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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
20
In
Greece
the
oak
as
well
as
the
ash
was
accounted
a
tree
whence
men
had
sprung;
hence
in
the
"Odyssey,"
the
disguised
hero
is
asked
to
state
his
pedigree,
since
he
must
necessarily
have
one;
"for,"
says
the
interrogator,
"belike
you
are
not
come
of
the
oak
told
of
in
old
times,
nor
of
the
rock."[10]
Hesiod
tells
us
how
Jove
made
the
third
or
brazen
race
out
of
ash
trees,
and
Hesychius
speaks
of
"the
fruit
of
the
ash
the
race
of
men."
Phoroneus,
again,
according
to
the
Grecian
legend,
was
born
of
the
ash,
and
we
know,
too,
how
among
the
Greeks
certain
families
kept
up
the
idea
of
a
tree
parentage;
the
Pelopidae
having
been
said
to
be
descended
from
the
plane.
Among
the
Persians
the
Achaemenidae
had
the
same
tradition
respecting
the
origin
of
their
house.[11]
From
the
numerous
instances
illustrative
of
tree-descent,
it
is
evident,
as
Mr.
Keary
points
out,
that,
"there
was
once
a
fuller
meaning
than
metaphor
in
the
language
which
spoke
of
the
roots
and
branches
of
a
family,
or
in
such
expressions
as
the
pathetic
"Ah,
woe,
beloved
shoot!"
of
Euripides."[12]
Furthermore,
as
he
adds,
"Even
when
the
literal
notion
of
the
descent
from
a
tree
had
been
lost
sight
of,
the
close
connection
between
the
prosperity
of
the
tribe
and
the
life
of
its
fetish
was
often
strictly
held.
The
village
tree
of
the
German
races
was
originally
a
tribal
tree,
with
whose
existence
the
life
of
the
village
was
involved;
and
when
we
read
of
Christian
saints
and
confessors,
that
they
made
a
point
of
cutting
down
these
half
idols,
we
cannot
wonder
at
the
rage
they
called
forth,
nor
that
they
often
paid
the
penalty
of
their
courage."
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