up into a great tree, so high that her eye could scarcely reach the top of it. The lower part of the trunk was red as blood, further up it was green and fair, while the branches were white as snow. They were of very unequal size, and it seemed to her that they spread out over the whole kingdom of Norway.

King Halfdan hearing this wished to dream also, to further explain the mystery. He consulted a magician, who told him that the sure way to have truly prophetic dreams was to sleep in a pigsty. The king did so, and dreamed that his hair grew to be very long and beautiful. It fell in bright locks about his head and shoulders, but they were of unequal length and colour; and one lock was longer, brighter, and more beautiful than the others. This was interpreted to mean that a mighty race of kings should spring from him, though they would be unequal in fame. The largest lock was in after days, according to Snorro Sturleson, supposed to indicate Olof the Saint. As for the queen she bore a son, Harold, who became famous forhis long locks whence he was called Harold Harfagr, or, Harold the Fair-haired.

The belief that prophetic dreams can be secured by sleeping in a pig-pen is widely spread. The Roumanians and so-called Saxons, and probably all the Slavonian and gypsy inhabitants of Hungary, are familiar with it. Therefore I was not astonished when on asking my fortune-teller from the Tuscan Romagna whether people ever slept in a stalla di maiale, or pig-pen, she at once replied that per avere un vero sogno–to have a true dream–it was the most approved method known, and proceededto explain how it should be done, in these words:–

"To learn the future in a dream one must sleep in a pigsty, and above allbe sure that the pen is occupied by a maiala incinta o gravida–sow with young. And he must sleep alla boccone, that is on his face, and crouched up, or else flat on his back, but not on his side. Andbefore going to sleep he must say:–

"And doing this he will surely see in a dream that which will set forth or explain what he wishes to know."

used in sacrifices, and was so closely connected with mysteries and holy rites, that a German, Casselius, published a work on the subject–De Sacrificiis porcinis in cultu deorum veterum, Bremen, 1769. For much erudition on the subject of swine in ancient mythology and legend thereader may consult Die Symbolik und Mythologie der Natur, von J. B. Friedrich. Wurzburg, 1859. It is not generally known that the reason which the Turks give for not eating pork is that all living things were converted to Mahometanism except the pig, who remained a heathen. And in the Netherlands the peasants have a proverb of "the pig under the barrel," which refers to the Jews refraining from "the unclean beast," and tell a story accounting for it:–

"When Christ once went to Flanders the Jews ridiculed His teaching, and to test His wisdom they hid one of their number under a barrel, and asked Him what was there; and he answered, "A pig." So they laughed Him to scorn. But lo! when they lifted the barrel, there was their friend changed into a hog. And he ran forth and mingled with the other swine, and because the Jews could not pick him out, to this day they have eaten no pork for fear of devouring him or his descendants."

There is another old and curious Norse story of dreaming in a pig-pen. When Earl Haakon was fleeing (A.D. 995), from his subjects, who had risen in rebellion, he went with a single thrall, a slave named Kark, who had been his playmate from his boyhood, to his mistress Thora of Rimul. And shehid the two in a deep ditch under her pigsty. This was covered over with boards and earth, and the pigs were over it.

"Then came Olaf Tryggvesson, of the race of Harold the Fair-haired, to Rimul to seek and slay Haakon. And calling his men together he mounted a great stone close to the pigsty and declared in a loud voice that he would give a great reward to any one who would find the earl and slay him.

"The earl heard this, and saw that the thrall Kark was listening eagerly.

"'Why art thou now so pale,' asked the earl, 'and now again as black as earth? Is it that thou wilt betray me?'

"'No,' replied Kark.

"'We were both born in the same night,' said the earl, 'and our deaths will not be far apart.'

"They sat in silence. At last Kark slept, but he tossed and talked in hissleep. The earl waked him, and asked what he had dreamed.

"'I dreamed,' answered Kark, 'that we were both on board a ship, and thatI stood at the helm.'

"'That must mean that thou rulest over thy own life as well as mine. Be faithful to me and I will reward thee when better times come.'

"Once more the thrall fell asleep, and had a nightmare. The earl woke himagain, and asked him his dream.

"'I thought I was at Hlode,' said Kark, 'and Olaf Tryggvesson put a golden ring about my neck.'

"'The meaning of that,' said the earl, 'is that Olaf will put a red ring about thy neck if thou goest to seek him. Therefore beware of him, and be true to me.'

"But when the earl fell asleep Kark slew his master with his knife, thrusting it into his throat. Soon after he came to Olaf with Haakon's head, and claimed the reward promised. But Olaf verified the murdered man's prophecy. He put, not a ring of gold, but one of blood round Kark's neck, for he beheaded him.

