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picfture of an Oak-tree; the more perfecit, the luckier your chance
will be. In Germany, the figure portrayed in the stem is popularly
recognised as the Russian Double Eagle. Of still more ancient
origin, however, is the opinion that the figure in the Brake Fern-
stem is that of an eagle, from whence it derived its name of Eagle
Fern. In Henderson’s ‘ Folk Lore of the Northern Counties,’ we
read that witches detest the Bracken Fern because it bears on
its root the letter C, the initial of the holy name of Christ, which
may be plainly seen on cutting the root horizontally. It has,
however, been suggested that the letter intended is not the English
C, but the Greek %, the initial letter of the word Christos, which
resembles closely the marks on the root of the Bracken. These
marks, however, have been also stated to represent Adam and
E v e standing on either side of the Tree of Knowledge, and King
Charles in the Oak. In some parts, lads and lasses try to discover
in the Bracken-stem the initials of their future wife or husband.
Astrologers state that the Bracken Fern is under the dominion
of Mercury.
B R A M B L E , or B L A C K B E R R Y . — The Bramble or
Blackberry-bush [Rubus fruticosus) is said to be the burning bush, in
the midst of which Jehovah appeared to Moses. It is the subject
of the oldest apologue extant. We read in Judges ix., 8—15, how
Jotham, when bitterly reproaching the men of Shechem for their
ingratitude to his father’s house, narrated to them, after the
Oriental fashion, the parable of the trees choosing a king, in which
their choice eventually fell upon the Bramble. According to some
accounts, it was the Bramble that supplied the Thorns which were
plaited into a crown, and worn by our Saviour just prior to the
Crucifixion. On St. Simon and St. Jude’s Day (October 28th)
tradition avers that Satan sets his foot on the Bramble, after which
day not a single edible Blackberry can be found. In Sussex, they
say that, after Old Michaelmas Day (loth Odtober), the Devil goes
round the county and spits on the Blackberries. In Scotland,
it is thought that, late in the Autumn, the Devil thows his cloak
over the Blackberries, and renders them unwholesome. In Ireland,
there is an old saying, that “ at Michaelmas the Devil put his foot
on the Blackberries;” and in some parts of that country the
peasants will tell their children, after Michaelmas Day, not to eat
the Crian-mhuine (Blackberries); and they attribute the decay in
them, which about that time commences, to the operation of the
Phooka, a mischievous goblin, sometimes assuming the form of a
bat or bird, at other times appearing as a horse or goat. The
ancients deemed both the fruit and flowers of the Bramble efficacious
against the bites of serpents; and it was at one time
believed that so astringent were the qualities of this bush, that
even its young shoots, when eaten as a salad, would fasten teeth
that were loose. Gerarde, however, for that purpose recommends
a decodtion of the leaves, mixed with honey, alum, and a
little wine, and adds that the leaves “ heale the eies that hang
out.” In Cornwall, Bramble-leaves, wetted with spring water,
are employed as a charm for a scald or burn. The moistened
leaves are applied to the burn whilst the patient repeats the following
formula:—
“ There came three angels out of the East,
One brought fire, and two brought frost;
Out fire and in frost;
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.”
A similar incantation to the above is used as a charm for inflammatory
disease. The formula is repeated three times to each one
of nine Bramble-leaves immersed in spring water, passes being
meanwhile made with the leaves from the diseased part. A cure
for rheumatism is to crawl under a Bramble, which has formed a
second root in the ground; and to charm away boils, the sufferer
should pass nine times, against the Sun, under a Bramble-bush
growing at both ends. In Devonshire, a curious charm for the
cure of blackhead or pinsoles consisted in creeping under an
arched Bramble. The person affecited by this troublesome malady
has to creep on hands and knees under or through a Bramble
three times, with the Sun—that is, from east to west. The Bramble
must be of peculiar growth, forming an arch rooting at both ends,
and if possible reaching into two proprietors’ lands; so that a
Bramble is by preference seleffied, of which the original root is in
the hedge of one owner, and the end of the branch forming the
arch is rooted in the meadow of another, The Bramble has
funereal associations, and its young shoots have long been used to
bind down the sods on newly-made graves in village churchyards.
Jeremy Taylor, when commenting on mortality, says, referring
to this custom: “ The Summer gives green turf and Brambles to
bind upon our graves.” The Moat of Moybolgue, in the County
of Cavan, is a sacred place in Ireland, where St. Patrick ministered.
According to a legend. Honor Garrigan, one Sunday during the
saint’s lifetime, rode up the hill to church; but espying a bunch of
ripe Blackberries, she dismounted in order to gather them. Her
servant lad remonstrated upon the wickedness of her breaking
her fast before receiving the Holy Communion, but in vain; his
mistress ate the Blackberries, and then her hunger increased to
famine pitch, and she ate the boy and then the horse. St. Patrick,
alarmed by the cries of his congregation, who were afraid the
wicked woman would devour them also, shot her with his bow anc
arrow—her body separating into four sections, which were buried in
a field outside the churchyard; St. Patrick prophesying to the
terrified crowd that she would lie quiet till nine times nine of the
name of Garrigan should cross the stream which separated the
roads from the churchyard. When that took place, she would rise
again, and devour all before her; and that would be the way she
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