One that was closely filled with three times three;
Which, when I cropped, I safely home conveyed,
And o’er the door the spell in secret laid.
The latch moved up, when who should first come in,
But in his proper person—Lubberkin.”
The village girls in Hertfordshire lay the pod with nine Peas under a gate, and believe they will have for husband the man who first passes through, or, at any rate, one whose Christian name and surname have the same initials as his.——It is always considered a good augury to dream of Peas.——In Suffolk, there is a legend that the Lathyrus Maritimus, or Everlasting Pea of the sea-side, sprang up on the coast there for the first time in a season when greatly needed; and Fuller says of this particular Pea that “in a general dearth all over England, plenty of Peas did grow on the sea-shore, near Dunmow, in Suffolk, never set or sown by human industry, which, being gathered in a full ripeness, much abated the high price in the markets, and preserved many hungry families from perishing.”
PEACH.—There is an old tradition that the falling of the leaves of a Peach-tree betoken a murrain.——There is a superstitious belief in Sicily, that anyone afflicted with goître, who on the night of St. John, or of the Ascension, eats a Peach, will be cured, provided only that the Peach-tree dies at the same time; the idea being that the tree, in dying, takes the goître away with it, and so delivers the sufferer from the affliction. In Italy, as a charm to cure warts, Peach-leaves are carefully buried in the earth, so that as they perish the wart may disappear.——To dream of Peaches in season denotes content, health, and pleasure.
PEAR.—Among the ancients, the Pear was specially consecrated to Venus. Columella knew a species called Pyrus Venerea, the Pear of Love. The Scots claim that “fair Avalon,” the Celtic “Isle of the Blest,” is an island in Loch Awe, Argyleshire; and the Gaelic legend changes the mystical Apples into the berries of the Pyrus cordata, a species of wild Pear, found both in the island of Loch Awe, and in Aiguilon.——On the Continent, there is a belief that orchards are infested by malignant spirits, which attack the fruit-trees, and in the Département de l’Orne, to drive away the demons which attack Pears and Apples, the peasants burn the Moss on the trunk and branches, singing the while an appropriate rhyme or incantation. In Aargau, Switzerland, when a boy is born, they plant an Apple-tree; when a girl, a Pear.——To dream of ripe Pears betokens riches and happiness; if unripe, adversity; if baked, great success in business; to a woman a dream of Pears denotes that she will marry above her in rank.
PEEPUL.—The Ficus religiosa, the Asvattha or Pippala of the Hindus, is a tree held in the highest sanctity by the Buddhists, near whose temples it is always found. It is this tree—the Bodhidruma, the Tree of Wisdom—under which Buddha sat absorbed in a species of intellectual ecstacy, and which his followers regard as the tree of creation, life, wisdom, and preparation for Paradise, as well as the yielder of ambrosia and rain. From ancient Vedic tradition the Buddhists have inherited the worship of this sacred tree: they say that at the hour of Buddha’s nativity, whilst around Kapilavastu suddenly arose magnificent woods, an enormous Asvattha, or Bo-tree, sprang from the very centre of the universe.——Hiouen-thsang, the Chinese pilgrim, professed to have found the Bodhidruma, or some tree that passed for it, twelve hundred years after Buddha’s death, at a spot near Gaya Proper, in Bahar, where still may be seen an old temple and ruins.——De Gubernatis tells us that there is represented in the Kâthaka Upanishad a heavenly cosmogonic Asvattha under precisely the same form as the Indian Bo-tree. “The eternal Asvattha, it is said, has its roots above, its branches below; it is called the Germ, Brahma, Ambrosia; beneath it all the worlds repose, above it nothing exists.” With its wood and that of the Acacia Suma (Sami) the sacred fire is lighted—the Asvattha representing the male, the Sami the female. The Asvattha, in rubbing the Sami, engenders the fire, and thus becomes an emblem of generation. From its heavenly origin and from its maintaining the fire of purification, the Bo-tree is credited with marvellous medicinal properties. Into a vase made of Asvattha-wood the priests pour the divine drink Soma.