"For though Haakon Jarlo Earl Haco had been his bitterest foe, and done him great evil all his life long, he little liked it that so great a man should he treacherously slain by a slave whom he had ever treated kindly. And as the saga ends:–

"Oc er Olafr kiendi thetta var hofut Hakonar Jarlo, tha reddist han thrælnum, oc bad han uppfesta, oc sagdi hann hofa skild maklig laun, fyri sin Drottin svik. Sveik hann Hakon Jarl, svikia mann hann mik, ef han ma. Enn sua skal leida drottins svikun."

English:–

"And when Olaf knew that it was the head of Earl Haakon he was enraged atthe thrall, and ordered him to be hanged, and said, 'He shall have evil boot for betraying his master. For if he deceived Earl Haakon so would he betray me if he could–and so shall all treason to a master be rewarded.'"

As we are influenced by surroundings, it is natural that certain places should have been chosen to dream in. "We have read," says Pico de Mirandola in his Witch, "that the physicians of Calabria and Taurus were wont to sleep in the sepulchre of Podalirius, and others in that of Esculapius." A pig-pen is, however, several degrees removed from a temple, or even a tomb. As the former seems to be distinctly Northern, it may have come into the Romagna from the Lombards. It may be observed that it is onlyin the Italian traditions that the minutiæ of the ceremony are given. The presence of the sow with pig is significant. It was by a prediction referring to such a sow that Odin caused himself to be suspected by King Heidreck in the Hervor Saga.

But not long after I had written the foregoing remarks, I came across a certain passage in the Symbolik of Creuzer (whom, by the way, I knew in Heidelberg in 1847), which seems to cast much light on this connection of the pig-pen with the temple. ¹

"Unto Demeter or Ceres pregnant sows were specially offered in sacrifice,as Cornutus, the Stoic, who lived sixty-eight years after Christ, informs us, as does Arnobius (Disput. adversus Gentes, edit. Elmenhorst,p. 135), adding that it was because of the great fertility of this animal." Therefore it came to pass that pigs were kept in the cellars of the temple of Ceres and Proserpine, as Creuzer relates: "In honour of these goddesses the Böotians put little pigs into subterranean chapels, which the next year were seen in the meadows of Dodona. Pausanias and Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of the same thing as observed in other places." ² Ceres was pre-eminently a goddess of fertility, therefore of good luck and all genial influences; hence little gold and silver pigs were offered to her, and also worn by Roman ladies, partly to insure pregnancy, andpartly for luck–a custom

¹L. Annæus Cornutus de natura deorum, 211, pub. by Fr. Osann, 1844.
²Pausanii De. Græciæ lib. ix., c.8.

which was revived as a fashion a few years ago in Paris, and a very funnyone it was when adopted by unmarried virgins. Of which gold and silver pig-norance some note has been taken in a French novel, entitled Le Cochon d'Or.

It is remarkable that the Italian superstition requires that there must be in the pig-pen a sow with young. According to Aristophanes, the sacrifice of the sow must be made when any one was initiated into the mysteries.For information on this subject consult also Bayerische Sagen und Bräuche, Beitrag zur Deutschen Mythologie, von Friedrich Panzer. München, 1848.

From what is here cited it appears that of old people slept in certain temples of the gods to have true dreams, and that these temples were used partially as pig-pens. And this much seems to be certain, that Ceres was greatly consulted by means of dreams, and that this dreaming was speciallyin her temples in which pigs were kept.

The first of the medical magical cures of MARCELLUS of Bordeaux is as follows:–

"Herba in capite statuæ cujus libet nasci solet, ea decrescente luna, sublata capitique circumligata dolorem tollit."

("If grass growing on the head of any statue be plucked in the waning of the moon and taken away, be bound about the head, it removes pain.")

The sixth is much the same:–

"Herba vel hedera in capite statuæ cujus libet nasci solet, ea si in panno rufo ligata capiti vel temporibus alligetur, mirum remedium hemicraniæ vel heterocraniæ prestabit."

("If grass or ivy grows on the head of any statue and it be gathered and tied in a red cloth to the head or temples, it will be a marvellous remedy for headache or neuralgia.")

I inquired for a long time in Florence before I found the following cure for a headache. It was not only repeated to me, but also written:–

"When you take grass from the head or a statue to cure a headache you must say:–

"And then you must make le corne (the sign of the horns or jettatura) behind you."

That is to say, cast it in old Roman fashion over your right shoulder. In English this is:–

Now it may be observed that whenever any of these magical prescriptions are wanting, as regards an incantation, they are always imperfect.

