Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
12
It
is
to
this
notion
that
Shakespeare
alludes
in
"Hamlet,"
where
Laertes
wishes
that
violets
may
spring
from
the
grave
of
Ophelia
(v.
I):
"Lay
her
in
the
earth,
And
from
her
fair
and
unpolluted
flesh
May
violets
spring."
A
passage
which
is
almost
identical
to
one
in
the
"Satires"
of
Persius
(i.
39):
"E
tumulo
fortunataque
favilla,
Nascentur
violae;"
And
an
idea,
too,
which
Tennyson
seems
to
have
borrowed:
"And
from
his
ashes
may
be
made,
The
violet
of
his
native
land."
Again,
in
the
well-known
story
of
"Tristram
and
Ysonde,"
a
further
reference
occurs:
"From
his
grave
there
grew
an
eglantine
which
twined
about
the
statue,
a
marvel
for
all
men
to
see;
and
though
three
times
they
cut
it
down,
it
grew
again,
and
ever
wound
its
arms
about
the
image
of
the
fair
Ysonde[32]."
In
the
Scottish
ballad
of
"Fair
Margaret
and
Sweet
William,"
it
is
related--
"Out
of
her
breast
there
sprang
a
rose,
And
out
of
his
a
briar;
They
grew
till
they
grew
unto
the
church
top,
And
there
they
tied
in
a
true
lovers'
knot."
The
same
idea
has
prevailed
to
a
large
extent
among
savage
races.
Thus,
some
of
the
North-Western
Indians
believed
that
those
who
died
a
natural
death
would
be
compelled
to
dwell
among
the
branches
of
tall
trees.
The
Brazilians
have
a
mythological
character
called
Mani--a
child
who
died
and
was
buried
in
the
house
of
her
mother.
Soon
a
plant
sprang
out
of
the
grave,
which
grew,
flourished,
and
bore
fruit.
This
plant,
says
Mr.
Dorman,[33]
was
the
Mandioca,
named
from
Mani,
and
Oca,
house.
By
the
Mexicans
marigolds
are
known
as
"death-flowers,"
from
a
legend
that
they
sprang
up
on
the
ground
stained
by,
"the
life-blood
of
those
who
fell
victims
to
the
love
of
gold
and
cruelty
of
the
early
Spanish
settlers
in
America."
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
