the situation of
hidden treasure, but even splits open the ground and reveals the mineral
wealth contained therein. In German legend, "a shepherd, who was driving
his flock over the Ilsenstein, having stopped to rest, leaning on his
staff, the mountain suddenly opened, for there was a springwort in his
staff without his knowing it, and the princess [Ilse] stood before him.
She bade him follow her, and when he was inside the mountain she told
him to take as much gold as he pleased. The shepherd filled all his
pockets, and was going away, when the princess called after him, 'Forget
not the best.' So, thinking she meant that he had not taken enough,
he filled his hat also; but what she meant was his staff with the
springwort, which he had laid against the wall as soon as he stepped
in. But now, just as he was going out at the opening, the rock suddenly
slammed together and cut him in two." [26]

Here the rod derives its marvellous properties from the enclosed
springwort, but in many cases a leaf or flower is itself competent to
open the hillside. The little blue flower, forget-me-not, about which
so many sentimental associations have clustered, owes its name to the
legends told of its talismanic virtues. [27] A man, travelling on a
lonely mountain, picks up a little blue flower and sticks it in his hat.
Forthwith an iron door opens, showing up a lighted passage-way, through
which the man advances into a magnificent hall, where rubies and
diamonds and all other kinds of gems are lying piled in great heaps on
the floor. As he eagerly fills his pockets his hat drops from his head,
and when he turns to go out the little flower calls after him, "Forget
me not!" He turns back and looks around, but is too bewildered with his
good fortune to think of his bare head or of the luck-flower which he
has let fall. He selects several more of the finest jewels he can
find, and again starts to go out; but as he passes through the door the
mountain closes amid the crashing of thunder, and cuts off one of his
heels. Alone, in the gloom of the forest, he searches in vain for the
mysterious door: it has disappeared forever, and the traveller goes on
his way, thankful, let us hope, that he has fared no worse.

Sometimes it is a white lady, like the Princess Ilse, who invites the
finder of the luck-flower to help himself to her treasures, and who
utters the enigmatical warning. The mountain where the event occurred
may be found almost anywhere