notion, no doubt, being that the bird must return the mystic plant to the
element from which it springs, that being either the water of the clouds
or the lightning fire enclosed therein."[11]
Professor Gubernatis, referring to the symbolical nature of this
tradition, remarks that, "this herb may be the moon itself, which opens
the hiding-place of the night, or the thunderbolt, which opens the
hiding-places of the cloud." According to the Swiss version of the story it
is the hoopoe that brings the spring-wort, a bird also endowed with
mystic virtues,[12] while in Iceland, Normandy, and ancient Greece it is
an eagle, a swallow, or an ostrich. Analogous to the talismanic properties
of the springwort are those of the famous luck or key-flower of German
folk-lore, by the discovery of which the fortunate possessor effects an
entrance into otherwise inaccessible fairy haunts, where unlimited
treasures are offered for his acceptance. There then, again, the luck-
flower is no doubt intended to denote the lightning, which reveals
strange treasures, giving water to the parched and thirsty land, and, as
Mr. Fiske remarks, "making plain what is doing under cover of
darkness."[13] The lightning-flash, too, which now and then, as a lesson
of warning, instantly strikes dead those who either rashly or
presumptuously essay to enter its awe-inspiring portals, is exemplified
in another version of the same legend. A shepherd, while leading his
flock over the Ilsentein, pauses to rest, but immediately the mountain
opens by reason of the springwort or luck-flower in the staff on which he
leans. Within the cavern a white lady appears, who invites him to accept
as much of her wealth as he choses. Thereupon he fills his pockets, and
hastening to quit her mysterious domains, he heeds not her enigmatical
warning, "Forget not the best," the result being that as he passes through
the door he is severed in twain amidst the crashing of thunder. Stories of
this kind, howevr, are the exception, legendary lore generally regarding
the lightning as a benefactor rather than a destroyer. "The lightning-
flash," to quote Mr. Baring-Gould's words, "reaches the barren, dead, and
thirsty land; forth gush the waters of heaven, and the parched vegetation
bursts once more into the vigour of life restored after suspended
animation."
That this is the case we have ample proof in the myths relating to
plants, in many of which the life-giving properties of the lightning are
clearly depicted. Hence, also, the extraordinary healing properties which
are ascribed to the various lightning plants. Ash rods, for instance, are
still used in many parts of England for the cure of diseased sheep, cows,
and horses, and in Cornwall, as a remedy for hernia, children are passed
through holes in ash trees. The mistletoe has the reputation of being an
antidote for poisons and a specific against epilepsy. Culpepper speaks of
it as a sure panacea for apoplexy, palsy, and falling sickness, a belief
current in Sweden, where finger rings are made of its wood. An old-
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