CHAPTER VI.

Plants of the Fairies and Naiades.

Centuries before Milton wrote that “Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep,” our Saxon ancestors, whilst yet they inhabited the forests of Germany, believed in the existence of a diminutive race of beings--the “missing link” between men and spirits--to whom they attributed extraordinary actions, far exceeding the capabilities of human art. Moreover, we have it on the authority of the father of English poetry that long, long ago, in those wondrous times when giants and dwarfs still deigned to live in the same countries as ordinary human beings,

“In the olde dayes of King Artour, Of which the Bretons speken gret honour, All was this land fulfilled of faerie; The Elf-quene and hire joly compaynie Danced full oft in many a grene mede. This was the old opinion as I rede.”

The old Welsh bards were accustomed to sing their belief that King Arthur was not dead, but conveyed away by the fairies into some charmed spot where he should remain awhile, and then return again to reign with undiminished power. These wondrous inhabitants of Elf-land--these Fays, Fairies, Elves, Little Folk, Pixies, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Dwarfs, Pigmies, Gnomes, and Trolls are all more or less associated with the plant kingdom. They make their habitations in the leafy branches of trees, or dwell in the greater seclusion of their hollow trunks; they dally and gambol among opening buds and nodding blossoms; they hide among blushing Roses and fragrant shrubs; they dance amid the Buttercups, Daisies, and Meadow-Sweet of the grassy meads; and, as Shakspeare says, they “use flowers for their charactery.”

Grimm tells us that in Germany the Elves are fond of inhabiting Oak trees, the holes in the trunks of which are deemed by the people to be utilised by the Fairies as means of entry and exit. A similar belief is entertained by the Hindus, who consider holes in trees as doors by which the inhabiting spirit passes in and out. German elves are also fond of frequenting Elder-trees.

The Esthonians believe that during a thunder-storm, and in order to escape from the lightning, the timorous Elves burrow several feet beneath the roots of the trees they inhabit. As a rule these forest Elves are good-natured: if they are not offended, not only will they abstain from harming men, but they will even do them a good turn, and teach them some of the mysteries of nature, of which they possess the secret.

The Elves were in former days thought to practise works of mercy in the woods, and a certain sympathetic affinity with trees became thus propagated in the popular faith. The country-folk were careful not to offend the trees that were inhabited by Fairies, and they never sought to surprise the Elfin people in their mysterious retreats, for they dreaded the power of these invisible creatures to cause ill-luck or some unfortunate malady to fall on those against whom they had a spite. Even deaths were sometimes laid at their door.

A German legend relates that as a peasant woman one day tried to uproot the stump of an old tree in a Fir forest, she became so feeble that at last she could scarcely manage to walk. Suddenly, while endeavouring to crawl to her home, a mysterious-looking man appeared in the path before the poor woman, and upon hearing what was the matter with her, he at once remarked that she had wounded an Elf. If the Elf got well, so would she; but if the Elf should unfortunately perish, she would also assuredly die. The stump of the old Fir-tree was the abode of an Elf, and in endeavouring to uproot it, the woman had unintentionally injured the little creature. The words of the mysterious personage proved too true. The peasant languished for some time, but drooped and died on the same day as the wounded Elf. To this day, in the vast forests of Germany and Russia, instead of uprooting old Firs, the foresters, remembering the Elfish superstition, always chop them down above the roots.

In the Indian legend of Sâvitri, the youthful Satyavant, while felling a tree, perspires inordinately, is overcome with weakness, sinks exhausted, and dies. He had mortally wounded the Elf of the tree. Since the days of Æsop it has become a saying that Death has a weakness for woodmen.

In our own land, Oaks have always been deemed the favourite abodes of Elves, and wayfarers, upon approaching groves reputed to be haunted by them, used to think it judicious to turn their coats for good luck. Thus Bishop Corbet, in his _Iter Boreale_, writes:--

“William found A means for our deliverance: ‘Turn your cloakes,’ Quoth he, ‘for Pucke is busy in these Oakes; If ever we at Bosworth will be found, Then turn your cloakes, for this is Fairy ground.’”

