o and garden was a man who had no faith in
old legends, or love for such mysteries as these, and so he said, 'It is
time to put an end to all this superstition, and I am determined to at
once see whether all my prosperity depends on a fig-tree; so do you cut
it down and tear it up, root and branch, utterly.'

"This was at once done by the labourers, but, while doing so, they heard
sounds as of wailing and great lamenting in the earth beneath them. And
when they, astonished, asked the signore to listen to the voices, he
replied, 'Away with your superstitions; we will see this time whether the
tree will grow or return again.'

"Truly it did not return, but passed away for ever, and with it all the
property and prosperity of the lord. For in time he had to sell all he
had, and, losing what he got, died in poverty. Then those who had to go
in the street where his palace had been would say, '_Andiamo nella Via
del Fico_,' just as they say, '_Andar per la Via de' Carri_,' but meaning
to 'go in the way of what is worthless or poverty-stricken,' and so it
was that the street came by its name."

* * * * *

This strange tale, which is evidently of great antiquity, and deeply
inspired with real witch tradition, has, indeed, nothing in common with
the pretty fairy stories which are so generally presented as constituting
the whole of popular narrative folklore. It was not made nor intended to
serve as a pleasing tale for youth, but to embody certain ideas which the
witch-teacher explained to the pupil. The first of these is, that the
_fig-tree_ planted under certain circumstances became a kind of Luck of
Eden Hall to its possessor. This story comes from the Etruscan-Roman
land, where traditions have been preserved with incredible fidelity. In
the olden time Tarquin the Elder planted a fig-tree in a public place in
Rome, and it was a matter of common faith that this tree would flourish
for ever if undisturbed, and that on it depended the prosperity and
preservation of the city. {207} And in India, the motherland of Greek
and Roman mythology, it was believed that whenever one of certain ancient
fig-trees died, that the reigning family would pass away. The opinion
was widely spread that the fig-tree was above all others the one of life
and destiny. In the Bagvatgeta, Krishna says of himself: "I am the
spirit, the beginning, the middle, and the end of creation. I am as the
_Aswatha_ (_pipal