t !
2 3 0 p fa n .t b o r o , beg©Q^/, a n i. b q n c /,
The Bretons have a legend that the Saviour’s cross was made of
Aspen wood; and that the ceaseless trembling of the leaves of this
tree marks the shuddering of sympathetic horror. The Germans
preserve an ancient tradition that, during their flight into Egypt, the
Holy Family came to a dense forest, in which, but for an angelic
guide, they must have lost their way. As they entered this wilderness,
all the trees bowed themselves down in reverence to the
infant God ; only the Aspen, in her exceeding pride and arrogance,
refused to acknowledge Him, and stood upright. Then the Holy
Child pronounced a curse against her, as He in after life cursed
the barren Fig-tree; and at the sound of His words the Aspen
began to tremble through all her leaves, and has not ceased to
tremble to this day. Mr. Henderson, in his ‘ Folk-lore of the
Northern Counties,’ states that this tradition has been embodied
in a little poem, which may be thus translated:—
“ Once as our Saviour u^alked with men below,
His path of mercy through a forest lay ;
And mark how all the drooping branches show,
What homage best a silent tree may pay !
“ Only the Aspen stands erect and free,
Scorning to join the voiceless worship pure;
But see ' He casts one look upon the tree,
Struck to the heart she trembles evermore ! ”
The Kirghises, who have become almost Mussulmans, have nevertheless
preserved a profound veneration for the sacred Aspen.------
Astrologers hold that the Aspen is a lunar tree.
A S P H O D E L .'—The Asphodel is the flower which flourished
in the Elysian Fields. Orpheus, in Pope’s ‘ Ode on St. Cecilia’s
Day,’ conjures the infernal deities—
^ “ By the streams that ever flow;
By the fragrant winds that blow
O’er the Elysian flowers;
By those happy souls who dwell
In yellow meads of Asphodel,
Or Amaranthine bowers.”
Homer tells us that, having crossed the Styx, the shades passed
over a long prairie of Asphodel; and Lucian makes old Charon
s a y :—“ I know why Mercury keeps us waiting so long. Down
here with us there is nothing to be had but Asphodel, and libations
and oblations, and that in the midst of mist and darkness : but up
in heaven it is all bright and clear, and plenty of ambrosia there,
and nedtar without stint.” The fine flowers of this plant of the
infernal regions produced grains which were believed by the
ancients to afford nourishment to the dead. Accordingly we find
that the Greeks planted Asphodel and Mallows round graves.
The edible roots of the Asphodel were also wont to be laid as
offerings in the tombs of the departed, and, according to Hesiod,
they served as food for the poor. The Asphodel was held sacred
to Bacchus, probably because he visited the infernal regions, and
rescued his mother Semele from the kingdom of the departed.
Wreaths of the Asphodel were worn by Bacchus, Proserpine,
Diana, and Semele. Asphodels were among the flowers forming
the couch of Jupiter and Juno, and Milton has named them as put
to the same use by Adam and Eve.
“ Flowers were the couch,
Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,
And Hyacinth, earth’s freshest, softest lap.”
Dr. Prior says that the Asphodel root was, under the name of ciho
ngio (food for a king), highly esteemed in the middle ages, but,
however improved by cultivation, it is likely to have been troublesome
by its diuretic qualities, and has probably on that account
gone out of fashion. Rapin, in his poem, refers to the Asphodel as
forming an article of food—
“ And rising Asphodel forsakes her bed,
On whose sweet root our rustic fathers fed. ”
A S T E R .—The old English name of the Aster is Star-wort.
Rapin says of this flower—
The Attic star, so named in Grecian use,
But called Amellus by the Mantuan Muse
In meadows reigns near some cool streamlet’s side.
Or marshy vales where winding currents glide.
Wreaths of this gilded flower the shepherds twine,
When grapes now ripe in clusters load the vine.”
The Aster is thus identified with the Amellus, of the Greek and
Latin poets, and, according to Virgil, the altars of the gods were
often adorned with wreaths of these flowers. In his Fourth Geòrgie
the poet prescribes the root of the Italian Star-wort {Aster Amellus)
for sickly bees. (See A m e l l u s ), The leaves of the Attic Star-wort
(when burnt) had the reputation of driving away serpents. In
Germany, the Star-wort is used by lovers as an oracle, to decide
whether their love is returned or not. The person consulting it
repeats the words—
E r lieb t m ich v o n H e rz e n
M it Schmerzen.^
J a — oder N em P
At the recurrence of the words ja and nein a leaf is pulled out,,
and the answer depends on which of these words is pronounced as
the last of the leaves is plucked. Gothe introduces this rustic
superstition in his tragedy of ‘ Faust,’ where the luckless heroine
consults the floral oracle as to the affedtion entertaiqed for her by-
Faust. The French call the Italian Star-wort, or Amellus, VOEU
de Christ, and the China Aster la Reine Marguerite The Aster is
considered to be a herb of Venus.
a s h .—This tree {Fraxinus excelsior), called, on account of its
elegance, the Venus of the forest, and from its utility, the husbandman’s
tree, was regarded by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and
Scandinavians as a sacred tree, and as one of good omen. In the