It was believed that the Fairy folk made their homes in the recesses of forests or secluded groves, whence they issued after sunset to gambol in the fields; often startling with their sudden appearance the tired herdsman trudging homeward to his cot, or the goodwife returning from her expedition to market. Thus we read of “Fairy Elves whose midnight revels by a forest side or fountain some belated peasant sees.”

“Would you the Fairy regions see, Hence to the greenwoods run with me; From mortals safe the livelong night, There countless feats the Fays delight.”--_Leftly._

In the Isle of Man the Fairies or Elves used to be seen hopping from trees and skipping from bough to bough, whilst wending their way to the Fairy midnight haunts.

In such esteem were they held by the country folk of Devon and Cornwall, that to ensure their friendship and good offices, the Fairies, or Pixies, used formerly to have a certain share of the fruit crop set apart for their special consumption.

Hans Christian Andersen tells of a certain Rose Elf who was instrumental in punishing the murderer of a beautiful young maiden to whom he was attached. The Rose, in olden times, was reputed to be under the especial protection of Elves, Fairies, and Dwarfs, whose sovereign, Laurin, carefully guarded the Rose-garden.

“Four portals to the garden lead, and when the gates are closed, No living wight dare touch a Rose, ’gainst his strict command opposed. Whoe’er would break the golden gates, or cut the silken thread, Or who would dare to waste the flowers down beneath his tread, Soon for his pride would leave to pledge a foot and hand; Thus Laurin, King of Dwarfs, rules within his land.”

A curious family of the Elfin tribe were the Moss- or Wood-Folk, who dwelt in the forests of Southern Germany. Their stature was small, and their form weird and uncouth, bearing a strange resemblance to certain trees, with which they flourished and decayed. Describing a Moss-woman, the author of ‘The Fairy Family’ says:--

“‘A Moss-woman!’ the hay-makers cry, And over the fields in terror they fly. She is loosely clad from neck to foot In a mantle of Moss from the Maple’s root, And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows Is the hair that over her mantle flows. Her skin, like the Maple-rind, is hard, Brown and ridgy, and furrowed and scarred; And each feature flat, like the bark we see, Where a bough has been lopped from the bole of a tree, When the newer bark has crept healingly round, And laps o’er the edge of the open wound; Her knotty, root-like feet are bare, And her height is an ell from heel to hair.”

The Moss- or Wood-Folk also lived in some parts of Scandinavia. Thus, we are told that, in the churchyard of Store Hedding, in Zealand, there are the remains of an Oak wood which were trees by day and warriors by night.

The Black Dwarfs were a race of Scandinavian Elves, inhabiting coast-hills and caves; the favourite place of their feasts and carousings, however, was under the spreading branches of the Elder-tree, the strong perfume of its large moon-like clusters of flowers being very grateful to them. As has been before pointed out, an unexplained connection of a mysterious character has always existed between this tree and the denizens of Fairy-land.

The Still-Folk of Central Germany were another tribe of the Fairy Kingdom: they inhabited the interior of hills, in which they had their spacious halls and strong rooms filled with gold, silver, and precious stones--the entrance to which was only obtained by mortals by means of the Luck-flower, or the Key-flower (_Schlüsselblume_). They held communication with the outer world, like the Trolls of Scandinavia, through certain springs or wells, which possessed great virtues: not only did they give extraordinary growth and fruitfulness to all trees and shrubs that grew near them, whose roots could drink of their waters, or whose leaves be sprinkled with the dews condensed from their vapours, but for certain human diseases they formed a sovereign remedy.

In Monmouthshire, in years gone by, there existed a good Fairy, or Procca, who was wont to appear to Welshmen in the guise of a handful of loose dried grass, rolling and gambolling before the wind.

Fairy Revels.

The English Fays and Fairies, the Pixies of Devon--

“Fantastic Elves, that leap The slender Hare-cup, climb the Cowslip bells, And seize the wild bee as she lies asleep,”

according to the old pastoral poets, were wont to bestir themselves soon after sunset--a time of indistinctness and gloomy grandeur, when the moonbeams gleam fitfully through the wind-stirred branches of their sylvan retreats, and when sighs and murmurings are indistinctly heard around, which whisper to the listener of unseen beings. But it is at midnight that the whole Fairy kingdom is alive: then it is that the faint music of the blue Harebell is heard ringing out the call to the Elfin meet:

“’Tis the hour of Fairy ban and spell, The wood-tick has kept the minutes well, He has counted them all with click and stroke, Deep on the heart of the forest Oak; And he has awakened the sentry Elve, That sleeps with him in the haunted tree, To bid him ring the hour of twelve, And call the Fays to their revelry.

