Angel of Death, accomplishes his mission by holding it to the nostrils,
and in the prose Edda it is written, 'Iduna keeps in a box apples which
the gods, when they feel old age approaching, have only to taste to
become young again.'" Indeed, the legendary mythical lore connected with
the apple is most extensive, a circumstance which fully explains its
mystic character. Further, as Mr. Folkard points out,[2] in the popular
tales of all countries the apple is represented as the principal magical
fruit, in support of which he gives several interesting illustrations.
Thus, "In the German folk-tale of 'The Man of Iron,' a princess throws a
golden apple as a prize, which the hero catches three times, and carries
off and wins." And in a French tale, "A singing apple is one of the
marvels which Princess Belle-Etoile and her brothers and her cousin
bring from the end of the world." The apple figures in many an Italian
tale, and holds a prominent place in the Hungarian story of the Iron
Ladislas.[3] But many of these so-called mystic trees and plants have
been mentioned in the preceding pages in their association with
lightning, witchcraft, demonology, and other branches of folk-lore,
although numerous other curious instances are worthy of notice, some of
which are collected together in the present chapter. Thus the nettle and
milfoil, when carried about the person, were believed to drive away
fear, and were, on this account, frequently worn in time of danger. The
laurel preserved from misfortune, and in olden times we are told how the
superstitious man, to be free from every chance of ill-luck, was wont to
carry a bay leaf in his mouth from morning till night.

One of the remarkable virtues of the fruit of the balm was its
prolonging the lives of those who partook of it to four or five hundred
years, and Albertus Magnus, summing up the mystic qualities of the
heliotrope, gives this piece of advice:--"Gather it in August, wrap it
in a bay leaf with a wolf's tooth, and it will, if placed under the
pillow, show a man who has been robbed where are his goods, and who has
taken them. Also, if placed in a church, it will keep fixed in their
places all the women present who have broken their marriage vow." It was
formerly supposed that the cucumber had the power of killing by its
great coldness, and the larch was considered impenetrable by fire;
Evelyn describing it as "a goodly tree, which is of so strange a
composition that 'twill ha