Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/505

Rh that, if the danger to a beech is taken as 1, that to a spruce fir is 6, to a Scotch fir 37, and to an oak 60. The reason for this is not quite clear, but attempts have been made to explain it which do not now concern us. The fact is sufficient, and the fact is supported by evidence both from France and from Bavaria.

Thus we may safely infer that in ancient times more oaks were struck than other trees, and I may add from my own experience that, when struck, oaks are more conspicuous, turning brown quickly and soon dying outright: they are also more liable to be smashed into fragments. Now, if we remember that an object struck by lightning was an object of awe and reverence in ancient Greece and Italy, and presumably elsewhere, we have the solution of the connection of the oak with the thunder-god; and, further, it seems now probable that the worship of the Sky-god was prior to that of the Oak; Dr. Frazer had decided this question in the opposite way, but admits that the evidence I have adduced must modify his conviction. How the Sky-god was thought of as affecting the stricken oak I will leave it to others to conjecture.

When I was a boy in West Carmarthenshire there was one cure for jaundice which was universally recognised as infallible. The remedy was a very simple one. The patient came to the house of the "jaundice curer" for treatment. Three small pieces of any cheese were cut on a plate, and each piece divided in the middle into two tiny slices. The 'doctor' in the presence of the patient took an ordinary pen and ink, and, selecting one piece of cheese, wrote on it the word 'pater.' This piece was then covered by its fellow, and handed to the patient, who ate it. Then the doctor proceeded to write on a second piece of cheese the word 'filius,' covered it, and gave it to the patient. Finally he took the third portion and wrote 'Spiritus Amen' on it, and the patient ate it.