw herself from a lofty terrace, having entreated as a last favour that she might be buried beside her husband. The king in his anger ordered otherwise. But that same night a cedar sprang from each grave, and in ten days they had become so tall and vigorous in their growth that they were able to interlace both branch and root, and the people called them the Trees of Faithful Love.[178]
In Germany the following story is told to explain why a certain blue flower, the endive, which grows by the roadside, is called the “Wegewarte” or way-watcher. A maiden, eagerly anticipating the return of her lover from a long voyage, visited every morning and evening the spot where they had parted, and anxiously paced the road, awaiting his coming. At last, worn out by her long vigil, she sank down by the wayside and expired. On the spot where she breathed her last the flower appeared.[179]
There is a Japanese story in which a mother is represented as hearing her dead son’s voice in the sighing of a sacred willow which grew above his grave.[180] Grimm quotes other examples.[181] In the song of Roncesvalles, a blackthorn grows above the dead Saracens, a white flower above the dead Christians. In other legends white lilies grow from the graves of persons unjustly executed. From a maiden’s grave grew three lilies which none but her lover might pluck.