MARCELLUS, as the imperial court physician, probably did not obtain his prescriptions very accurately from the people. I am quite sure that this Italian incantation is far older than the third century. It is in the same form as many others; but what is most conclusive, it assumes, as a matter of course, that even a headache must be the result of evil magic. This is the very oldest form of sorcery.

I have no doubt that Ivy was the original plant used in this cure. In early religious symbolism, as wreathing the head of Bacchus, it meant life itself, and that very deeply and significantly. Therefore, when itwas found growing of itself on a statue, it was of course supposed to bevery effective. The early Christians borrowed much from the Dionysiacs–among other things, the Ivy. They laid it in coffins as a symbol of new life in Christ. ¹

I have said that ivy on the head of a statue was especially typical of health and life in Roman symbolism. It also signified on any head–as agarland, a fillet, or wreath–poetry, inspiration, or active genius. As appears from the following from Ovid:–

¹ "Hedera quoque vel laurus et hujusmodi: quæ semper servant vivorem in sarcophago corpori substernantur ad significandum, quod qui moriantur in Christo, vivere non desinant, nam licet mundo moriantur secundum corpus, tamen secundum animam vivunt et reviviscunt in Deo." –DURANDUS,Ration. Div. Offic., lib. vii., c. 35.

Of which crowning with ivy or roses, and many other customs, it can be truly said that we know very little as regards all the feeling, sentiment, and associations which attached to them in the days of yore.

It is remarkable that, according to the very ancient and widely-spread tradition, any plant which grows off, away from, or above the earth, is believed to have magic or healing virtues, or to be spirit-haunted. The mistletoe, from its aerial nature, became almost the centre of Druid observance, and moss has many mysteries. The house-leek–in German Hauswurz or Donnerkraut–is believed to guard a house from lightning (Grimm, D. M., 2 ed. B. I, s. 445)–the mountain-ash being also dedicated to Thor, or thunder. But remember that whenever you seegrass or herbage, ivy or flowers, on old walls or ruins grey, there the owls wone, and elves and fairies delight to dwell or dance, or pass the time, as has been so well approved by much observation that to deny it were enough to deny all testimony of tradition. So rest ye firm in the faiththat wherever–

There is among the spells of MARCELLUS one (84, GRIMM) to relieve the coli dolor–inflammation of the colon, possibly here the colic–which is very curious:–

"Lepori vivo talum abstrahes, pilos ejus de sub ventre tolles atque ipsumvivum dimittes. De illis pilis vel lana flium validum facies, et ex eo talum leporis conligabis corpusque laborantis præcinges : miro remedio

subvenies. Efficacius tamen erit remedium, ita ut incredibile sit, si casu os ipsum, id est talum leporis in stercore lupi inveneris, quod ita custodire debes, ne aut terram tangat aut a muliere contingatur, sed nec filum illud de lana leporis debet mulier ulla contingere. Hoc autem remedium cum uni profuerit ad alios translatom cum volueris, et quotiens volueris proderit. Filum quoque, quod ex lana vel pilis, quos de ventre leporis tulis, solos purus et nitidos facies, quod si ita ventri laborantis subligaveris plurimum proderit, ut soblata lana leporem vivum dimittas et dicas ei, duin dimittis eum:–

("Take from a live hare the ankle-bone (or heel-bone), remove the hair from his belly, and let him go alive. From that hair, or fur, make a thread, and with it bind the bone to the body of the sufferer, and you will see a wonderful cure. But the remedy will be more efficacious–yea, incredible–should you by chance find that bone in the dung of a wolf. In which case so guard it that it shall not touch the earth nor be touched by a woman, nor should any woman touch the thread made of the hare's wool. But the remedy may be trapsferred from one to another patient as often as you will. But carefully wash the thread, every time, for more avail. And when you shall have shorn it away, let the hare run away alive and say:–

The following prescription is given word for word as it was told me in Florence:–

"Take or catch a hare without doing it the least harm and say:–

"And when the hare is carried home you must cut, or shave, away its fur in the form of a cross. And this done, hold the hare towards the invalid with a third person, and put it on the neck of the one who suffers. Thea let the hare run away, making the sign of the chestnut (or la fica), saying:–

"Then spit behind you thrice, and look not behind you, and go not out from the house for three-quarters of an hour."

I have no doubt that the incantation on catching the hare is as old as the rest, but was unknown to Marcellus. The cutting the fur away in the form of a cross is evidently modern. The spitting thrice and the sign of thecastagna are old Roman, and formed a part of all such ceremonies. It will be seen that all of the Roman prescription is given in the Italian version, the concluding incantations being almost identical. I suspect that Marcellus really abridged most of his accounts. They may have been at first hurriedly noted down, and transcribed a long time after from the notes. GRIMM, in fact, points out, with much sagacity, that they bearevidences of copying. It is, indeed, not in the nature of things that such a troublesome task as catching and shaving a hare, and extracting thetalus, &c., should have been "worked off,' or dismissed, so abruptly as Marcellus describes it.

