human
thereof, possessed the quality usually described as
gpt
According to Panzer, the devil was compelled to fulfil the wish of any person in possession of the seed of this plant; and Meier tells us that in Swabia the peasants believe that the possession of this seed, obtained from his Satanic majesty between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock on Christmas night, will enable one man to do the work of twenty or thirty others not so favoured. Browne, in his
human
Britannia's Pastorals, speaks of
gpt
and Richard Bivot, in his
human
Pandæmonium, published in 1648, quaintly informs us that
gpt
The summer solstice is a favourite season for gathering plants of the lightning tribe, and particularly the springwort and fern. It is believed in the Oberpfalz that the springwort, or St. John's-wort (johanniswurzel) as some call it, can only be found among the fern on St. John's night. It is said to be of a yellow colour, and to shine in the night like a candle; which is just what is said of the mandrake in an Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the tenth or eleventh century. Moreover, it never stands still, but hops about continually, to avoid the grasp of men. Here, then, in the luminosity and power of nimble movement attributed to the springwort, we have another remarkable tradition signifying the transformation of the lightning into the plant.
human
Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light, I must gather the mystic St. John's-wort to-night; The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide If the coming year shall make me a bride! And the glow-worm came With his silvery flame, And sparkled and shone Through the night of St. John. And soon as the young maid her love-knot tied With noiseless tread To her chamber she sped, Where the spectral moon her white beams shed,
gpt
Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power, To deck the young bride in her bridal hour!