Chapter 36

This superstition of the mouse-ash holds together with some things we have already touched upon. Thus, plugging the mouse in is very like shutting up one's ill-luck in the hollow oak, p. 878; and we are helped out by a statement in Luther's Table-talk (ed. 1571. fol. 53b): 'a hole is bored in a tree, the soul placed therein, and a plug driven in after, that it may stay in.' We know that on other occasions, when soul or spirit quits the body, it takes the shape of a mouse, p. 1082.

Raibiht is what the Lettons call a fancied cure for headache: the sufferer is measured a few times round the head with the inner bark of the lime, and then has to crawl through this bast. We also find that through holes bored in this healing tree water is poured and drunk. (15)

It partakes of angang, that the first three corn or sloe blossoms one sees in the year should furnish a remedy for fever, Sup. I, 695. 718. 1018; conf. the 2 ½ grains of rye, p. 1164.

At the Vogelsberg gouty persons wear on the ring-finger of the right hand iron rings made out of nails on which men have hung themselves. Gout-charms are worn on the breast, wrapt in unbleached linen, with flaxen threads without a knot. Both fall under the head of amulets and adligatio. Healing girdles were already known to Marcellus, AS. hom. 2, 28.

Diseases and remedies are also buried in the ground: in the ant-hill, Sup. I, 864. Of this class is a cure of epilepsy performed in the 10^th cent. by burying peachblossoms, which Ratherius in Praeloquiis lib. 1 (ed. Mart. et Dur. p. 808. ed. Baller. p. 31) relates doubtingly: Factum sit, infectum sit, narratum est quod refero. Cujusdam divitis filius gutta quam cadivam dicunt laborabat. Medicorum omne probatissimorum erga eum inefficax ingenium ad desperationem salutis paternum atque maternum deduxerat animum, cum ecce unus servorum suggerit, ut flores arboris persicae optime mundatos primo lunis (i.e. lunae) die Aprilis mensis in vase vitreo colligerent, quod sub radice ejusdem arboris, insciis omnibus, ab uno quo vellent suffoderetur, eodem die reversuro ipso a quo positum est, anno vergente, si fieri posset hora quoque eadem, et effosso vase flores in oleum conversos, arborem siccatam inventuro, quod sub altare positum presbytero quoque ignorante, novem missis super eo celebratis sanctificaretur, et statim post accessum ejusdem morbi novem vicibus in haustum diatim scilicet aegro daretur, cum oratione Dominica, ita duntaxat ut post 'libera nos a malo' a dante diceretur 'libera Deus istum hominem (nomine ill.) a gutta cadiva,' et quibus novem diebus missam quotidie audiret, azymum panem cibumque quadragesimalem post jejunium caperet, atque ita Deo miserante convalesceret. Si tamen factum est, ille convaluit, servus emancipatus est, etiam heres adscriptus, medicina ab innumeris adprobata multis quoque salutis contulit remedia.

The elder-tree is good for toothache and ague: for the former the sufferer sticks an elder-branch into the ground with the words 'begone, bad spirit'; in the case of ague he puts it in without saying a word, but his fever sticks to the elder, and then fastens on the first person who comes to the spot unawares, Dan. Sup. K, 162. Specially wholesome is an elder that grows over beehives (op bjintjekoven); the bast is peeled off upwards (not down), and a decoction of it is given the patient to drink (Lapekoer fen Gabe scrôar. p. 31-2).

