resides in the neighbourhood of the Orkneys
is popularly known as Tangie, so-called from _tang,_, the seaweed with
which he is covered. Occasionally he makes his appearance as a little
horse, and at other times as a man.[14]

Then there are the wood and forest folk of Germany, spirits inhabiting
the forests, who stood in friendly relation to man, but are now so
disgusted with the faithless world, that they have retired from it.
Hence their precept--

"Peel no tree,
Relate no dream,
_Pipe_ no bread, _or_
Bake no cumin in bread,
So will God help thee in thy need."

On one occasion a "forest-wife," who had just tasted a new baked-loaf,
given as an offering, was heard screaming aloud:

"They've baken for me cumin bread,
That on this house brings great distress."

The prosperity of the poor peasant was soon on the wane, and before long
he was reduced to abject poverty.[15] These legends, in addition to
illustrating the fairy mythology of bygone years, are additionally
interesting from their connection with the plants and flowers, most of
which are familiar to us from our childhood.

Footnotes:

1. See Crofton Croker's "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South
of Ireland," 1862, p. 98.

2. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 30.

3. Friend, "Flowers and Flower Lore," p. 34.

4. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," ii. 81-2.

5. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 266.

6. See "The Phytologist," 1862, p. 236-8.

7. "Folk-lore of Shakespeare," p. 15.

8. See Friend's "Flower Lore," i. 34.

9. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 266.

10. Friend's "Flower Lore," i. 27.

11. See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 231.

12. Grimm's "Teut. Myth.," 1883, ii. 451;

13. "Asiatic Researches," i. 345.

14. See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 173.

15. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 251-3.

CHAPTER VIII.

LOVE-CHARMS.

Plants have always been largely used for testing the fidelity of lovers,
and at the present day are still extensively employed for this purpose
by the rustic maiden. As in the case of medical charms, more virtue
would often seem to reside in the mystic formula uttered while the
flower is being secretly gathered, than in any particular quality of the
flower itself. Then, again, flowers, from their connection with certain
festivals, have been consulted in love matters, and elsewhere we have
alluded to the knowledge they have long been supposed to give in