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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
76
And
in
the
"Merry
Wives
of
Windsor"
(v.
5)
Mistress
Quickly
says:
"And
nightly,
meadow-fairies,
look,
you
sing,
Like
to
the
Garter's
compass,
in
a
ring;
The
expressure
that
it
bears,
green
let
it
be,
More
fertile-fresh
than
all
the
field
to
see."
Drayton,
in
his
"Nymphidia"
(1.
69-72),
tells
how
the
fairies:
"In
their
courses
make
that
round,
In
meadows
and
in
marshes
found,
Of
them
so
called
the
fayrie
ground,
Of
which
they
have
the
keeping."
These
fairy-rings
have
long
been
held
in
superstitious
awe;
and
when
in
olden
times
May-dew
was
gathered
by
young
ladies
to
improve
their
complexion,
they
carefully
avoided
even
touching
the
grass
within
them,
for
fear
of
displeasing
these
little
beings,
and
so
losing
their
personal
charms.
At
the
present
day,
too,
the
peasant
asserts
that
no
sheep
nor
cattle
will
browse
on
the
mystic
patches,
a
natural
instinct
warning
them
of
their
peculiar
nature.
A
few
miles
from
Alnwick
was
a
fairy-ring,
round
which
if
people
ran
more
than
nine
times,
some
evil
was
supposed
to
befall
them.
It
is
generally
agreed
that
fairies
were
extremely
fond
of
dancing
around
oaks,
and
thus
in
addressing
the
monarch
of
the
forest
a
poet
has
exclaimed:
"The
fairies,
from
their
nightly
haunt,
In
copse
or
dell,
or
round
the
trunk
revered
Of
Herne's
moon-silvered
oak,
shall
chase
away
Each
fog,
each
blight,
and
dedicate
to
peace
Thy
classic
shade."
In
Sweden
the
miliary
fever
is
said
by
the
peasantry
to
be
caused
by
the
elf-mote
or
meeting
with
elves,
as
a
remedy
for
which
the
lichen
aphosus
or
lichen
caninus
is
sought.
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