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had the ferryman returned to his cottage, ere a company of fierce
Danes rushed in, but knowing that he could be of service to them,
they did him no harm. During the day and night, Osmund was occupied
in ferrying the troops across the lake. When the last company
had landed, Osmund kneeled beside the bank, and returned
thanks to Heaven for the preservation of his wife and child. Often
in after years did he speak of that day’s p e r il; and his daughter
called the Fern by her father’s name. Gerarde, in describing the
stem of the Osmunda, which, on being cut, exhibits a white centre,
calls this portion of the Fern the “ heart of Osmund, the waterman,”
probably in allusion to the above tradition.
O u r L a d y ’ s P l a n t s .—See L a d y ’s Plants.
O x - E y e .—See Moon Daisy.
P A L A S A .—Palasa is a Sanscrit word, meaning “ leaf,” but
m course of time it became applied to the Butea frondosa as well as
the name Parna, which also signifies a leaf. The modern Indian
name of the tree is Dhak. The Palasa is in India a sacred tree,
and has a special cultus; as such, it is held to be imbued with the
immortalising Soma, the beverage of the gods. According to the
Vedas, it owed its origin to a feather dropped by a falcon who,
when the gods were pining for the precious Soma fiuid, succeeded
in stealing some from the demons who had charge of it. In fiying
off with its prize, the falcon was wounded by an arrow shot by one
of the demons, which wounded it and caused a feather impregnated
with the divine fiuid to fall to earth, where it took root and became
a Palasa-tree (called also Parna), which has a red sap and scarlet
blossoms—emblems of the sacred fire. The falcon was a transformed
god—some say Indra—hence the tree which sprang from
the god-bird’s feather was in its nature divine. The Palasa was
much employed by the Hindus in religious ceremonies, particularly
in one connedled with the blessing of calves to ensure them proving
good milkers. To this end, at the time of the sacrifice offered in
the new moon (the season of increase), the priest, on behalf of the
Hindu farmer, seledhed a Palasa-branch that grew on the north-east,
north, or east side of the tree, and cut it off, saying, “ For strength
cut I thee.” Then, having stripped off the leaves, he struck both
calves and dams with it, blessing the latter and bidding them be
good milkers and breeders, and profitable animals to their masters.
This done, he stuck up the Palasa rod eastward of the holy fire, and
bade it protedl the cattle. The objedt in thus touching the cattle
was that the divine Soma contained in the rod might pass into and
enrich the udders of the beasts. The Palasa is triple-leaved, and
hence was deemed to typify, like the trident, the forked lightning,
an appropriate attribute, inasmuch as it originally sprang from a
god of the lightning. In this respedt, it resembled the rod of
Mercury (a fire-god), the Sami, and the Rowan rod. The staff of
the Brahman ought to be made of Palasa wood. (See D h a k .)
plant l§)ore, IscgGQh/, anil ISLjrie/-, 4 8 1
P A LM .—The Palm-tree is symbolic of vidtory, of riches,
and of generation. It was considered by the ancients also an
emblem of light, and was held sacred to Apollo. The Palm of
Delos was supposed to have existed from the time of the god Apollo
himself. Among the Greeks, there existed a legend that the Palm,
like the Olive, was brought into Greece by Hercules, on his return
from the infernal regions. The Orphics venerated the Palm as an
immortal tree, which never grew old ; hence, as a symbol of
immortality, and especially of the immortality of glory, it was
associated with the goddess Vidtoria, called also Dea Palmaris.------
In India, as amongst the Arabs, the Palm is considered a sacred
tree. ^^According to an Indian legend, the Palm of the Lake of
Taroba, in Central India, was only visible during the day; in the
evening it re-entered the earth. It is related that a rash pilgrim
climbed one morning to the top of the Palm, but the tree grew to
such a height above the earth’s surface, that+he pilgrim was
scorched to death by the sun’s rays, and the Palm itself was
reduced to tinder. On the spot where the miraculous Palm is said
to have once grown stands the idol of the Geni of the Lake,
called Taroba. Christian legend has associated the Palm with
the history of Jesus. According to the Apocryphal Gospel, the
Virgin Mary, whilst journeying, became fatigued and oppressed
with the great heat ; in passing by a great desert, she saw a large
and beautiful Palm-tree, beneath which she wished to seek rest
and shelter ; so she asked Joseph to drive the ass upon which she
was seated towards the tree. When she reached the foot of the
tree, she dismounted, and, looking up, noticed that the tree was
laden with fruit. Then she said to Joseph : “ I wish to have some
of the fruit of this tree, for I am hungry.” To this, Joseph replied :
“ Mary, I marvel that you should desire to eat of this fruit.”
Then Jesus Christ, who was seated in his mother’s lap, ordered
the Palm to bend down, so that his mother might partake of its
fruit at pleasure. And forthwith the tree bent down to the Virgin
Mary, and she partook of its fruit, and still the Palm remained
bent downwards. Then, Jesus perceiving this, ordered the Palm
to resume its natural position, and it immediately did so. This
legend has been widely diffused in Italy and elsewhere, sometimes,
with the following addendum: “ Jesus, after this adt of devotion
on the part of the Palm, gave the tree his benedidtion, chose it as
the symbol of eternal salvation for the dying, and declared that he
would make his triumphant entry into Jerusalem with a Palm in his
hand.”—^ T h e Palm was early assumed by the Christian Church
as the universal symbol of martyrdom, in accordance with Revelation
vii., 9 : “ And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude
stood before the throne, clothed with white robes, and with Palms
in their hands..................And he said to me. These are they which
came out of great tribulation.” Hence, in early Italian paintings
of the saints, as well as on the sculptured effigies of Christian
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