Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
175
In
accordance,
also,
with
the
same
principle
it
was
once
generally
believed
that
the
seeds
of
ferns
were
of
an
invisible
sort,
and
hence,
by
a
transference
of
properties,
it
came
to
be
admitted
that
the
possessor
of
fern-seed
could
likewise
be
invisible--a
notion
which
obtained
an
extensive
currency
on
the
Continent.
As
special
good-luck
was
said
to
attend
the
individual
who
succeeded
in
obtaining
this
mystic
seed,
it
was
eagerly
sought
for--Midsummer
Eve
being
one
of
the
occasions
when
it
could
be
most
easily
procured.
Thus
Grimm,
in
his
"Teutonic
Mythology,"
[8]
relates
how
a
man
in
Westphalia
was
looking
on
Midsummer
night
for
a
foal
he
had
lost,
and
happened
to
pass
through
a
meadow
just
as
the
fern-seed
was
ripening,
so
that
it
fell
into
his
shoes.
In
the
morning
he
went
home,
walked
into
the
sitting-room
and
sat
down,
but
thought
it
strange
that
neither
his
wife
nor
any
of
the
family
took
the
least
notice
of
him.
"I
have
not
found
the
foal,"
said
he.
Thereupon
everybody
in
the
room
started
and
looked
alarmed,
for
they
heard
his
voice
but
saw
him
not.
His
wife
then
called
him,
thinking
he
must
have
hid
himself,
but
he
only
replied,
"Why
do
you
call
me?
Here
I
am
right
before
you."
At
last
he
became
aware
that
he
was
invisible,
and,
remembering
how
he
had
walked
in
the
meadow
on
the
preceding
evening,
it
struck
him
that
he
might
possibly
have
fern-seed
in
his
shoes.
So
he
took
them
off,
and
as
he
shook
them
the
fern-seed
dropped
out,
and
he
was
no
longer
invisible.
There
are
numerous
stories
of
this
kind;
and,
according
to
Dr.
Kuhn,
one
method
for
obtaining
the
fern-seed
was,
at
the
summer
solstice,
to
shoot
at
the
sun
when
it
had
attained
its
midday
height.
If
this
were
done,
three
drops
of
blood
would
fall,
which
were
to
be
gathered
up
and
preserved--this
being
the
fern-seed.
In
Bohemia,
[9]
on
old
St.
John's
Night
(July
8),
one
must
lay
a
communion
chalice-cloth
under
the
fern,
and
collect
the
seed
which
will
fall
before
sunrise.
Among
some
of
the
scattered
allusions
to
this
piece
of
folk-lore
in
the
literature
of
our
own
country,
may
be
mentioned
one
by
Shakespeare
in
"I
Henry
IV."
(ii.
1):--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