——In the Atharvaveda, says De Gubernatis, we are told that the Asvattha grows in the third heaven, and produces the Ambrosia under the name of Kushtha, or flower of the Amrita. He who eats the ambrosial food becomes intelligent. The cosmogonic tree of the Vedas is also the Tree of Intelligence, hence Buddha, the apostle of intelligence, sought refuge beneath its shade.——In a book of travels by two Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, translated by Mr. Beal, we find it stated that the only spot indicated by the gods as propitious to the acquirement of supreme wisdom is beneath the tree Peito, which the translator identifies with the Peepul, Bo-Tree, or Ficus religiosa. In the same narrative we learn that the gods constructed from the tree Sal (Shorea robusta) to the tree Bo a splendid road, three thousand cubits wide. The young Prince Buddha traverses the road during the night, surrounded by the Devas, the Nâgas, and other divine beings. Under the tree Peito Buddha walked from east to west, and was worshipped by the gods for the space of seven days; after that the gods constructed, north-west of the tree, a palace of gold, where Buddha stayed for seven days. Then he repaired to the lake Mukhalinda, where he sought the shadow of the tree Midella. Then the rain fell for seven days, and so the Nâga Mukhalinda came forth from the lake and sheltered Buddha with his hood. As showing the extreme fondness of Buddha for the Bo-tree, it is related by the Chinese that at the commencement of his conversion, he withdrew habitually beneath the tree Peito to meditate and fast. The Queen became exceedingly uneasy, and, in the hope of bringing back Buddha to his home, she gave orders for the Peito to be cut down. But at the sight of his beloved Bo-tree razed to the earth, so bitter became the grief of the seer, that he fell in a swoon to the ground. They sprinkled him with water, and when, after considerable trouble, he was restored to consciousness, he sprinkled on the roots one hundred jars full of milk; then prostrating himself with his face to the earth, he pronounced this vow:—“If the tree does not revive, I shall never arise again.” The tree at the same moment shot forth branches, and little by little raised itself until it attained its present height, which is about 120 feet. The number of Bo-trees which have become objects of veneration among the Hindus, and especially the Buddhists, is infinite, and the worship of the sacred Bodhidruma is still extant in India.——The Bo-tree is also specially consecrated to Vishnu, who is often portrayed as seated on its heart-shaped and pointed leaves. It is represented in the Vedas as being frequented by various birds, who eat its sweet Figs.——In the sacred city of Anurâdhapura, in Ceylon, is a Bo-tree, which is supposed to be one of the oldest trees in existence, and its age is not merely legendary, but substantiated by authentic records. Kings have dedicated their dominions to it, in testimony of their belief that it sprang from a branch of the identical tree under which Buddha reclined for seven years whilst undergoing his apotheosis. The precious branch was taken to Ceylon by the king Asoka, and the tree of which it was the parent was planted by the king Tissa, in the year 288 B.C. When planting it Tissa prophesied that it should flourish eternally, and that it should be an evergreen. It is too sacred to be touched by a knife, but the leaves, as they fall, are eagerly gathered and treasured by Buddhist pilgrims.——In Java, the Bo-tree is also held sacred, and a species of Mistletoe which grows on its branches is supposed to afford much gratification to the shades of the departed which revisit earth. The Buddhists of Thibet call the sacred Bo-tree the bridge of safety—the bridge by which mortals pass from the shores of the world to the shores of the immortal land.
PENNYROYAL.—The Pennyroyal (Mentha Pulegium) used formerly to be called Puliol Royal, and derived its name from the Latin word pulices, fleas—insects it was thought to be specially efficacious in destroying. In most of the Western Counties the plant is known as Organ-herb, and is much prized by old-women herbalists as a blood purifier. According to an ancient recipe, Organ broth was used in witchcraft to make people see double.——In Sicily, children put Pennyroyal in their cots on Christmas Day, under the belief that at the exact hour and minute when the infant Jesus was born this plant puts forth its blossom. The same wonder is repeated on Midsummer Night. In Sicily, also, Pennyroyal is given to husbands and wives who quarrel.——According to astrologers, Pennyroyal is a herb of Venus.