There is not a negro in North America, and I suppose very few white men, who have not heard that the fore-foot of a rabbit (the hare being there unknown), is a charm for luck. The fore-foot brings fortune, the hind-footprevents evil from overtaking the bearen This world-old, widely-spread belief owes its origin to a faith in the talus, or ankle-bone. I possess specimens of these amulets, or fetishes, which were obtained from Voodoo sorcerers by Miss Mary Owen, of Saint Joseph, Missouri.

All mediæval magic, as well as Roman, abounds in allusions to the effect that while engaged in incantation the operator must not look behindhim. And if a traveller be followed by an evil spirit or fiend, the latter will have no power over him until he "turns around his head."

The injunction not to look behind one involves some very curious and veryancient lore. In Tuscany if one gathers ashes or other objects for magic, he or she in departing must not look round. So in Theocritus (Idyl 91), on gathering ashes such retrospection is forbidden. Also Virgil (Eclogue 8) writes:–

HILDEBRAND (Theurgia, p.297) tells a marvellous tale, how a young man of noble birth was tormented by demons. His guardian angel promised him that if he would pray to God, not drink with the devils, and not oncelook behind him,

bey Verlust seines Lebens–on his life, and could hold out till cock-crow, he would be all right. Which so happened. PRÆTORIUS, who gives several pages to the subject "Why witches when riding on their brooms must not look behind them lest they fall off"–which it seems is a condition of broom and goat-riding (Blocksberg, p.414)–very shrewdly conjectures that Satan got the idea from Lot's wife. This not turning round is probably connected with the unbroken attention or unintermitted thought which enters largely into all execution of spells. When the witch's attention is distracted by intricate patterns, grains, or by songs, her evil power for the time is suspended.

"L'araignée est un signe de bonheur et annonce particulierement de1'argent pour la personne sur laquelle est trouvè."

As is very natural, the spider appears in Folk-lore as both bad and good,lucky and unlucky. From its ugliness and poison it is an emblem of enmity and hatred. "The Tarantula causes by its bite a species of madness, which, according to popular superstition, can only be cured by dancing." For this cure there is a physical explanation. Violent exercise often works off ill humours in the blood. A typhoid fever may be averted by hard labour. In Western America a man bitten by a rattlesnake must drink all the whiskey he can swallow, and run or walk till he drops with fatigue. Thus the Tarantella is a well-known dance, which popular superstition assigns to witches. It is the awakening dance at their Treguenda, or Sabbat.

There is a legend which states that this Tarantella dance originated as follows: A priest bearing the sacrament passed by a party of dancers who did not salute it. So he caused them to dance on and more madly than ever (Naturgeschichte zur Dämpfung des Aberglaubens (Hamburg, 1793), p.102). But while there are many legends of evil spirits appearing asspiders, on the other hand the extraordinary instinct, or ingenuity displayed by the insect in making its web, and its habit of always being in one place at home, and its foresight as regards the weather, have made it a generally recognised symbol for industry, cleverness, domestic steady habits, and prophecy. Therefore it brings good luck, and is a type of thrift and wealth. If a spider creeps over you and you do it no harm "thereis money coming." Again, its wonderful perseverance re-spinning its web, or in getting to a predetermined place, has pointed many a moral and adorned many a tale from the days of the Bruce to these our own times.

Of course it found a place in magical medicine. MARCELLUS (cap. 14, p.104) gives the following:–

"Araneam quæ sursum versus subit et taxit prendes, et nomen ejus dices cui medendum erit, et adjicies: Sic cito subeat uva ejus–quem nomino, quomodo aranea haec sursum repit et texit, tum ipsam araneamin chartam virginem lino ligabis et collo laborantis suspendes die Jovis, sed dum prendes araneam vel phylacterium, alligas ter in terram spues."

Which is to the effect that when you see a spider weaving upwards, you name your invalid, and take the spider, and put it in a bag of virgin linen, and hang it round the neck of the patient, but while taking and baggingyour spider, spit thrice on the ground. ¹

All of which is nearly the same in Tuscany, but with it there must be pronounced the following incantation:–

¹ The spiders that come to your house (so says the negro), indicate the number of your friends. If you kill a spider you will certainly losea friend. At the same time, certain kinds of spiders cooked in the foodare supposed to cause death. "A spider in the dumpling " is a name for secret poisoning. Spider-webs are found on the bodies of feeble babies. –Note by MARY A. OWEN.

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