htning from which it was sprung. It has acquired, therefore, a
mystic character, evidences of which are numerously represented
throughout Europe, where its leaves are reverenced as being the most
potent talisman against the darker powers. At the present day we still
find the Highland milkmaid carrying with her a rowan-cross against
unforeseen danger, just as in many a German village twigs are put over
stables to keep out witches. Illustrations of this kind support its
widespread reputation for supernatural virtues, besides showing how
closely allied is much of the folk-lore of our own with that of
continental countries. At the same time, we feel inclined to agree with
Mr. Farrer that the red berries of the mountain-ash probably singled it
out from among trees for worship long before our ancestors had arrived
at any idea of abstract divinities. The beauty of its berries, added to
their brilliant red colour, would naturally excite feelings of
admiration and awe, and hence it would in process of time become
invested with a sacred significance. It must be remembered, too, that
all over the world there is a regard for things red, this colour having
been once held sacred to Thor, and Grimm suggests that it was on this
account the robin acquired its sacred character. Similarly, the Highland
women tie a piece of red worsted thread round their cows' tails previous
to turning them out to grass for the first time in spring, for, in
accordance with an old adage:

"Rowan-ash, and red thread,
Keep the devils from their speed."

In the same way the mothers in Esthonia put some red thread in their
babies' cradles as a preservative against danger, and in China something
red is tied round children's wrists as a safeguard against evil spirits.
By the aid of comparative folk-lore it is interesting, as in this case,
to trace the same notion in different countries, although it is by no
means possible to account for such undesigned resemblance. The common
ash (_Fraxinus excelsior_), too, is a lightning plant, and, according to
an old couplet:

"Avoid an ash,
It counts the flash."

Another tree held sacred to Thor was the hazel (_Corylus avellana_),
which, like the mountain-ash, was considered an actual embodiment of the
lightning. Indeed, "so deep was the faith of the people in the relation
of this tree to the thunder god," says Mr. Conway,[5] "that the Catholics
adopted and sanctioned it by a legend one may hear in Bavaria, that