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have the strength of twenty men, he will discover precious metals
in the bowels of the earth, he will comprehend the present and the
future. Up to the present time, however, no one has been able to
secure this precious seed. It ripens but for a minute, and the
Devil guards it with ferocious vigilance.”
De Gubernatis, in his Mythologie des Plantes, publishes a communication
sent him by the Princess Marie Galitzin Prazorovskaïa,
on the subjea of the flowering of the Fern, the details of which she
obtamed from a Russian peasant. “ On Midsummer night, before
twelve o’clock, with a white napkin, a cross, a Testament, a glass
of water, and a watch, one seeks in the forest the spot where the
Fern grows ; one traces with the cross a large circle ; one spreads
the napkin, placing on the cross the Testament and the glass of
water. Then one attentively looks at one’s watch: at the precise
midnight hour the Fern will bloom : one watches attentively • for
he who shall see the Fern-seed drop shall at the same tirnè see
many other marvels ; for example, three suns, and a full moon, which
reveals every objecft, even the most hidden. One hears laughter •
one IS conscious of being called ; if one remains quiet one will hear
all that IS happening in the world, and all that is going to happen ”
In a work by Markevic, the author says :—“ The Fern flowers
on Midsummer night at twelve o’clock, and drives away all unclean
spirits. First of all it put forth buds, which afterwards expand,
then open, and finally change into flowers of a dark red hue At
midnight, the flower opens to its fullest extent, and illuminates
everything around. But at that precise moment a demon plucks
It from Its stalk. Whoever wishes to procure this flower must be
in the forest before midnight, locate himself near the Fern and
trace a circle around it. When the Devil approaches and calls,
feigning the voice of a parent, sweetheart, &c., no attention must
be paid, nor must the head be turned, for if it is, it will remain so.
Whoever becomes the happy possessor of the flower has nothing
to fear : by its means he can recover lost treasure, become invisible
rule on earth and under water, and defy the Devil. To discover
hidden treasure, it is only necessary to throw the flower in the air •
if It turns like a star above the Sun, so that it falls perpendicular^
in the same spot, it is a sure indication that treasure is concealed
there.
A very ancient method prescribed for obtaining the mystic
Fern-seed IS given by Dr. Kuhn. At the Summer solstice, if you
shoot at the Sun when it has attained its mid-day height, three
drops of blood will fall: they must be gathered up and preserved,
for that IS the Fern-seed.
• 1 Franche-Comté peasantry talk of a mysterious plant that
misleads travellers. According to a German authority, this plant
IS no other than the Fern on Midsummer night. As we have
seen, on that night the Fern is reputed to flower, and to let fall its
seed: he who secures this seed, becomes invisible; but if the unsuspeaing
traveller passes by the Fern without noticing it, he will be
Lsuredly misled, even although well acquainted with the road.
This is the reason why, in Thuringia, they call the Fern Irrkraut,
the misleading plant. .
In Foland, there is a popular notion that the plucking of Fern
produces a violent thunderstorm.
In Germany, they call the Fern Walpurgishraut, the superstition
being that, on the Walpurgisnacht, the witches procure this plant in
order to render themselves invisible. In Lombardy, there exists
a popular superstition akin to this. The witches, they say, are
particularly fond of the Fern; they gathered it to rub m their
hands during a hailstorm, turning it from the side where the hail
falls the thickest.
The root of the common Male Fern [Fihx mas), was an important
ingredient in the love-philtres of former days. An old
Gaelic bard sings:—
“ ’Twas the maiden’s matchless beauty
That drew my heart anigh;
Not the Fern-root potion,
But the glance of her blue eye.”
In olden times the young scroll-like fronds of this Fern were
called Lucky Hands, or St. John’s Hands, and were believed to pro-
te6l the possessor from sorcery, witches’ spells, and the E v il Eye.
In Germany, the Male Fern was formerly called Johanniswurtzel;
and both on the Continent, and in England, it was the custom, on
Midsummer Eve, to gather this Fern, which was sold to the credulous,
who wore it about their persons, and mingled it with
the water drunk by their cows, as a protecftion against all evil
sprits, and to ensure good luck. It is believed, in Thuringia, that
if anyone carries Fern about him, he will be pursued by serpents
until he throws it away. In Sweden, the plant is called Snake-
An ancient notion prevailed, that the Male Fern had an
antipathy to the Reed; and that where one grew, the other was
sure to be absent. According to Dioscorides, “ the root hereof is
reported to be good for those that have ill spleens; and being
stamped with swine’s grease and applied, it is a remedy against
the pricking of the Reed.” Other old herbalists state, that the
roots of the Male Fern, and the Lady Fern {Filix fcemina),foiled
in oil, produced “ very profitable ointments to heal wounds.” The
Ophioglossum had, in olden times, the reputation of being a cure for
the bite of serpents. (See also B r a c k e n ).
According to Cornish fairy mythology, the Fern was connedted
with the Small Folk, who are believed to be the spirits of the
people who inhabited Cornwall thousands of years ago—long
before the birth of Christ. In the legend of the Fairy Widow^, a
pretty girl, Jenny Permuen, a village coquette, one day set off to
“ look for a place.” At the junaion of four cross roads, she sat