may be drawn from it on Walpurgis Night by letting loose a black hen,
after which he will run. Then there is the sow-thistle, which in Russia is
said to belong to the devil; and Loki, the evil spirit in northern
mythology, is occasionally spoken of as sowing weeds among the good
seed; from whence, it has been suggested, originated the popular phrase
of "sowing one's wild oats."[5] The German peasantry have their "rye-
wolf," a malignant spirit infesting the rye-fields; and in some parts of the
Continent orchards are said to be infested by evil demons, who, until
driven away by various incantations, are liable to do much harm to the
fruit. The Italians, again, affirm that in each leaf of the fig-tree an evil
spirit dwells; and throughout the Continent there are various other
demons who are believed to haunt the crops. Evil spirits were once said
to lurk in lettuce-beds, and a certain species was regarded with ill favour
by mothers, a circumstance which, Mr. Folkard rightly suggests,[6] may
account for a Surrey saying, "O'er much lettuce in the garden will stop a
young wife's bearing." Among similar legends of the kind it is said that,
in Swabia, fern-seed brought by the devil between eleven and twelve
o'clock on Christmas night enables the bearer to do as much work as
twenty or thirty ordinary men. According to a popular piece of
superstition current in our southern counties, the devil is generally
supposed to put his cloven foot upon the blackberries on Michaelmas
Day, and hence after this date it is considered unlucky to gather them
during the remainder of the year. An interesting instance of this
superstition is given by Mrs. Latham in her "West Sussex Superstitions,"
which happened to a farmer's wife residing in the neighbourhood of
Arundel. It appears that she was in the habit of making a large quantity
of blackberry jam, and finding that less fruit had been brought to her
than she required, she said to the charwoman, "I wish you would send
some of your children to gather me three or four pints more." "Ma'am,"
exclaimed the woman in astonishment, "don't you know this is the 11th
October?" "Yes," she replied. "Bless me, ma'am! And you ask me to let
my children go out blackberrying! Why, I thought every one knew that
the devil went round on the 10th October, and spat on all the
blackberries, and that if any person were to eat on the 11th, he or some
one belonging to him would either die or fall into great trouble before
the year was out."
In Scotland the devil is said to but throw his cloak over the
blackberries and render them unwholesome, while in Ireland he is said
to stamp on them. Among further stories of this kind may be quoted one
current in Devonshire respecting St. Dunstan, who, it is said, bought up
a quantity of barley for brewing beer. The devil, knowing how anxious
the saint would be to get a good sale for his beer, offered to blight the
apple trees, so that there should be no cider, and hence a greater demand
for beer, on condition that he sold himself to him. St. Dunstan accepted
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