“They come from the beds of the Lichen green, They creep from the Mullein’s velvet screen, Some on the backs of beetles fly From the silver tops of moon-touched trees, Where they swing in their cobweb hammocks high, And rocked about in the evening breeze; Some from the hum-bird’s downy nest, Had driven him out by Elfin power, And pillowed on plumes of his rainbow crest, Had slumbered there till the charmed hour; Some had lain in a scarp of the rock, By glittering ising-stars inlaid, And some had opened the ‘Four-o’-Clock,’ And stolen within its purple shade; And now they throng the moonlight glade, Above, below,--on every side, Their little minim forms arrayed, In the tricksy pomp of Fairy pride.”--_Dr. Drake’s ‘Culprit Fay.’_

Like the Witches, Fairies dearly love to ride to the trysting-place on an aerial steed. A straw, a blade of Grass, a Fern, a Rush, or a Cabbage-stalk, alike serve the purpose of the little people. Mounted on such simple steeds, each joyous Elf sings--

“Now I go, now I fly, Malkin, my sweet spirit, and I. O what a dainty pleasure ’tis To ride in the air, When the morn shines fair, And sing and dance, and toy and kiss!”

Arrived at the spot selected for the Fairy revels--mayhap, “a bank whereon the wild Thyme blows, where Oxlips and the nodding Violet grows”--the gay throng wend their way to a grassy link or neighbouring pasture, and there the merry Elves trip and pace the dewy green sward with their printless feet, causing those dark green circles that are known to mortals as “Fairy Rings.”

The Fays that haunt the moonlight dell, The Elves that sleep in the Cowslip’s bell, The tricksy Sprites that come and go, Swifter than a gleam of light; Where the murmuring waters flow, And the zephyrs of the night, Bending to the flowers that grow, Basking in the silver sheen, With their voices soft and low, Sing about the rings of green Which the Fairies’ twinkling feet, In their nightly revels, beat.

Old William Browne depicts a Fairy trysting-place as being in proximity to one of their sylvan haunts, and moreover gives us an insight into the proceedings of the Fays and their queen at one of their meetings. He says:--

“Near to this wood there lay a pleasant meade Where Fairies often did their measures treade, Which in the meadows made such circles greene, As if with garlands it had crowned beene, Or like the circle where the signes we tracke, And learned shepheards call’t the zodiacke; Within one of these rounds was to be seene A hillock rise, where oft the Fairie queene At twilight sat, and did command her Elves To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves; And further, if by maiden’s oversight, Within doors water were not brought at night, Or if they spread no table, set no bread, They should have nips from toe unto the head, And for the maid that had performed each thing, She in the water-pail bade leave a ring.”

St. John’s Eve was undoubtedly chosen for important communication between the distant Elfin groves and the settlements of men, on account of its mildness, brightness, and unequalled beauty. Has not Shakspeare told us, in his ‘Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,’ of the doings, on this night, of Oberon, Ariel, Puck, Titania, and her Fairy followers?--

“The darling puppets of romance’s view; Fairies, and Sprites, and Goblin Elves we call them, Famous for patronage of lovers true; No harm they act, neither shall harm befall them, So do not thou with crabbed frowns appal them.”

Yet timorous and ill-informed folk, mistrusting the kindly disposition of Elves and Fairies, took precautions for excluding Elfin visitors from their dwellings by hanging over their doors boughs of St. John’s Wort, gathered at midnight on St. John’s Eve. A more kindly feeling, however, seems to have prevailed at Christmas time, when boughs of evergreen were everywhere hung in houses in order that the poor frost-bitten Elves of the trees might hide themselves therein, and thus pass the bleak winter in hospitable shelter.

Fairy Plants.

In Devonshire the flowers of Stitchwort are known as Pixies.