It is worth noticing how the sickness is transferred to a tree, i.e. to the spirit who inhabits it. Spell no. xxvi begins with the words: 'bough, I bend thee, so fever leave me'; another has: 'Lift thee up, elder bough! Antony's fire, sit on it now! I've had thee a day, thou have it alway!' One that has the gout must go three successive Fridays after sunset under a firtree: 'firtree, I complain to thee, the gout torments me sore, etc.'; the fir withers, and the gout leaves off. 'Deus vos salvet, sambuce, panem et sal ego vobis adduco, febrem tertianam et quotidianam accipiatis vos, quo nolo eam.' Westendorp p. 518 reports a Nethl. custom: to be rid of ague, one goes early in the morning (in der uchte) to an old willow, ties three knots in a bough, and says to it: 'goe morgen, olde, ik geef oe de kolde, goe morgen, olde!' then he turns, and runs away fast without looking round. Sup. I, 1074: he that has 'fever-frost' shall go in silence, and across no water, to a hollowed willow, thrice breathe his breath into it, quickly block up the hole, and hasten home, neither looking behind nor speaking a word; and the fever shall keep away. In Spell xliv the gout is handed over to a young pinetree with a courteous 'good morrow, dame Pine!'

Diseases can likewise be transferred to animals. 'Praecordia vocamus uno nomine exta in homine, quorum in dolore cujuscunque partis si catulus lactens admoveatur apprimaturque his partibus, transire in eum morbus dicitur, idque in exenterato perfusoque vino deprehendi, vitiato viscere illo quod doluerit hominis; et obrui tales religio est,' Pliney 30, 4 [14]. 'Sunt occulti interaneorum morbi, de quibus mirum proditur: si catuli, priusquam videant, applicentur triduo stomacho maxime ac pectori, et ex ore aegri suctum lactis accipiant, transire vim morbi, postremo exanimari, dissectisque palam fieri aegri causas; mori et humari debere eos obrutos terra........Quod praeterea traditur in torminibus mirum est: anate apposita ventri, transire morbum, anatemque emori,' 30, 7 [20]. So, even within the last few centuries, people have put young whelps to the human breast, and let them suck. That a corn (clavus, hloj) should be called by us hen's eye (Boh. kurj oko), magpie's eye (Nethl. exter-ôg), and crow's eye, arose out of a belief in the possibility of these transfers. Tobler 18b tells us, if a Swiss calls out on the spot where a magpie has sat, 'zigi, zigi, ägest, i ha dreu auga (I've 3 eyes), ond du gad zwä,' he gets rid of his magpie's eye.

The flying gout is cured by the patient being completely swathed in clean flax: when he lies in it snug as a bug in a rug, a sheepskin is spread over him, and the sweating medicine administered. This envelopment is a remedy renowned in the old Beast-fable. The lion taken with a fever is to wrap himself in the hide of a wolf of 3 ½ years who has been flayed alive, and to sweat; this we have already in the Aesopic fable (Reinh. cclx). Our old German poem goes more into minutiæ: the lion's illness was caused by an ant having crept into his brain; Reynard prescribes wrapping the hide of an old wolf about him, putting a bearskin on him, and a catskin hat on his head: when the cat's fur is warmed, the ant creeps out into it. Such wrapping in the newly stript hide of an animal was really practised in the Mid. Ages on various emergencies, for puny infants prematurely born, for those cut out unborn (p. 388), for a bad fall. In a Nethl. comedy of the 16^th century, 'De böse frouwens,' they sew up the sick woman in a page's skin, 'in eine vriske pagenhut beneijen.' Schmidt on the East Mongols p. 229 remarks, that these tribes also, to cure a disease, put their feet in the opened breast of a horse fresh killed. The application of warm flesh is several times mentioned: 'vivum gallinaceum pullum per medium dividere, et protinus calidum super vulnus imponere sic ut pars interior corpori jungatur,' Celsus 5, 27; 'cut open a black hen, and lay it on the shaven head,' Ettn. hebamme 795; fresh-killed flesh on a wound, Belg. mus. 7, 446 (see Suppl.). (16)

