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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
122
A
warning
which
is
not
unlike
one
current
in
Surrey
and
other
southern
counties:--
"Where
parsley's
grown
in
the
garden,
there'll
be
a
death
before
the
year's
out."
In
Devonshire
it
has
long
been
held
unlucky
to
transplant
parsley,
and
a
poor
woman
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Morwenstow
attributed
a
certain
stroke
with
which
one
of
her
children
had
been
afflicted
after
whooping-cough
to
the
unfortunate
undoing
of
the
parsley
bed.
In
the
"Folk-lore
Record,"
too,
an
amusing
instance
is
related
of
a
gardener
at
Southampton,
who,
for
the
same
reason,
refused
to
sow
some
parsley
seed.
It
may
be
noted
that
from
a
very
early
period
the
same
antipathy
has
existed
in
regard
to
this
plant,
and
it
is
recorded
how
a
few
mules
laden
with
parsley
threw
into
a
complete
panic
a
Greek
force
on
its
march
against
the
enemy.
But
the
plant
no
doubt
acquired
its
ominous
significance
from
its
having
been
largely
used
to
bestrew
the
tombs
of
the
dead;
the
Greek
term
"dehisthai
selinou"--to
be
in
need
of
parsley--was
a
common
phrase
employed
to
denote
those
on
the
point
of
death.
There
are
various
other
superstitions
attached
to
this
plant,
as
in
Hampshire,
where
the
peasants
dislike
giving
any
away
for
fear
of
some
ill-luck
befalling
them.
Similarly,
according
to
another
proverb:--
"Sowing
fennel
is
sowing
sorrow."
But
why
this
should
be
so
it
is
difficult
to
explain,
considering
that
by
the
ancients
fennel
was
used
for
the
victor's
wreath,
and,
as
one
of
the
plants
dedicated
to
St.
John,
it
has
long
been
placed
over
doors
on
his
vigil.
On
the
other
hand,
there
is
a
common
saying
with
respect
to
rosemary,
which
was
once
much
cultivated
in
kitchen
gardens:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
