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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
38
Indeed,
however
satisfactory
our
explanations
may
apparently
seem,
in
many
cases
they
can
only
be
regarded
as
ingenious
theories
based
on
the
most
probable
theories
which
the
science
of
comparative
folk-lore
may
have
suggested.
In
analysing,
too,
the
evidence
for
determining
the
possible
association
of
ideas
which
induced
our
primitive
forefathers
to
form
those
mythical
conceptions
that
we
find
embodied
in
the
folk-tales
of
most
races,
it
is
necessary
to
unravel
from
the
relics
of
the
past
the
one
common
notion
that
underlies
them.
Respecting
the
origin
of
fire,
for
instance,
the
leading
idea--as
handed
down
to
us
in
myths
of
this
kind--would
make
us
believe
that
it
was
originally
stolen.
Stories
which
point
to
this
conclusion
are
not
limited
to
any
one
country,
but
are
shared
by
races
widely
remote
from
one
another.
This
circumstance
is
important,
as
helping
to
explain
the
relation
of
particular
plants
to
lightning,
and
accounts
for
the
superstitious
reverence
so
frequently
paid
to
them
by
most
Aryan
tribes.
Hence,
the
way
by
which
the
Veda
argues
the
existence
of
the
palasa--a
mystic
tree
with
the
Hindus--is
founded
on
the
following
tradition:--The
demons
had
stolen
the
heavenly
soma,
or
drink
of
the
gods,
and
cellared
it
in
some
mythical
rock
or
cloud.
When
the
thirsty
deities
were
pining
for
their
much-prized
liquor,
the
falcon
undertook
to
restore
it
to
them,
although
he
succeeded
at
the
cost
of
a
claw
and
a
plume,
of
which
he
was
deprived
by
the
graze
of
an
arrow
shot
by
one
of
the
demons.
Both
fell
to
the
earth
and
took
root;
the
claw
becoming
a
species
of
thorn,
which
Dr.
Kuhn
identifies
as
the
"Mimosa
catechu,"
and
the
feather
a
"palasa
tree,"
which
has
a
red
sap
and
scarlet
blossoms.
With
such
a
divine
origin--for
the
falcon
was
nothing
less
than
a
lightning
god[3]--the
trees
naturally
were
incorporations,[4]
"not
only
of
the
heavenly
fire,
but
also
of
the
soma,
with
which
the
claw
and
feather
were
impregnated."
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