The Folk-lore of Plants Part 8

2. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 30.

3. Friend, "Flowers and Flower Lore," p. 34.

4. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," ii. 81-2.

5. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 266.

6. See "The Phytologist," 1862, p. 236-8.

7. "Folk-lore of Shakespeare," p. 15.

8. See Friend's "Flower Lore," i. 34.

9. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 266.

10. Friend's "Flower Lore," i. 27.

11. See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 231.

12. Grimm's "Teut. Myth.," 1883, ii. 451;

13. "Asiatic Researches," i. 345.

14. See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 173.

15. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 251-3.

CHAPTER VIII.

LOVE-CHARMS.

Plants have always been largely used for testing the fidelity of lovers, and at the present day are still extensively employed for this purpose by the rustic maiden. As in the case of medical charms, more virtue would often seem to reside in the mystic formula uttered while the flower is being secretly gathered, than in any particular quality of the flower itself. Then, again, flowers, from their connection with certain festivals, have been consulted in love matters, and elsewhere we have alluded to the knowledge they have long been supposed to give in dreams, after the performance of certain incantations.

Turning to some of the well-known charm formulas, may be mentioned that known as "a clover of two," the mode of gathering it const.i.tuting the charm itself:

"A clover, a clover of two, Put it in your right shoe; The first young man you meet, In field, street, or lane, You'll get him, or one of his name."

Then there is the hempseed formula, and one founded on the luck of an apple-pip, which, when seized between the finger and thumb, is supposed to pop in the direction of the lover's abode; an ill.u.s.tration of which we subjoin as still used in Lancas.h.i.+re:

"Pippin, pippin, paradise, Tell me where my true love lies, East, west, north, and south, Pilling Brig, or c.o.c.ker Mouth."

The old custom, too, of throwing an apple-peel over the head, marriage or single blessedness being foretold by its remaining whole or breaking, and of the peel so cast forming the initial of the future loved one, finds many adherents. Equally popular, too, was the practice of divining by a thistle blossom. When anxious to ascertain who loved her most, a young woman would take three or four heads of thistles, cut off their points, and a.s.sign to each thistle the name of an admirer, laying them under her pillow. On the following morning the thistle which has put forth a fresh sprout will denote the man who loves her most.

There are numerous charms connected with the ash-leaf, and among those employed in the North of England we may quote the following:

"The even ash-leaf in my left hand, The first man I meet shall be my husband; The even ash-leaf in my glove, The first I meet shall be my love; The even ash-leaf in my breast, The first man I meet's whom I love best; The even ash-leaf in my hand, The first I meet shall be my man.

Even ash, even ash, I pluck thee, This night my true love for to see, Neither in his rick nor in his rear, But in the clothes he does every day wear."

And there is the well-known saying current throughout the country:

"If you find an even ash or a four-leaved clover, Rest a.s.sured you'll see your true love ere the day is over."

Longfellow alludes to the husking of the maize among the American colonists, an event which was always accompanied by various ceremonies, one of which he thus forcibly describes:

"In the golden weather the maize was husked, and the maidens Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover, But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the corn-field: Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover."

Charms of this kind are common, and vary in different localities, being found extensively on the Continent, where perhaps even greater importance is attached to them than in our own country. Thus, a popular French one--which many of our young people also practise--is for lovers to test the sincerity of their affections by taking a daisy and plucking its leaflets off one by one, saying, "Does he love me?--a little--much--pa.s.sionately--not at all!" the phrase which falls to the last leaflet forming the answer to the inquiry:

"La blanche et simple Paquerette, Que ton coeur consult surtout, Dit, Ton amant, tendre fillette, T'aime, un peu, beaucoup, point du tout."

Perhaps Brown alludes to the same species of divination when he writes of:

"The gentle daisy with her silver crown, Worn in the breast of many a shepherd la.s.s."

In England the marigold, which is carefully excluded from the flowers with which German maidens tell their fortunes as unfavourable to love, is often used for divination, and in Germany the star-flower and dandelion.

Among some of the ordinary flowers in use for love-divination may be mentioned the poppy, with its "prophetic leaf," and the old-fas.h.i.+oned "bachelor's b.u.t.tons," which was credited with possessing some magical effect upon the fortunes of lovers. Hence its blossoms were carried in the pocket, success in love being indicated in proportion as they lost or retained their freshness. Browne alludes to the primrose, which "maidens as a true-love in their bosoms place;" and in the North of England the kemps or spikes of the ribwort plantain are used as love-charms. The mode of procedure as practised in Northamptons.h.i.+re is thus picturesquely given by Clare in his "Shepherd's Calendar:":

"Or trying simple charms and spells, Which rural superst.i.tion tells, They pull the little blossom threads From out the knotweed's b.u.t.ton heads, And put the husk, with many a smile, In their white bosom for a while;

Then, if they guess aright the swain Their love's sweet fancies try to gain, 'Tis said that ere it lies an hour, 'Twill blossom with a second flower, And from the bosom's handkerchief Bloom as it ne'er had lost a leaf."

Then there are the downy thistle-heads, which the rustic maiden names after her lovers, in connection with which there are many old rhymes.

Beans have not lost their popularity; and the leaves of the laurel still reveal the hidden fortune, having been also burnt in olden times by girls to win back their errant lovers.

The garden scene in "Faust" is a well-known ill.u.s.tration of the employment of the centaury or bluebottle for testing the faith of lovers, for Margaret selects it as the floral indication whence she may learn the truth respecting Faust:

"And that scarlet poppies around like a bower, The maiden found her mystic flower.

'Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell If my love loves, and loves me well; So may the fall of the morning dew Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue; Now I remember the leaves for my lot-- He loves me not--he loves me--he loves me not-- He loves me! Yes, the last leaf--yes!

I'll pluck thee not for that last sweet guess; He loves me!' 'Yes,' a dear voice sighed; And her lover stands by Margaret's side."

Another mode of love-divination formerly much practised among the lower orders was known as "peascod-wooing." The cook, when sh.e.l.ling green peas, would, if she chanced to find a pod having _nine_, lay it on the lintel of the kitchen-door, when the first man who happened to enter was believed to be her future sweetheart; an allusion to which is thus given by Gay:

"As peascod once I pluck'd, I chanced to see One that was closely fill'd with three times three, Which, when I cropp'd, I safely home couvey'd, And o'er the door the spell in secret laid.

The latch mov'd up, when who should first come in, But, in his proper person, Lublerkin."

On the other hand, it was customary in the North of England to rub a young woman with pease-straw should her lover prove unfaithful:

"If you meet a bonnie la.s.sie, Gie her a kiss and let her gae; If you meet a dirty hussey, Fie, gae rub her o'er wi' strae!"

From an old Spanish proverb it would seem that the rosemary has long been considered as in some way connected with love: