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of the trees; Erntcbock, a demon which steals part of the Corn
during harvest ; Farre, or the Little Bull, one oi a number of
spirits infesting the Corn-fields; Gerstenwolf, or Barley-wolf, a
demon which devours the B a r le y ; Graswolf, a spirit haunting
pastures; Habergeiss, or Plafcrbock, Goat of the Oats ; Halmbock, a
goblin whose hiding-place is among straw or the stems of plants;
Heukatze and Heupudel, Hay Cat and Pup, demons infesting Hay;
Kartoffehvolf, or Potato-goblin; Katzenmann, or Man-Cat, a monster
dwelling amidst Wheat; Kleesau, or Sow of the Clover; Krautesel,
or Ass of the Grass, a spirit especially inimical to Lettuces;
Kornwolf, Kornsau, Kornstier, Kornkuh, Kornmutter, Kornkind, and
Kornmaid, all demons, spirits, and monsters infesting Corn.
In some parts of Russia the Devil is invoked through the
medium of a herb. On the occasion of a marriage, the peasants
put into a bottle of brandy a certain plant called the Herb of the
D e v il; the bottle is then ornamented with ribbons and coloured
tapers, and armed with this present the father of tire intended
bride pays a visit to the father of the bridegroom, who offers to
ransom this bottled Devil by the payment of five kopecks. ‘ ‘J o , ”
says the girl’s father, “ Our princess wishes more tha.n that.” So
after further bargaining, a price of fifty kopecks is finally agreed
upon. In certain parts of Russia the Tobacco-plant is deemec.
a diabolic plant. In India the Witches’ Herb [Simpis mcemosa)
is called Asuri (the she-devil).
A few plants named after dragons, serpents, or snakes, and
many of those which are of a poisonous or noxious nature, must
be classed with the plants of the D e v il; such as, for example, the
Upas, the Manchineel, the Magnolia, the Oleander, tha,t deadly
Persian flower, the Kerzereh, the foetid Stapelici, the Phallus impudicus,
the Thief’s Plant of the Franche-Comte* Mountains, which opens
all doors; that satanic plant, the sap of which gives to Witches
the power ot riding in the air on a broomstick ; and the accursed
plant which misleads the traveller, dragging him from one path to
another, but always leading him farther and farther away from his
goal, until at last he sinks exhausted with fatigue.
Certain plants and trees have become ill-omened from having
received the maledictions of some divine personage. Several were
cursed by the Virgin Mary during her flight into Egypt. The
tree which yielded the timber of the Cross became for all time
“ the accursed tree” ; the tree on which Judas hung himself became
also a satanic tree. Under this ban have been included the Fig,
the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis
or Judas Tree.
Many plants, both in England and on the Continent, have
been specially named after the Devil. Thus we find that, on accquut
of the foetid odour of the gum or juice obtain from its root, Terula
Assafoetida is known in Germany, Sweden, and Italy as Devil s
Dung {otercus Diaboli), although it is employed in Persia and Arabia
8s
as a medicine, The Poplar-leaved F ig is the Devil’s tree ; the
berry of the Deadly Nightshade, the Devil’s berry: the plant itself
is called Death’s Herb, and in olden times its fruit bore the name of
Dwale-berry—the word dvale, which is Danish, meaning a deadly
trance. An old German name for the Briony was Devil’s Cherry.
The Germans, also, called the Petty Spurge {Euphorbia Peplus)
Teupelsmilch, Devil’s Milk; a species of ground Moss, Teufelsklaeun,
Devil’s Claws, The Clematis is the Devil’s Thread; Indigo, Devil’s
D y e ; and the Mandrake, from the lurid glare its leaves emit during
the night-time, the Devil’s Candle, In an old work we find the
description of a small herb called Clavis Diaboli, which is so
poisonous that if cattle eat it they immediately begin to swell, and
eventually die, unless by good luck they should happen to catch sight
of another plant of the same species, when the poison is dispelled
and the animals will recover. We are likewise assured that the
seed is so poisonous as to render it unsafe for anyone to walk over
a plant of this genus unless his feet have previously been wrapped
in the leaves.
Scabiosa succisa is generally known as the Devil’s-Bit Scabious,
a name it obtained from a notion which was formerly very prevalent
that the short blackish root of the plant had originally been
bitten short by the Devil out of spite to mankind, because he knew
that otherwise it would be good for many profitable uses. This
belief was also very general on the Continent, as the plant bears a
corresponding name in France, Germany, and Holland. Dr. Prior
quotes a legend recorded by Threlkeld, that “ the root was once
longer, until the Devil bit away the rest, for spite; for he needed
it not to make him sweat who is always tormented with fear of
the day of judgment.” According to the Ortus Sanitatis, on the
authority of Oribasius, the plant was called Morsus Diaboli, “ because
with this root the Devil practised such power, that the mother of
God, out of compassion, took from the Devil the means to do so
with it any more ; and in the great vexation that he had that the
power was gone from him, he bit it off, so that it grows no more to
this day.” Gerarde says : “ The great part of the root seemeth to
be bitten away : old fantasticke charmers report that the Devil did
bite it for envie, because it is an herbe that hath so many good
vertues, and is so beneficial to mankinde.” After recounting minor
virtues, the old herbalist remarks that Devil’s Bit is potential
against the stiugings of venomous beasts, poisons, and pestilent
diseases, and will consume and waste away plague sores, if pounded
and laid upon them.
The Nigella Damascena is called Devil-in-the-Bush, from its
round capsules peering from a bush of finely-divided involucre.
The long awns of Scandix Pecten are termed the Devil’s Darning
Needles, the beans of its seed vessels being called Venus’ comb.
The Dodder {Cuscuta) has gained the opprobrious epithet of Devil’s
Guts, from the resemblance of its stem to cat-gut, and its mis