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and prosperity ; but a vi/on of Lilies out of their season, or
withered, signifies frustration of hopes, and the death or severe
illness of someone beloved. Astrologers state that Lilies are
under the dominion of the Moon.
L I L Y O F t h e v a l l e y .— I n mediæval days, the monks
and nuns believed that the Convallaria was the L ily of the Valiev
mentioned m the Canticles (ii., 17), and the fiower alluded to by
“ consider the Lilies of the
held. The Martagón L ily, however {Lilium Chalcedonicum), is now
generally considered to be the L ily of Palestine; the L ily of the
Valley, or Conval L ily, being quite unknown in the Holy L a n d ____
Lihes of the Vafiey are called Virgin’s Tears; they are the fiowers
but in some parts of England still retain
theq old name of May Lihes. There exists in Devon a superstition
that It IS unlucky to plant a bed of Lilies of the Valiev as
the person doing so wfil probably die in the course of the ensuing
J . 7 Germany, and Holland, these Lilies
are called May-fiowers. The blossoms possess a perfume highly
medicinal against nervous affedtions. The water distilled from
them was formerly in such great repute that it was kept only in
vessels of gold and silver : hence Matthiolus calls it aqua aurea. It
was esteemed as a preventive against all infedtious distempers.
Camerarius recommends an oil made of the fiowers as a specific
‘?H ' f P - -n p t io n L L follows
Have filled a glass with fiowers, and being well stopped,
set It for a rnoneth s space in an ante’s hill, and after being drayned
r f J y ^ legend in Sussex, that
m the forest of St. Leonard, where the hermit-saint once dwelt,
fierce encounters took place between the holy man and a dragon
which infested the neighbourhood ; the result being that the dralon
was gradually driven back into the inmost recesses of the forest
and at last disappeared. The scenes of their successive combats
are revealed afresh every year, when beds of fragrant Lilies of the
Valley spring up wherever the earth was sprinkled by the blood
of the warrior saint. The Conval L ily is under Mercury.
L IM E - T R E E .—The origin of the Lime-tree, according to
+ 7 ' ; A f ? to the metamorphosis of Baucis, the good-
hearted wife of an aged shepherd named Philemon. This old
couple lived happily and contentedly in a humble cottage in the
plains of Phrygia. Here they one day, with rustic hospitality, entertained
unknowingly the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who had been
7 ed .admittance to the dwellings of their wealthier neighbours
to bindness, Jupiter bade them ascend a neighbourb7^
fln’ 7 n neighbours’ dwellings swept away
by a flood but their own hut transformed into a splendid temple
of which the god appointed them the presiding priests. According
to their request, they both died at the same hour, and were changed
into trees—Baucis into a Lime, and Philemon into an Oak. Ovid
thus describes the transformation :—
“ Then, when their hour was come, while they relate
These past adventures at the temple gate,
Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen
Sprouting with sudden leaves of sprightly green :
Old Baucis looked where old Philemon stood,
And saw his lengthened arms a sprouting wood;
New roots their fastened feet begin to bind.
Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind.
Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew.
They give and take at once their last adieu.
A t once, farewell, O faithful spouse ! they said,
A t once th’ incroaching rinds their closing lips invade.
E v ’n yet an ancient Tyansean shows
A spreading Oak that near a Linden grows.”
Rapin, in his version of the tale, makes both of the old folks
become Limes, male and female :—
“ While these you plant, Philemon call to mind,
In love and duty with his Baucis joined—
A good old pair whom poverty had tried,
Nor could their vows and nuptial faith divide;
Their humble cot with sweet content was blest,
And each benighted stranger was their guest.
When Jove unknown they kindly entertained,
This boon.the hospitable pair obtained,
Laden with years, and weak through length of time,
That they should each become a verdant Lime
And since the transformation Limes appear
Of either sex ; and male and female are.”
In honour of its descent from the worthy old couple, the Lime
became the symbol of wedded love. In Scandinavian mythology,
Sigurd, after having killed the serpent Fafnir, bathes himself
in its blood: a leaf of a Linden or Lime-tree falls on him between his
shoulders, and renders that particular place vulnerable, although
every other portion of his body had become invulnerable. In
Germany, during May-day festivities, they often make use of the
Linden. Around the Linden dance the villagers of Gotha. In
Finland and in Sweden, the Linden is considered as a protecftive
tree. In the cemetery of the hospital of Annaberg, in Saxony,
there is a very ancient Linden-tree, concerning which tradition
relates that it was planted by an inhabitant, with its top in the
ground; and that its roots became branches, which now overshadow
a considerable portion of the country. At Siiderheistede,,
in Ditmarschen, there once stood a Linden which was known
throughout the country, as the “ Wonderful Tree.” It was much
higher than other trees, and its branches all grew crosswise.
Connected with this tree was an old prophecy that, as soon as the
Ditmarschens lost their freedom, the tree would wither; and so it
came to pass. But the people believe that a magpie will one day build
its nest in its branches, and hatch five young ones, and then the.
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