Again, the hirzîn rieme, hart-strap, cut out of Randolt's hide for the sick lion (Reinh. 1951), is found actually prescribed as a remedy, Bresl. MS. of the 14^th century in Fundgr. 1, 325: 'Für daz vallende ubel. Du salt warten, swenne iz en an-ge (attacks him), so nim einen hirzinen riemen, unde bint im den umbe den hals (round his neck) di wile im we si, unde sprich, "In nomine, etc. so binde ich hie den sichthum dises menschen in disem knopfe," unde nim den selbem riemen denne, unde knupfe (tie) einen knoten dar an; den selben riemen sal man denne binden dem siechen umbe den hals; unde derselbe mensch sal sich enthalden (abstain) von dem wine unde von dem fleische, biz (till) daz er kume da (where) man einen toten man begrabe (burying), da sal man den riemen losen dem siechen von dem halse, unde sal den selben riemen begraben mit dem toten manne, wan der selbe rieme sal dem toten geleget werden under die schulter (laid under the dead man's shoulder), unde sal einer sprechen, der den riemen leget, etc. der sichthum gewirret im nimmer mere.' Elsewhere it is prescribed for epilepsy, to gird oneself with a wolfskin, Belg. mus. 6, 105 (see Suppl.).

The modern pharmacopœia is almost confined to vegetable and mineral medicines; the ancient comprised all manner of animal stuffs. The hearts of certain birds, the flesh, blood and fat of certain beasts possessed a peculiar healing power. (17) Monkey's flesh does the sick lion good (Reinh. cclx), though the ignorant wolf recommends that of the goat and ram. (18) The blood of birds and of the fox heals wounds, Pentam. 2, 5. Crow's blood bewitches, Sup. G, 1. 202. Blood from the cock's comb, brains of the female hare are of service, Ettn. hebamme 875. Of a piece with this is the superstitious healing of leprosy by the blood of innocent boys and pure maids, that of the falling sickness by the blood of slain malefactors, Sup. I, 1080. Spittle, and even mere breath, are medicinal (19)(see Suppl.).

A great many appliances heal or hurt by sympathy. Thus jaundice is rendered incurable by a yellow-footed hen flying over the patient, Sup. I, 549; it is cured by looking into black carriage-grease [66]. Spanning a pot or bowl with the hand brings on tension of the heart (11. 949); twisting osiers gives a wry neck or the gripes (373; conf. p. 1146). Fever is abated or laid by laying a field under flax while repeating a charm: as the seed comes up, the fever goes off (Höfer 3, 131). On rose or red rash (erysipelas) you are to strike sparks with stone and steel (I, 383. 710); to make evil bounce off your body, as water off the millwheel (p. 593); to break a loaf over the head of a tongue-tied child (I, 415); to knock a tooth that is pulled out into the bark of a young tree [630]. The people have many such specifics for hiccough, earache, toothache, etc., I, 151. 211. 280. 581-4. 722. 950 (see Suppl.).

