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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
112
Footnotes:
1.
Tylor's
"Primitive
Culture,"
1873,
i.
130.
2.
See
"English
Folk-lore,"
pp.
42,
43.
3.
"Primitive
Manners
and
Customs,"
p.
74.
4.
Dublin
University
Magazine,
December
1873,
p.
677.
5.
See
Swainson's
"Weather-lore,"
p.
257.
6.
See
"Flower-lore,"
p.
226.
7.
See
Notes
and
Queries,
1st
Ser.
II.
511.
CHAPTER
XI
PLANT
PROVERBS.
A
host
of
curious
proverbs
have,
from
the
earliest
period,
clustered
round
the
vegetable
world,
most
of
which--gathered
from
experience
and
observation--embody
an
immense
amount
of
truth,
besides
in
numerous
instances
conveying
an
application
of
a
moral
nature.
These
proverbs,
too,
have
a
very
wide
range,
and
on
this
account
are
all
the
more
interesting
from
the
very
fact
of
their
referring
to
so
many
conditions
of
life.
Thus,
the
familiar
adage
which
tells
us
that
"nobody
is
fond
of
fading
flowers,"
has
a
far
deeper
signification,
reminding
us
that
everything
associated
with
change
and
decay
must
always
be
a
matter
of
regret.
To
take
another
trite
proverb
of
the
same
kind,
we
are
told
how
"truths
and
roses
have
thorns
about
them,"
which
is
absolutely
true;
and
there
is
the
well-known
expression
"to
pipe
in
an
ivy
leaf,"
which
signifies
"to
go
and
engage
in
some
futile
or
idle
pursuit"
which
cannot
be
productive
of
any
good.
The
common
proverb,
"He
hath
sown
his
wild
oats,"
needs
no
comment;
and
the
inclination
of
evil
to
override
good
is
embodied
in
various
adages,
such,
as,
"The
weeds
o'ergrow
the
corn,"
while
the
tenacity
with
which
evil
holds
its
ground
is
further
expressed
in
such
sayings
as
this--"The
frost
hurts
not
weeds."
The
poisonous
effects,
again,
of
evil
is
exemplified
thus--"One
ill-bred
mars
a
whole
pot
of
pottage,"
and
the
rapidity
with
which
it
spreads
has,
amongst
other
proverbs,
been
thus
described,
"Evil
weeds
grow
apace."
Speaking
of
weeds
in
their
metaphorical
sense,
we
may
quote
one
further
adage
respecting
them:--
Marker
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Fine marker
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Fine white-out
Circle
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Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
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