a yewberry, lupin, wormwood. . . . Sing this charm over him twice—
'I have wreathed round the wound
The best of healing wreaths
That the baneful sores may
Neither burn nor burst
Nor find their way further,
Nor turn foul and fallow,
Nor thump and thole on
Nor be wicked wounds
Nor dig deeply down;
But he himself may hold
In a way to health.
Let it ache thee no more
Than ear in Earth acheth.'
Sing also this many times: 'May earth bear on thee with all her might and main.'"
For horses and cattle suffering from "elf -shot," see Leech Book L cap. 65 and 88.[1]
Flying venom. Closely allied to the belief in "elf-shot" is the belief in flying venom. It is, of course, possible to regard the phrase "flying venoms" as the graphic Anglo-Saxon way of describing infectious diseases, but the various synonymous phrases "the on flying things," "the loathed things that rove through the land," suggest something of more malignant activity. The idea of the wind blowing these venoms which produced diseases in the bodies on which they lighted is frequently found in Teutonic folk-lore.
In the alliterative lay in the Lacnunga the wind is described as blowing these venoms from Woden"s magic twigs, and the evil effects are blown away by the magician's song and the health-giving effects of salt and water and herbs. In the Leech Book I. 72, we find that these flying venoms were particularly malignant "fifteen nights ere Lammas and
- ↑ For elf-shot, see also Leech Book I. cap. 64; II. cap. 65; III. 54, 61, 62, 63, 65.
