The Belladonna is another plant whose name is often associated with black magic.
To this day many Danes believe that the Elder is eternally cursed. Children who sleep in beds containing Elder wood continually complain of having their feet tickled and their legs pulled. To carry a cane of Elder is to invite attacks of slander. Women who have Elder wood in their houses will never be married. It is the elves who dwell in the Elder who are supposed to work all this mischief.
Plants often rise superior to the curse which men place upon them. Probably every well-known plant, sometime in its history, has had attributed to it both good and evil. The deity of one nation may become the demon of another.
Plant worship holds a more prominent place in the world today than one would at first thought imagine, and it is not altogether confined to uncultured peoples. Dr. George Birdwood tells of remarkable instances of modern flower worship he saw in Bombay. In describing the Victoria Gardens, he says: “Presently, a true Persian, in flowing robes of blue, and on his head his sheep-skin hat, ‘black, glossy, curl’d, the fleece of Kar-kal’, would saunter in, and stand and meditate over every flower he saw, and always, as if half in vision. And when the vision was fulfilled, and the flower he was seeking found, he would spread his mat and sit before it until the setting of the sun, then fold up his mat again and night after night, until that particular flower faded away, he would return to it, and bring his friends in ever-increasing troupes to it, and sit and play the guitar or lute before it, and they would altogether pray there, and after praying still sit before it, sipping sherbet, and talking the most hilarious and shocking scandal late into the moonlight; and so again and again every evening until the flower died. Sometimes, by way of grand finalé the whole company would suddenly rise before the flower and serenade it together, with an ode from Hafiz, and then depart.”
CHAPTER XI
Plant Mythology
“I’ll seek a four-leaved clover
In all the fairy dells,
And if I find the charmed leaf,
Oh, how I’ll weave my spells.”
Every Plant is surrounded by a halo of human thought. If one is able to discern that halo, he finds a new and fascinating interest attaching itself to each herb and flower. The most humble of them become fortune-tellers, luck-bringers, and talismen against evil, as well as dwelling-places of fairies, elves, imps, and other ethereal mischief-makers.
In the childhood of humanity, the earth was a very romantic place. In addition to the familiar human inhabitants, there were whole races of supernatural and invisible beings which wielded great influence over the every-day world of affairs. Every plant was considered good or evil, according to the character of the spirits which it was believed to harbour.
People of this practical age are inclined to look upon these stories with contemptuous intolerance. “We have outgrown such baby-talk,” they say, and forthwith relegate whole kingdoms of elfin hosts to their children’s nurseries, or possibly refuse them their homes entirely. But to a few discerning minds, these idle dreams of a romantic past offer a most refreshing contrast to present-day utilitarianism.
The airy fancies of our forefathers should have a larger share in our thought today. A single flower myth contains more beauty and enduring appeal than a hundred steel mills. We must go back to the youth of the race,—to the time of Shakespeare, Milton, and gentle Ben Jonson,—for our noblest literature. In those days, men actually believed in fairies, goblins, and all the rest, and were probably better for having done so. We, with our broader intellectual outlook, can congratulate ourselves that we have advanced beyond such things, but still appreciate their spirit and their beauty.