t the time
immediately preceding his birth; it is the tradition that if such a
man should be hanged, at the foot of the gallows whereon his last
breath was exhaled will spring up a plant of hideous form known as the
Alraun or Gallows Mannikin. It is an unsightly object to look at, and
has broad, dark green leaves, with a single yellow flower. The plant,
however, has great power, and whosoever is its possessor never more
knows what it is to want money.

It is a feat full of the greatest danger to obtain it. If not taken up
from the root, clean out of the soil, it is altogether valueless, and
he who makes the experiment wantonly risks his life. The moment the
earth is struck with the spade, the bitterest cries and shrieks burst
forth from it, and while the roots are being laid bare demons are
heard to howl in horrid concert. When the preparatory work is done,
and when the hand of the daring man is laid on the stem to pluck forth
his prize, then is it as if all the fiends of hell were let loose upon
him, such shrieking, such howling, such clanging of chains, such
crashing of thunder, and such flashing of forked lightning assail him
on every side. If his heart fail him but for one moment his life is
forfeit. Many a bold heart engaged in this trial has ceased to beat
under the fatal tree; many a brave man's body has been found mangled
and torn to pieces on that accursed spot.

There is, however, happily, only one day in the month, the first
Friday, on which this plant appears, and on the night of that day only
may it be plucked from its hiding-place. The way it is done is this.
Whoso seeks to win it fasts all day. At sundown he sets forth on his
fearful adventure, taking with him a coal-black hound, which has not a
single fleck of white on its whole body, and which he has compelled
likewise to fast for four-and-twenty hours previously. At midnight he
takes his stand under the gallows, and there stuffs his ears with wool
or wax, so that he may hear nothing. As the dread hour arrives, he
stoops down and makes three crosses over the Alraun, and then
commences to dig for the roots in a perfect circle around it. When he
has laid it entirely bare, so that it only holds to the ground by the
points of its roots, he calls the hound to him, and ties the plant to
its tail. He then shows the dog some meat, which he flings to a short
distance from the spot. Ravenous with hunger, the hound springs after
it, dragging the plant up by the