St. Walpurga’s Daughter

"Ellum do grieve, Oak do hate, Willow do walk, if Yew travels late". A traditional Somerset folk rhyme from the West Country of England, famously collected and preserved by folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs in her landmark study The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. It captures the ancient beliefs of the British Isles that trees possessed sentience, distinct temperaments, and a deep, often vengeful reaction to human intrusion, especially after dark. Ellum Do Grieve...(The Elm). The Folklore: In traditional West Country beliefs, if one elm in a stand is chopped down, the neighboring elm next to it will die of grief. Oak Do Hate. Oaks were seen as proud, ancient forest kings who held a deep resentment toward humans for felling them. It was believed that if an oak was cut down, its stump or surrounding saplings would actively seek revenge on anyone passing through. Willow Do Walk Folk belief held that willows could uproot themselves at night and silently follow travelers through the dark, muttering low under their breath. If Yew Travels Late The final line works on a double meaning, you and the Yew, the ancient tree of mortality and graveyards. Highly toxic, long-lived, and capable of growing out it's own trunk symbolizing immortality and reincarnation, the Yew stands guard as the ultimate threshold between the living world and the dead. The artist here, Arthur Rackham was a legendary English illustrator of fairy tales and folklore, whose iconic anthropomorphic trees were often drawn as sentient creatures. via Pagan History & Mythology #FairyTaleTuesday