Of plants which are specially affected by the Fairies, first mention should be made of the Elf Grass (_Vesleria cærulea_), known in Germany as _Elfenkraut_ or _Elfgras_. This is the Grass forming the Fairy Rings, round which, with aerial footsteps, have danced

“Ye demi-puppets, that By moonlight do the green sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites.”--_Shakspeare’s Tempest._

The Cowslip, or Fairy Cup, Shakspeare tells us forms the couch of Ariel--the “dainty Ariel” who has so sweetly sung of his Fairy life--

“Where the bee sucks, there lurk I; In a Cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry; On a bat’s back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily, shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.”

The fine small crimson drops in the Cowslip’s chalice are said to possess the rare virtue of preserving, and even of restoring, youthful bloom and beauty; for these ruddy spots are fairy favours, and therefore have enchanted value. Shakspeare says of this flower of the Fays:--

“And I serve the Fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green: The Cowslips tall her pensioners be; In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours: In those freckles live their savours.”

Another of the flowers made potent use of by the Fairies of Shakspeare is the Pansy--that “little Western flower” which Oberon bade Puck procure:--

“Fetch me that flower,--the herb I showed thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, Will make a man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees.”

The Anemone, or Wind-flower, is a recognised Fairy blossom. The crimson marks on its petals have been painted there by fairy hands; and, in wet weather, it affords shelter to benighted Elves, who are glad to seek shelter beneath its down-turned petals. Tulips are greatly esteemed by the Fairy folk, who utilise them as cradles in which to rock the infant Elves to sleep.

The Fairy Flax (_Linum catharticum_) is, from its extreme delicacy, selected by the Fays as the substance to be woven for their raiment. The _Pyrus Japonica_ is the Fairies’ Fire. Fairy-Butter (_Tremella arborea_ and _albida_) is a yellowish gelatinous substance, found upon rotten wood or fallen timber, and which is popularly supposed to be made in the night, and scattered about by the Fairies. The _Pezita_, an exquisite scarlet Fungus cup, which grows on pieces of broken stick, and is to be found in dry ditches and hedge-sides, is the Fairies’ Bath.

To yellow flowers growing in hedgerows, the Fairies have a special dislike, and will never frequent a place where they abound; but it is notorious that they are passionately fond of most flowers. It is part of their mission to give to each maturing blossom its proper hue, to guide creepers and climbing plants, and to teach young plants to move with befitting grace.

But the Foxglove is the especial delight of the Fairy tribe: it is _the_ Fairy plant _par excellence_. When it bends its tall stalks the Foxglove is making its obeisance to its tiny masters, or preparing to receive some little Elf who wishes to hide himself in the safe retreat afforded by its accommodating bells. In Ireland this flower is called Lusmore, or the Great Herb. It is there the Fairy Cap, whilst in Wales it becomes the Goblin’s Gloves.

As the Foxglove is the special flower of the Fairies, so is a four-leaved Clover their peculiar herb. It is believed only to grow in places frequented by the Elfin tribe, and to be gifted by them with magic power.

“I’ll seek a four-leaved Clover In all the Fairy dells, And if I find the charmed leaf, Oh, how I’ll weave my spells!”--_S. Lover._

The maiden whose search has been successful for this diminutive plant becomes at once joyous and light-hearted, for she knows that she will assuredly see her true love ere the day is over. The four-leaved Clover is the only plant that will enable its wearer to see the Fairies--it is a magic talisman whereby to gain admittance to the Fairy kingdom,[8] and unless armed with this potent herb, the only other means available to mortals who wish to make the acquaintance of the Fairies is to procure a supply of a certain precious unguent prepared according to the receipt of a celebrated alchymist, which, applied to the visual orbs, is said to enable anyone with a clear conscience to behold without difficulty or danger the most potent Fairy or Spirit he may anywhere encounter. The following is the form of the preparation:--

“R. A pint of Sallet-oyle, and put it into a vial-glasse; but first wash it with Rose-water and Marygolde water; the flowers to be gathered towards the east. Wash it till the oyle come white; then put it into the glasse, _ut supra_: and then put thereto the budds of Holyhocke, the flowers of Marygolde, the flowers or toppers of Wild Thyme, the budds of young Hazle: and the Thyme must be gathered neare the side of a hill where Fayries used to be: and take the grasse of a Fayrie throne. Then all these put into the oyle into the glasse: and sette it to dissolve three dayes in the sunne, and then keep it for thy use; _ut supra_.”--[_Ashmolean MSS._].