Remedies are very often tied on, are worn fastened round the arm, neck, or waist. These the writers of the early Mid. Ages call ligamenta, ligaturae, phylacteria. Fulakthria are preservatives, protective pendants, amulets, often of thin metal plate (blech), so that OHG. glosses render them pleh, plehhir, but also of glass, wood, bone, herbs, silver and gold; ligaturae apparently mere ties of thread. The later word is an-gehenke, appendage, I, 869. 870. Cipher-writing and runes were also appended, not always for healing, but contrariwise to bewitch and injure. Here are testimonies to both kinds: 'Ut clerici vel laici phylacteria vel falsas scriptiones aut ligaturas, quae imprudentes pro febribus aut aliis pestibus adjuvare putant, nullo modo ab illis vel a quoquam Christiano fiant, quia magicae artis insignia sunt,' Capitul. 6, 72. 'Admoneant sacerdotes non ligaturas ossium vel herbarum cuiquam adhibitas prodesse, sed haec esse laqueos et insidias antiqui hostis,' Capit. add. 3, 93. In Greg. Tur. mirac. 2, 45 we read of a sick boy to whom the wizard (ariolus) was fetched: 'Ille vero venire non differens, accessit ad aegrotum, et artem suam exercere conatur, incantationes immurmurat, sortes jactat, ligaturas collo suspendit.' In Lex Visig. vi. 2, 4: 'Qui in hominibus vel brutis animalibus, seu in agris seu in vineis diversisque arboribus, maleficium aut diversa ligamenta aut etiam scripta in contrarietatem alterius excogitaverit facere.' In Lex Sal. 22, 4: 'Si quis alteri aliquod maleficium superjactaverit, sive cum ligaturis in aliquod loco miserit.' The Indiculus (Sup. B; C int. 43 and p. 195b) speaks of such ligaturae and nefaria ligamenta, both healing and hurtful; Kopp's Palaeogr. 3, 74 seq. gives other passages on amulets and ligatures. Hincmar 1, 645 says: 'Turpo est fabulas nobis notas referre, et longum est sacrilegia computare, quae ex hujusmodi de ossibus mortuorum atque cineribus carbonibusque extinctis (supra p. 621) ........ cum filulis colorum multiplicium, et herbis variis ac cocleolis, et serpentum particulis composita, cum carminibus incantata deprehendentes comperimus.' These particoloured threads remind one of Virgil's verse: 'terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore licia circumdo,' and 'necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores' (Ecl. 8, 73-7). (20) If it was the Romans that taught our fathers the use of amulets, they must have done it very early, for what says Boniface? Epist. 51 (an. 742): 'Dicunt quoque se vidisse ibidem mulieres pagano ritu phylacteria et ligaturas in brachiis et cruribus ligatas habere, et publice ad vendendum venales ad comparandum aliis offere.' And Beda 4, 27: 'Nam et multi ............ ad erratica idolatriae medicamina concurrebant, quasi missam a Deo conditore plagam per incantationes vel phylacteria .......... cohibere valerent.' A phylactery with relics from neck to breast in Sigeb. Gembl. 828. In Bonaventurae centiloq. 1, 29 (Opp. ed. Venet. 5, 130): 'Maleficium est peritia per quam mulieres faciunt aliquas ligaturas in damnum vel in commodum alicujus, ut de crista galli et de rana et de imagine cum eis.' Even Pliny 30, 1 [30] speaks of tying beetles on. The füli-zant, foal's tooth, Ms. 2, 160b I have noticed p. 658 n.; Pliny 28, 19 [78] alludes to this custom also: 'dentes qui equis primum cadunt facilem dentitionem praestant infantibus adalligati.' The godfather mentioned with 'fülizant' is, I suppose, to put it round the godchild with his own hands? The tying-on of simples is treated more fully in the next chap. (see Suppl.).

Bewitching a newly-married couple was alluded to, pp. 1073-96. The witch, by merely muttering a spell during the wedding, if she be present, can incapacitate both husband and wife for having children. Hincmar 1, 654 relates a case, and states the composition of the material employed as a charm; on his statement is founded a passage in Gratian's decree ii. 33, 1 §4. Such sorcery is named tying the senkel or nestel, turning the lock, binding, because it is accompanied by the secret tying of a knot or locking of a padlock. (21) Nestel means a tie (ligula); it is a senkel when the ends are tipped with metal, to make it sink faster. It is also called tying up the breach, tying the tippet or nether garment, Fr. nouer l'aiguilette. There are said to be fifty sorts of these ties, and a vast number of unintelligible tie-spells. (22) The lock when fastened, the knot when tied, was thrown away, not hung on the bewitched.

Many forms are observed in pregnancy and childbirth, Sup. I, 41. 176. 293. 337. 364. 489. 561. 654. 673-4. 688. 691. 702. 724-732. 817. 859. 924-5. 933. M, 12. 18-23. If the woman put her husband's slippers on, if on the wedding-day the bridegroom tie the bride's garters, she will have easy labours. Does this account for the custom, whose antiquity I shall presently prove, of the bride on the wedding-night exchanging her shift for the bridegroom's shirt? Vintler says, Sup. G, 1. 170: 'da sind dan etlich briute (some brides), die legent ir hemd an irs mannes ort (place).' More clearly in Turlin's Wh. 148: 'diu künigîn wart gebrîset in ein hemede;

als er dir sî gelegen bî (lain down beside thee),

und er dar nâch entslâfen sî (gone to sleep),

sô lege tougen (stealthily) sîn hemede an;

und ob dîn sin gesuochen kan (wit can contrive),

daz ez werde heimlich getân (be secretly done),

sich (see), daz dich iht verdrieze (fail not),

dîn hemde sîn houpt beslieze (evelop his head);

daz sol an dinem vlîze stên (depend on thy pains):

dar nâch soldu über in gên

an sîme hemde, daz wirt dir vromen (profit thee).

