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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
231
The
withering
of
plants
has
long
been
regarded
ominous,
and,
according
to
a
Welsh
superstition,
if
there
are
faded
leaves
in
a
room
where
a
baby
is
christened
it
will
soon
die.
Of
the
many
omens
afforded
by
the
oak,
we
are
told
that
the
change
of
its
leaves
from
their
usual
colour
gave
more
than
once
"fatal
premonition"
of
coming
misfortunes
during
the
great
civil
wars;
and
Bacon
mentions
a
tradition
that
"if
the
oak-apple,
broken,
be
full
of
worms,
it
is
a
sign
of
a
pestilent
year."
In
olden
times
the
decay
of
the
bay-tree
was
considered
an
omen
of
disaster,
and
it
is
stated
that,
previous
to
the
death
of
Nero,
though
the
winter
was
very
mild,
all
these
trees
withered
to
the
roots,
and
that
a
great
pestilence
in
Padua
was
preceded
by
the
same
phenomenon.
[2]
Shakespeare
speaks
of
this
superstition:--
"'Tis
thought
the
king
is
dead;
we
will
not
stay,
The
bay-trees
in
our
county
are
all
withered."
Lupton,
in
his
"Notable
Things,"
tells
us
that,
"If
a
fir-tree
be
touched,
withered,
or
burned
with
lightning,
it
signifies
that
the
master
or
mistress
thereof
shall
shortly
die."
It
is
difficult,
as
we
have
already
noted
in
a
previous
chapter,
to
discover
why
some
of
our
sweetest
and
fairest
spring-flowers
should
be
associated
with
ill-luck.
In
the
western
counties,
for
instance,
one
should
never
take
less
than
a
handful
of
primroses
or
violets
into
a
farmer's
house,
as
neglect
of
this
rule
is
said
to
affect
the
success
of
the
ducklings
and
chickens.
A
correspondent
of
Notes
and
Queries
(I.
Ser.
vii.
201)
writes:--"My
gravity
was
sorely
tried
by
being
called
on
to
settle
a
quarrel
between
two
old
women,
arising
from
one
of
them
having
given
one
primrose
to
her
neighbour's
child,
for
the
purpose
of
making
her
hens
hatch
but
one
egg
out
of
each
set
of
eggs,
and
it
was
seriously
maintained
that
the
charm
had
been
successful."
In
the
same
way
it
is
held
unlucky
to
introduce
the
first
snowdrop
of
the
year
into
a
house,
for,
as
a
Sussex
woman
once
remarked,
"It
looks
for
all
the
world
like
a
corpse
in
its
shroud."
We
may
repeat,
too,
again
the
familiar
adage:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
