Kookh:":--"His voice was sweet, as if he had chewed the leaves of that
enchanted tree which grows over the tomb of the musician Tan-Sein."
The rare but occasional occurrence of vegetation in certain trees and
shrubs, happening to take place at the period of Christ's birth, gave rise
to the belief that such trees threw out their leaves with a holy joy to
commemorate that anniversary. An oak of the early budding species
for two centuries enjoyed such a notoriety, having been said to shoot
forth its leaves on old Christmas Day, no leaf being seen either before or
after that day during winter. There was the famous Glastonbury thorn, and
in the same locality a walnut tree was reported never to put forth its leaves
before the feast of St. Barnabas, the 11th June. The monkish legend runs
thus: Joseph of Arimathaea, after landing at no great distance from
Glastonbury, walked to a hill about a mile from the town. Being weary he
sat down here with his companions, the hill henceforth being nicknamed
"Weary-All-Hill," locally abbreviated into "Werral." Whilst resting Joseph
struck his staff into the ground, which took root, grew, and blossomed
every Christmas Day. Previous to the time of Charles I a branch of this
famous tree was carried in procession, with much ceremony, at Christmas
time, but during the Civil War the tree was cut down. Many plants, again,
as the "Sesame" of the "Arabian Nights," had the power of opening doors
and procuring an entrance into caverns and mountain sides--a survival of
which we find in the primrose or key-flower of German legend. Similarly,
other plants, such as the golden-rod, have been renowned for pointing to
hidden springs of water, and revealing treasures of gold and silver. Such
fabulous properties have been also assigned to the hazel-branch, popularly
designated the divining-rod:--
"Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod,
Gather'd with vows and sacrifice,
And, borne aloft, will strangely nod
The hidden treasure where it lies."With plants of the kind we may compare the wonder-working
moonwort (Botrychium lunaria), which was said to open locks and to
unshoe horses that trod on it, a notion which Du Bartas thus mentions in
his "Divine Weekes"--"Horses that, feeding on the grassy hills,
Tread upon moonwort with their hollow heels,
Though lately shod, at night go barefoot home,
Their maister musing where their shoes become.
O moonwort! tell me where thou bid'st the smith,
Hammer and pinchers, thou unshodd'st them with.