[8] See legend in Part II., under the head of “CLOVER.”

Plants of the Water Nymphs and Fays.

Certain of the Fairy community frequented the vicinity of pools, and the banks of streams and rivers. Ben Jonson tells of “Span-long Elves that dance about a pool;” and Stagnelius asks--

“Say, know’st the Elfin people gay? They dwell on the river’s strand; They spin from the moonbeams their festive garb, With their small and lily hand.”

Of this family are the Russalkis, river nymphs of Southern Russia, who inhabit the alluvial islands studding the winding river, or dwell in detached coppices fringing the banks, or construct for themselves homes woven of flowering Reeds and green Willow-boughs.

The Swedes delight to tell of the Strömkarl, or boy of the stream, a mystic being who haunts brooks and rivulets, and sits on the silvery waves at moonlight, playing his harp to the Elves and Fays who dance on the flowery margin, in obedience to his summons--

“Come queen of the revels--come, form into bands The Elves and the Fairies that follow your train; Tossing your tresses, and wreathing your hands, Let your dainty feet dance to my wave-wafted strain.”

The Græco-Latin Naiades, or Water-nymphs, were also of this family: they generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the woods or meadows near the stream over which they presided. It was in some such locality on the Asiatic coast that the ill-fated Hylas was carried off by Isis and the River-nymphs, whilst obtaining water from a fountain.

“The chiefs composed their wearied limbs to rest, But Hylas sought the springs, by thirst opprest; At last a fount he found with flow’rets graced: On the green bank above his urn he placed. ’Twas at a time when old Ascanius made An entertainment in his watery bed, For all the Nymphs and all the Naiades Inhabitants of neighb’ring plains and seas.”

These inferior deities were held in great veneration, and received from their votaries offerings of fruit and flowers; animal sacrifices were also made to them, with libations of wine, honey, oil, and milk; and they were crowned with Sedges and flowers. A remnant of these customs was to be seen in the practice which formerly prevailed in this country of sprinkling rivers with flowers on Holy Thursday. Milton, in his ‘Comus,’ tells us that, in honour of Sabrina, the Nymph of the Severn--

“The shepherds at their festivals Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays, And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream, Of Pansies, Pinks, and gaudy Daffodils.”

A belief in the existence of good spirits who watched and guarded wells, springs and streams, was common to the whole Aryan race. On the 13th of October the Romans celebrated at the Porta Fontinalis a festival in honour of the Nymphs who presided over fountains and wells: this was termed the Fontinalia, and during the ceremonies wells and fountains were ornamented with garlands. To this day the old heathen custom of dressing and adorning wells is extant, although saints and martyrs have long since taken the place of the Naiades and Water-nymphs as patrons. In England, well-dressing at Ascension-tide is still practised, and some particulars of the ancient custom will be found in the chapter on Floral Ceremonies.

“The fountain marge is fairly spread With every incense flower that blows, With flowry Sedge and Moss that grows, For fervid limbs a dewy bed.”--_Fane._

Pilgrimages are made to many holy wells and springs in the United Kingdom, for the purpose of curing certain diseases by the virtues contained in their waters, or to dress these health-restoring fountains with garlands and posies of flowers. It is not surprising to find Ben Jonson saying that round such “virtuous” wells the Fairies are fond of assembling, and dancing their rounds, lighted by the pale moonshine--

“By wells and rills, in meadows greene, We nightly dance our hey-day guise; And to our Fairye king and queene We chant our moonlight minstrelsies.”--_Percy Reliques_.

In Cornwall pilgrimages are made in May to certain wells situated close to old blasted Oaks, where the frequenters suspend rags to the branches as a preservative against sorcery and a propitiation to the Fairies, who are thought to be fond of repairing at night to the vicinity of the wells. From St. Mungo’s Well at Huntly, in Scotland, the people carry away bottles of water, as a talisman against the enmity of the Fairies, who are supposed to hold their revels at the Elfin Croft close by, and are prone to resent the intrusion of mortals.

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