Among the Greeks a birth was forwarded or checked by superior divine beings, the eileithyiai, handmaids of Hera, who were gradually merged in a single Eileithyia, the Roman Lucina. In our Edda Oddrûn the sister of Atli has skill in childbirth, she posts over land to the expectant mother, flings the saddle off her steed and strides into the hall (Sæm. 239), kneels down before the maid, and speaks her charm. They spoke of 'kiôsa mæðr frâ mögum' (exsolvere matres a pueris), Sæm. 187b, and gave the office to norns. There must have been from the earliest times sympathetic means of delivering and of obstructing, which are practised to this day: to cross the legs, to fold the hands before the woman in labour was obstructive, to leave loose or disengage was helpful; probably the energetic unsaddling of the steed had this meaning. Ovid's Met. 9, 298:

Dextroque a poplite laevum

pressa genu, digitis inter se pectine junctis

sustinuit nixus; tacita quoque carmina voce

dixit, et inceptos tenuerunt carmina partus.

 310. Divam residentem vidit in ara,

brachiaque in genibus digitis connexa tenentem.

 314. Exsiluit, junctasque manus pavefacta remisit

diva potens uteri: vinclis levor ipsa remissis.
'Assidere gravidis, vel cum remedium alicui adhibeatur, digitis pectinatim inter se implexis veneficium est, idque compertum tradunt Alcmena Herculem pariente. Pejus si circa unum ambove genua; item poplites alternis genibus imponi,' Pliny 28, 6 [17]. 'Ferunt difficiles partus statim solve, si quis tectum in quo sit gravida transmiserit lapide vel missili ex his qui tria animalia singulis ictibus interfecerint, hominem, aprum, ursum. Probabilius id facit hasta velitaris, evulsa e corpore hominis, si terram non attigerit,' 28, 4 [6], (see Suppl.).

A poisoning case was sometimes met by forcible remedies: the man was hung up by the heels, and after a time one of his eyes pulled out, in hopes of the venom oozing out at that aperture: 'tanem intoxicatus Albertus in Austria, et diu per pedes suspensus, oculum perdens evasit,' Alb. Argent. (ed. Basil. 1569) p. 167 (see Suppl.).

Water, springs, fire (pp. 1166. 1173) have power to preserve health or restore it (pp. 586-8. 605-6. 618-9. 621-4); especially a spring that has burst out of the rock at the bidding of a god or saint. The snake that lies coiled round the holywell, or is seen beside it (p. 585-8n.), may be likened to the serpent-rod of Aesculapius. Healing water or oil trickles out of rocks and walls. The mother that was walled in (p. 1143) continued for a time to nourish her babe through a hole in the wall, till at last she died. At that hole there is a continual dropping, women whose milk has run dry go there to get healed: the mother's milk had streamed so long that it sets other breasts flowing too. I know of a similar story in Italy: 'est quoque non procul ab hoc oppido (Verona), in valle quadam Policella dicta, locus Negarina nomine, ubi saxum durissimum visitur, in quo mammae ad justam muliebrium formam sculptae sunt, ex quarum papillis perpetuae stillant aquae, quibus si lactans mulier papillas asperserit et laverit, exsiccatus aliquo (ut fit) vel morbo vel alio casu illi lacteus humor revocatur,' Hentzneri itinerar. p. 201. A rock which drops milk is mentioned in Fel. Faber's Evagator. 1, 449; and the Lith. Laumês papas (teat) is the name of a hard stone.




Notes: