THE MAGIC OF THE HORSE-SHOE (continued 2)

In order to impart health and vigor to the animals without incurring the expense of extra fodder, the hostler walks at Epiphany season by night three times around the village church, carrying in his uplifted hands a bundle of hay, which he afterwards feeds to the horses; or on Christmas night he steals some cabbage, which is then mixed with the fodder; or, before going to the midnight Christmas Mass, he lays on the manure-heap a quantity of hay called the “Mass hay,” and on his return from church this is given to the horses. Some peasants have a yet more simple method of promoting the welfare of their horses, which consists in laying the cleaning-cloth upon a hedge on the evenings of Christmas, New Year’s Day, or Epiphany, and afterwards grooming the animals with the dew-laden cloth.[157]

In the popular mind horses are credited with extraordinarily keen faculties for detecting ghosts and haunted places, which they instinctively scent from afar. The Thuringian peasant does not beat his horse when the latter refuses to proceed along some gloomy forest road; for the whip is useless against spiritual obstacles, whereas a Paternoster devoutly repeated is usually much more effective.

It is a Bohemian superstition that a horse sees everything magnified tenfold, and that this is the reason why the noble animal submits to being led by a little child.[158]

When a Brandenburg rustic has bought a horse in a neighboring town and rides him homeward, he dismounts at the boundary line of his own village, and, gathering a handful of his native soil, he throws it backward over the line to prevent the animal’s being bewitched. In Bohemia the chief signs of bewitchment in a horse are thought to be shivering, profuse sweating, and emaciation. A charm against this consists in drawing one’s shirt inside out over one’s head, and using it as a wherewithal to groom the animal,—a method which may be acceptable to superstitious jockeys and hostlers, but which will hardly commend itself to a fastidious horse-owner.[159]

XII. HORSES’ HEADS AS TALISMANS

In early times it was customary to use horses’ heads as talismans, by means of which also the ancient heathen nations practiced various magical arts. Grimm says in his “Teutonic Mythology” that the Scandinavians had a custom of fastening a horse’s head to a pole, with the mouth propped open with a stick. The gaping jaws were then turned in the direction whence an enemy was likely to come, in order to cast over him an evil spell. This contrivance was known as a spite-stake, or nithing-post. In Mallet’s “Northern Antiquities” (p. 156, 1890), it is related that Eigil, a famous Icelandic bard, on being banished from Norway in the ninth century, fixed a stake in the ground and fastened thereon a horse’s head, saying meanwhile: “I here set up a nithing-stake, and turn this my banishment against King Eirek and Queen Gunhilda.” Then, pointing the horse’s head toward the interior of Norway, he uttered a solemn imprecation against the protecting deities of the land, invoking evil upon them, and expressing a wish that they might be compelled to wander about and never find rest until they had driven forth the hated king and queen. In these cases the horse’s head was magically employed as an instrument for working evil upon an enemy, but later the same symbol was widely used among northern peoples as a talisman against evil.

Not alone in remote antiquity, but throughout the Middle Ages, the old pagan device of the spite-stake continued to be employed by the Teutonic peoples; and even after the Reformation, as late as the year 1584, a mare’s skull placed upon a pole was a favorite means for driving away rats and other vermin in Germany. The principle involved appears to have been always the same, namely, the power of averting evil supposed to be a magical attribute of horses’ heads; and this power was not only effective against human enemies, but likewise against the spirits of evil.[160]

When the Roman general Cæcina Severus reached the scene of Varus’s defeat by the German tribes under their chieftain Arminius, in the year 9 A. D., near the river Weser, he saw numbers of horses’ heads fastened to the trunks of trees. These were the heads of Roman horses which the Germans had sacrificed to their gods.[161]

In the fifteenth century a savage tribe known as the Wends had a practice of placing a horse’s head in the crib or manger to counteract the influence of evil spirits, and to prevent their horses from being ridden by the Night Hag. And in many countries analogous notions, veritable relics of paganism, exist in full force to-day. Thus in Mecklenburg and Holstein it is a common usage to place the carved wooden representations of the heads of horses on the gables of houses as safeguards, and when fixed upon poles in the vicinity of stables they are thought to ward off epizoötics. In Mecklenburg, also, horses’ heads, when placed beneath the pillows of the sick, are believed to act as febrifuges, and in Holland they are hung up over pigsties. The fore-parts of horses are to be seen on the gables of old houses in the Rhætian Alps, “carved out of the ends of the intersecting principals.”[162]

The use of horses’ heads as talismans is thought to have some connection with the ancient pagan sacrificial offerings of horses. Adherence to the latter custom was formerly regarded as a pledge of loyalty to heathenism, and conversely its renunciation was a sign of adopting the new religion. In the tenth century the Norwegian king Hakon Athelstan, known as “Hakon the Good,” endeavored persistently to extirpate heathen idolatry in his kingdom, but without much success, owing to the vigorous opposition of his people. At one of their great Yule-tide festivals the king was urged to eat some horse’s flesh as a proof of devotion to the old faith, and on his refusal to do this they wished to kill him.

On another occasion King Hakon so far yielded to the importunities of his people as to inhale the steam from a kettle of horse-broth. He also drank some Yule-beer, holding the cup in his left hand, while with his right he made the sign of the cross, which the pagan mind conceived to be the symbol of Thor’s hammer. Finally he was even induced to eat a couple of mouthfuls of horse-flesh, an act which his people accepted as a satisfactory guarantee of his orthodoxy.[163]

Among the newly converted Northern nations the use of horse-flesh as food fell into disrepute, and the practice was looked upon as a secret sacrifice to the old idols, while those indulging in it were punished as obdurate pagans.[164]

The employment of horses’ heads as talismans, a custom doubtless originating in heathendom, has been thought not only to suggest the sacrificial offering of a horse, but also to symbolize the religious dedication of a building placed under the protective influence of such a symbol. For among the ancient Teutons the horse was held to be the most holy of animals, and auguries were derived from the neighings of white horses in their sacred groves. There exists, moreover, among German peasants a widespread belief that the placing of carved wooden representations of horses’ heads upon house-gables is an act of homage to the Deity, whose blessing and benediction are thereby invoked upon the dwellings thus adorned, and upon the inmates as well. When, however, the heads are directed outwards, in order to ward off evil, the principle involved is evidently akin to that of the pagan spite-stake, of which mention has been made.

Professor Christian Petersen, of Hamburg, who investigated this subject some years ago, expressed the belief that among the pagans every dwelling was protected by three talismanic emblems, namely: (1) on the gable a horse’s head, or the representation of some other animal or bird; (2) by the side of the entrance door a broom, as a preservative against lightning; and (3) on the threshold a horse-shoe.

The German botanist, Karl Friedrich von Ledebour, who visited the Altai Mountains early in the present century, wrote that among the Kalmuks, a nomadic people inhabiting that region, he observed numerous horses’ heads and hides, relics of sacrifices, placed upon scaffolds; and the direction of the horses’ heads, pointing east or west, indicated whether the sacrificial offering was made to a good or evil deity.[165]

Formerly in some parts of Germany, especially in the north, it was customary to place a horse’s head above the stable door; sometimes also horses were killed and their bodies buried beneath the corner-stone of a building, in order to bring good luck. In the same region the association of horses and horse-shoes with lucky influences is everywhere apparent: a horse-shoe when found is either carried about as an amulet, or placed on the chamber wall or threshold; and a young girl who finds a certain number of horse-shoes in a year, or who sees a hundred white horses within the same period, will be married before the year is out.[166]

In Moldavia the head of a horse or of an ass is much esteemed on account of its reputed magical properties, and is believed to be a powerful agent not only for the production of witchcraft, but conversely as a powerful antagonist of evil.[167] Inclosures where animals are kept are very commonly protected by one of these talismans placed upon a forked stake; and the same device is popular as a safeguard against wolves and robbers.[168] In Roumania the skull of a horse is placed over a court-yard gate as a preservative against ghosts, and in Tuscany it is also used as a charm.[169]

The Christmas festivities at Ramsgate, in Kent, formerly included a peculiar feature called “going a-hodening.” A horse’s head fixed on a pole was carried through the town by a party of young people, grotesquely attired and ringing hand-bells. By pulling a string attached to the lower jaw, the horse’s mouth was made to open and shut with a snapping sound. In this case the horse’s head was typical of the good Demon, threatening and overcoming the powers of darkness.[170]

It appears that a modern counterpart of the ancient heathen practice of hanging equine heads upon trees, as tributes to Wodan, still exists in Sussex, where the bodies of horses are suspended by the legs from horizontal tree-branches, as a means of bringing luck to the cattle. And the evident analogy between the two customs of widely separated epochs, the sacrificial offering of horses upon trees in order to avert evil or to invoke protection, has not escaped the attention of modern writers.[171]

The Ostiaks of southern Siberia were wont to suspend horses’ heads from the branches of trees, and to protect bees from witchcraft they also placed them near the hives.[172]

In Bulgaria and among the Osseten, an Asiatic tribe, the same talismans are affixed to the palings inclosing farmyards. The ancient Teuton placed a horse’s head on the weather-vane of his barn, while he hung up a horse-shoe in some consecrated place, as a deprecatory offering to the god of thunder and storms;[173] and the Tartars of the Chinese province of Koukou-Nor seek to protect their bees from the “evil eye” by hanging up near the hives either a skull, a foot, or in fact any bone of a horse.

In Mecklenburg one remedy for the delirium of fever consists in placing a horse’s skull under the bed; and in some parts of Prussia certain spinal affections of children are treated by bathing the patient in rain-water in which a horse’s head has been dipped thrice daily for three successive Thursdays.[174] In a curious old work by M. Fugger (1854), the writer says that a mare’s skull, fixed on a pole and placed in a garden, has a wonderful effect in promoting the growth of plants and vegetables, and, moreover, insures freedom from rats and caterpillars.[175]

The Magyar shepherds place horses’ and asses’ skulls as talismans about their sheepfolds to keep wolves away from their flocks, and also to prevent herbaceous animals other than their sheep from eating the grass of their pasture lands. Also when, as occasionally happens, some hill or upland region gains an unsavory reputation among the peasants as an alleged meeting-place of witches, horses’ skulls are placed there in order to prevent such unseemly orgies, for, according to the popular report, where witches meet grass will not grow. Whoever has the courage to visit such a place on the midnight of Good Friday with a so-called Luciastuhl, a peculiar chair or stool made during Christmas week, may see the witches at their revels, and may easily disperse them by throwing a horse’s skull into their midst.[176]

The gypsies inhabiting lands bordering on the eastern Danube are wont to fasten the skulls of horses and cattle upon the fence-palings which surround their farmyards, to prevent witches and evil spirits from entering the inclosures. So, too, the Transylvanian gypsies bury horses’ skulls beneath the floor of the earth caverns which they occupy in winter; and the tribes of southern Hungary place similar talismans upon the graves of their kindred, that no witch may tread upon the sanctified ground.[177]

The wizards and conjurers of the Shamans pretend to be experts in sorcery, and to possess a secret knowledge which enables them to control the actions of evil spirits. They wear a long elk-skin robe adorned with many fetich objects, such as bells and pieces of iron; and to assist them in their magic rites they carry staves, whose tops are carved into the shape of horses’ heads, and by means of these staves they are enabled to leap high into the air.[178]

XIII. THE HORSE-SHOE AS A FAVORITE ANTI-WITCH CHARM

The universality of the use of the horse-shoe as a safeguard against evil spirits is indeed noteworthy.

It is the anti-witch charm par excellence, as well as the approved symbol of good luck, and, used for these purposes, it is to be seen throughout a large portion of the world. The horse-shoe is most commonly placed over the entrance-doors of dwellings; but stables likewise are thought to be effectually protected by it, for “witches were dreadful harriers of horse-flesh.” In William Henderson’s “Folk-Lore of the Northern Countries of England” we read of a Durham farmer who was convinced that one of his horses had been ridden by hags, as he had found it bathed in sweat of a morning. But after he took the precaution to nail a horse-shoe over the stable-door, and also to hang some broom above the manger, the witches had not been able to indulge in clandestine rides on his horses. While many an honest fellow in England and elsewhere is a firm believer in witches and magical horse-shoes, very few of them can give plausible reasons therefor.

The Lancashire farmer thinks that mischievous fairies not only ride horses by night, but drive cows out of the barn, steal the butter, and eat up the children’s porridge; so he, too, affixes horse-shoes to his buildings.

Any one visiting the hamlets of Oxfordshire can hardly fail to notice the numerous horse-shoes affixed to the picturesque thatched-roofed cottages; and the countryfolk in this neighborhood are not always content with one of these popular safeguards, for two or three of them are often to be seen on the walls of a dwelling, invariably placed with the prongs downward.

In Brand’s “Popular Antiquities” (vol. iii. p. 19, 1888) may be found a clipping from the Cambridge (Eng.) “Advertiser,” which relates that one Bartingale, a carpenter and resident of Ely, suspected a woman named Gotobed of having bewitched him, and of being the cause of an illness which he had recently had. Thereupon, at a consultation of matrons of the neighborhood held in his chamber, it was decided that the most efficient means of protecting him from the evil influence of the suspected sorceress was to have three horse-shoes fastened to the door. A blacksmith was accordingly summoned, and

an operation to this effect was performed, much to the anger of the supposed witch, who at first complained to the Dean, but was laughed at by his reverence. She then rushed in wrath to the sick man’s room, and, miraculous to tell, passed the Rubicon in spite of the horse-shoes. But this wonder ceased when it was discovered that Vulcan had substituted donkeys’ shoes.

Miss Georgiana F. Jackson says, in “Shropshire Folk-Lore,” that, in the home of her childhood at Edgmond, the stable-door was decorated with three rows of horse-shoes arranged in the form of a triangle; and the grooms used to say that they were placed there to exclude witches.

In this region, too, an old horse-shoe placed above the door of a bedroom is a preventive of the nightmare.

In Shrewsbury, the ancient county town of Shropshire, horse-shoe talismans are to be seen not only above the house-doors, but also on the barges which navigate the river Severn.

In quite recent times a case has been reported of a poor girl of Whatfield, in Suffolk, who had experienced a long illness, during which she was visited daily by an old woman who appeared to be very solicitous as to her welfare. At length the girl’s family began to suspect that this old woman was none other than a witch; they therefore caused a horse-shoe to be fastened to the sill of the outer door. The precaution was successful, so runs the tale, for the reputed witch could never thereafter cross the threshold, and the girl speedily recovered her health.[179]

Aubrey, in his “Remains of Gentilisme,” describes the horse-shoe as a preservative against the mischief or power of witches, attributing its magical properties to the astrological principle that Mars, the God of War and the War Horse, was an enemy of Saturn, who according to a mediæval idea was the liege lord of witches.[180]

During the witchcraft excitement in Scotland, one Elizabeth Bathcat was indicted for having a horse-shoe attached to the door of her house “as a devilish means of instruction from the Devil to make her goods and all her other affairs to prosper and succeed well.”[181]

According to an old legend St. Dunstan, the versatile English ecclesiastic of the tenth century, who was a skilled farrier and the owner of a forge, was requested by the Devil to shoe his “single hoof.” Dunstan, who recognized his customer, acceded, but during the operation he caused the Devil so much pain that the latter begged him to desist. The request was heeded on condition that the Devil should never enter a place where a horse-shoe was displayed.[182] The popular belief is that his Satanic Majesty has always faithfully kept the contract, and quite naturally all lesser evil spirits have followed his example.

In Scotland, even as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, the peasantry believed that witches were able to draw milk from all the cattle in their neighborhood, by tugging at a hair-rope in imitation of the act of milking. Such a rope was made of hairs from the tails of several cows, whose exact number was indicated by knots in the rope. While tugging at the rope the witches repeated either the following or a similar charm:—

The only adequate protection from such mischievous pranks as these was afforded by nailing a horse-shoe to the byre-door and tying sprigs of rowan with a red thread to the cow’s tail. If, however, these precautions were neglected, the guilty witch might yet be discovered by placing the “gudeman’s breeks” upon the cow’s horns, a leg upon either horn; and thereupon the animal, being let loose, was sure to run directly to the witch’s house.[183]

In many places, certain houses continue even at the present time to have an evil reputation as harborers of witches and goblins. In these cases it seems probable that the owners or occupants of such dwellings neglected to avail themselves of the immunity afforded by horse-shoes and other safeguards. For no one, we believe, has ever seriously maintained that evil spirits, who are once firmly domiciled, can be easily expelled. Familiarity with their surroundings may breed a contempt for amulets. Certain it is, however, that an ounce or two of iron by way of prevention is worth a pound or more of cure. When a dwelling is demoniacally possessed, the devils must be driven out somehow, and for this purpose recourse is had to exorcisms, and to religious or magical ceremonies. In the words of the poet Dryden (“Wife of Bath’s Tale,” i. 28):—

In “Antiquitates Vulgares,” by Henry Browne (1725), the writer gives elaborate directions as to the proper mode of exorcising a haunted dwelling, and says that the house which is reported to be vexed with spirits shall be visited by a priest daily for a week, appropriate prayers and scriptural selections being read. Sometimes magical procedures supplanted religious exercises, and experts in sorcery were employed to rid a mansion of its undesirable tenants. The following advertisement from a London newspaper of 1777 may be appropriately given here:—

Haunted Houses.—Whereas there are mansions and castles in England and Wales which for many years have been uninhabited, and are now falling into decay, by their being visited and haunted by evil spirits or the spirits of those who for unknown reasons are rendered miserable, even in the grave, a gentleman who has made the tour of Europe, of a particular turn of mind, and deeply skilled in the abstruse and sacred science of exorcism, hereby offers his assistance to any owner or proprietor of such premises, and undertakes to render the same free from the visitation of such spirits, be their cause what it may, and render them tenantable and useful for the proprietors. Letters addressed to Rev. John Jones, No. 30 St. Martin’s Lane, duly answered, and interview given if required.[184]

XIV. THE POSITION OF THE HORSE-SHOE AS A PROTECTOR OF BUILDINGS

It has been supposed that the horse-shoe is placed at the outer entrance to a building because of an ancient Saxon superstition that witches were unable successfully to practice their wiles upon persons in the open air.[185] The horse-shoe effectively bars the ingress of witches and evil spirits, but an entrance once obtained by these creatures, it is powerless to expel them. Therefore the horse-shoe within doors loses much of its efficacy, but is still an emblem of good luck.

Placed on the outside of the door, or above the entrance of a dwelling, or upon the threshold, the horse-shoe is easily first among the inveterate foes of witches and devils generally.

Edward Moor, in his “Oriental Fragments” (p. 455, London, 1834), relates having once, in company with a gang of urchins, nailed a donkey-shoe under the threshold of a poor woman in Suffolk who was suspected of sorcery. He and his youthful companions endeavored thus to keep her all night within doors, as witches cannot cross iron.

An English writer[187] tells of having heard an animated discussion in the parlor of a London beer-shop as to whether it were preferable to nail a horse-shoe behind the door or upon the first doorstep; and instances of extraordinary good luck were mentioned as the direct result of the potency of the amulet in each position.

But there are weighty reasons for the selection of the front door, or the parts immediately connected with it, as the proper place for the display of horse-shoes as household guardians.

In the earliest historic times, and in primitive communities, the entrance of a dwelling was considered a sacred place; and in the opinion of eminent scholars who have made a study of the subject, the threshold was the first family altar. A peculiar reverence for the doorway and threshold prevails to-day in many parts of the world, as is evident from the numerous ceremonial rites in vogue among widely separated savage tribes and uncivilized peoples.[188] Indeed, the custom of placing amulets and charms in and about the entrance-doors of houses, stables, and other buildings is almost universal. In Russia a cross is marked on the threshold to keep witches away. In Lithuania, when a house is being built, a wooden cross, or some article which has been handed down from past generations, is placed under the threshold. There, also, when a newly baptized child is being brought back from church, it is customary for its father to hold it for a while over the threshold, “so as to place the new member of the family under the protection of the domestic divinities.” Sick children who are supposed to have been afflicted by an evil eye are washed on the threshold of their cottage, in order that with the help of the Penates who reside there, the malady may be driven out of doors.[189]

Under the threshold of the Assyrian palaces at Nineveh were found certain images of grotesque monsters, as, for example, a human form with the head of a lynx, and a lion’s body with a man’s head, which were intended as tutelary deities.[190]

John Netten Radcliffe, in his “Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites” (p. 43, London, 1854), says that the horse-shoe superstition is a remnant or relic of the worship of household guardians or divinities,—a practice still in vogue among the natives of Ashantee, and also among the Bhutas of Hindostan. In some English counties, naturally perforated stones are hung behind the door; and in Glamorganshire the walls of the houses are whitewashed in order to terrify wandering spirits of evil. Whether successful or not for this purpose, the custom is certainly effective as a destroyer of the demoniac germs of certain diseases.

The French Canadians are not the least superstitious of mankind, neither do they wholly neglect to take due precautions against the admittance to their homes of evil spirits.

They do not answer “Entrez!” when a knock is heard at the door, but call out “Ouvrez!” This custom is said to have originated from a current tradition regarding a young woman who once answered “Entrez!” in response to a knock, whereupon the Devil promptly came in and carried her away.[191] Where such legends find open-mouthed credence, it does not appear strange that horse-shoes and other talismans should be at a premium.

In Tuscany magical medicines are taken upon the threshold, which also plays an important part in sorcery. One reason assigned for this fact is that the threshold forms the line separating the outer world, where demons are rampant, from the domestic precincts, where human beings dwell.

One writer affirms it to be a fixed law in demonology that spirits cannot cross the threshold and enter a house unless previously invited to do so, but adds that there are many exceptions to this rule.[192] The weight of evidence does not support this view, for mischievous fairies and witches are known to rudely disregard the laws of etiquette, and do not wait for an invitation to enter dwellings. This fact is, indeed, a chief raison d’être for the use of talismans at the entrance of habitations.

The residents of the beautiful Thuringian Forest region, in whose neighborhood these lines chanced to be penned, are wont to affix horse-shoes to the thresholds of their chamber-doors, lest some rude goblin enter and disturb their slumbers. But the fastidiousness of these sylvan folk is not content with an ordinary shoe, even though found on the road and venerable with rust; in order to serve its purpose as a talisman, a Thuringian horse-shoe must have been forged by a bachelor of wholesome life and good character, on Saint John’s Eve.[193]

In German households, the horse-shoe over the door is believed to afford protection against divers apparitions, as well as against the Devil, witchcraft, lightning, sickness, and evils of every sort.

The cross, symbol of the Christian faith, is the most potent of all talismans, but is seldom seen at the entrance of dwellings. In some Roman Catholic countries the crucifix is, indeed, everywhere conspicuous, not only in churches and shrines, but by the roadside, in fields, and on the outer walls of houses, but it is rarely placed at the front door. In Hungary, however, the Magyars mark with black chalk the figure of a cross upon their stable-doors, and also brand anew thereon the sacred emblem each year at Christmas time.

The respect paid by the inhabitants of Tibet to their household divinities somewhat resembles the worship of their Lares by the Romans of old, and finds a parallel in the honor accorded to the favorite amulet of Western civilization, the horse-shoe.

The Tibetans set up above the entrances of their houses complex talismans, composed of various mystical objects, such as a ram’s skull with horns attached, having displayed along the base of the skull pieces of carved wood representing a man and woman, a house, and other symbols; the idea being to deceive the demons, and to make them believe that these objects are the real dwelling and its inmates. The Tibetans believe that the demons are thus tricked, and that the wooden images are the victims of their mischievous designs.[194]

Far away among the nomadic tribes of Turkestan, horse-shoes are occasionally seen nailed to the thresholds of dwellings in the vicinity of the ancient city of Merv; and within doors, near the entrances of these peculiar habitations, which resemble mammoth parrot cages, pieces of linen or calico, four or five inches square, are seen upon the felt wall-lining, to serve as receptacles for the free-will offerings of such wandering spirits as may pass the magic barriers of the horse-shoes.[195]

In some regions there still prevails a time-honored custom of placing over the chief entrances of dwellings inscriptions, embodying usually a religious thought or exhortation. Sometimes, however, the sentence commends the house and its occupants to the care of the goddess Fortune, thus having a significance akin to that of the horse-shoe symbol. In the year 1892 the writer copied many inscriptions found above the doors of houses in northern Italy and Switzerland, some of them being written in Latin, others in German, French, Italian, and the Romansch dialect, current in the Engadine. Here, for example, is one from a house in the Swiss village of Bergun, the original being in German: “This house is in God’s hand; May Good Luck come in, and Bad Luck stay out! 1673.”

Many of these inscriptions are Biblical verses, which are here used as talismans, just as the pious Moslem employs sentences from the Koran.

Here, again, is the translation of a German sentence over the door of a dwelling in the village of Ober-Schönberg, near Innsbruck, Tyrol, copied in 1897:—

All persons entering this house are recommended to Divine protection. God and the Virgin Mary guard all such, even though powerful enemies threaten, and lightnings and thunder rage without!

Above the door of a house in the village of Welschnofen, near Botzen, the wayfarer may read the following sentence: “Pray for us, holy Florian, that fire may not harm our dwelling.” Above the inscription an eye is painted, while below is a realistic picture of Saint Florian, the protector of buildings against fire, engaged in pouring water on a burning roof.

The Bassamese, inhabitants of the Gold Coast of Africa, west of Ashantee, use certain fetich objects for the protection of their dwellings. These amulets, which are often merely pieces of wood painted red, or fragments of pottery, are placed upon the doors of their huts, and are believed to afford ample protection against thieves.[196] Such a fetich is probably intended to exclude evil spirits as well, and is, therefore, a substitute for both the horse-shoe and the watch-dog, those guardians of the household so popular in civilized communities.

When a modern Egyptian returns from a pilgrimage to Mecca, he fastens above the entrance of his house a branch of the aloe, which is not only a proof of his religious zeal in having accomplished the holy journey, but is also reckoned a protection against objectionable spiritual intruders, and is, therefore, seen in Cairo over the doors of the houses both of Christians and Jews.

In northern Scotland, formerly, a branch of the rowan-tree was placed over a farmhouse door, after having been waved while the words “Avaunt, Satan!” were solemnly pronounced.[197]

About the year 1850 the Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, who was then assistant minister in Collace Parish, Perthshire, Scotland, found the custom of displaying horse-shoes on the doors of farm buildings so prevalent that he thought it his duty to remonstrate against a practice savoring of paganism. But his efforts in this direction, though hardly crowned with success, were yet not wholly without avail, for his superstitious parishioners removed the guardian horse-shoes from the outsides of the doors, and nailed them up on the insides.[198]

The raison d’être of the horse-shoe at the entrance of shops and other frequented buildings has been attributed to a belief that, among the many people continually passing through the doorway, some one might, unobserved, bring in ill-luck or work mischief. But these safeguards not only form a sufficient barrier against obnoxious hags and sorcerers, but are potent against ghosts and all manner of evil creatures. When the Oxford undergraduate “sports his oak” to prevent the untimely entrance of dunning tradespeople, he shuts out friendly visitors as well; but the faithful horse-shoe, by a process of natural selection, debars only objectionable spirits, and is a formidable obstacle to the demon of ill-luck.

XV. THE LUCKY HORSE-SHOE IN GENERAL

He laughs like a boor who has found a horse-shoe.—Dutch proverb.

Throughout Germany the belief obtains that a horse-shoe found on the road, and nailed on the threshold of a house with the points directed outward, is a mighty protection not only against hags and fiends, but also against fire and lightning; but, reversed, it brings misfortune. In eastern Pennsylvania, however, even in recent times, the horse-shoe is often placed with the prongs pointing inward, so that the luck may be spilled into the house. The horse-shoe retains its potency as a charm on the sea as well as on land, and it has long been a practice among sailors to nail this favorite amulet against the mast of a vessel, whether fishing-boat or large sea-going craft, as a protection against the Evil One. The shoe of a “wraith-horse,” the mythical offspring of a water-stallion, is especially esteemed by Scotch mariners for this purpose.[199]

In Bohemia only exists the superstition exactly opposite to that elsewhere prevalent, namely, that whoever picks up a horse-shoe thereby ipso facto picks up ill-luck for himself,—a notable example in folk-lore of the exception which proves the rule. The Bohemians, however, believe a nailed-up horse-shoe to be a cure for lunacy.[200]

As a general rule, the degree of luck pertaining to a horse-shoe found by chance has been thought to depend on the number of nails remaining in it: the more nails the more luck.[201]

In Northumberland the holes free of nails are carefully counted, as these indicate, presumably in years, how soon the finder of the shoe may expect to be married.[202] The peasants of northern Portugal prefer mule-shoes having an uneven number of nail-holes, as counteractives of the evil influences of the dreaded, omnipresent witches known as the Bruxas.[203]

In Derbyshire it is customary to drive a horse-shoe, prongs upward, between two flagstones near the door of a dwelling.[204] This position is sometimes explained by saying that, so placed, the luck cannot spill out.

In a short poem called “The Lucky Horse-Shoe,” by James T. Fields, an amusing account is given of a farmer who picked up an old horse-shoe from the road, and nailed it upon the door of his barn with the prongs downward. But, far from bringing him luck, Fortune thereafter frowned upon him; his hay crop failed, a drought blighted his vegetables, and his hens refused to lay.

The good farmer, discouraged and perplexed, confided his woes to the sympathetic ear of an aged wayfarer who chanced to pass by, relating how misfortunes had pursued him since he had fastened up the old horse-shoe.

The farmer profited by the friendly suggestion and reversed his luck-token, whereupon the capricious goddess fairly beamed upon him. His barn was soon filled with hay, his storehouses were packed with the kindly fruits of the earth, while his wife presented him with twins.

Farmers may well take heed how they nail up horse-shoes over the doors of their barns. To obtain the best results, it would seem advisable to place a pair of these useful articles on each farm building, one with the points upward, the other reversed; for in this way they may not only hope to win Fortune’s smiles, but also to keep all witches and unfriendly spirits at a respectful distance.

In an interesting story for children in “St. Nicholas,” April, 1897, by Rudolph F. Bunner, entitled “The Horse-Shoe of Luck,” the writer introduces Luck in the character and garb of a wandering clown or jester, mounted upon a white horse. This jovial traveler seeks a night’s lodging at a wayside farmhouse, and when he has almost reached its hospitable door, his steed casts a shoe, which the farmer hastens to pick up and carefully hangs on a hook above the door. Luck proved to be a most amusing fellow, and after supper he entertained the children of the household in a royal manner, showing them, among other things, how to drop china and glass without breaking them, and how to tumble down stairs without getting hurt. So the evening passed merrily enough, and all retired for the night in a happy frame of mind. Early in the morning the farmer was awakened by the splash of raindrops upon his face, and, hastily arising, he discovered that the roof had sprung a leak, and that his guest had unceremoniously departed. Nettled by such conduct, the farmer and his family hastened in pursuit of the fleeing stranger, guided by the hoof-prints of his white horse; and when they had overtaken him, the farmer reproached his late guest for having left his house so abruptly. Whereupon Luck replied: “I left you, not because you could not even nail my horse-shoe over your door, but hung it upside down, so the luck ran out at the ends, but because of your own mistake. You trusted to me; you trusted to Luck. Ah ha!”

In the northernmost districts of Scotland exists a belief that if the first shoe put on the foot of a stallion be hung on the byre door, no harm will come near the cows; and in the same region, if a horse-shoe be placed between the houses of quarrelsome neighbors, neither incurs any risk of evil as a result of the other’s ill-wishes.[205]

As a means of warding off impending sickness from cattle, and in order that they may thrive during the summer, the Transylvanian peasants place broken horse-shoes in the animals’ drinking-troughs on St. John’s Day, June 24.

In Lincolnshire, not many years ago, there prevailed a custom of “charming” ash-trees by burying horse-shoes under them. Twigs from a tree thus magically endowed were believed to be efficacious in curing cattle over which a shrewmouse had run, or which had been exposed to the glance of an evil eye. To effect a cure in such cases, it was only necessary to gently stroke the affected animal with one of these twigs.[206]

Some years ago, a Golspie fisherman who owned a small boat was favored with an extraordinary run of luck in his fishing, and as a result of his good fortune was enabled to buy a larger vessel, selling the old one to a neighbor. From that time, however, his lucky star seemed to wane, and good “catches” were infrequent. Casting about in his mind for the reason of this, he bethought him of a stallion’s shoe which was fastened inside his former boat, and which had been given him by a “wise person.” But both boat and horse-shoe were now in the hands of his neighbor, who maintained with reason that the lucky token was now his property, as he had purchased “the boat and its gear.” And ever thereafter the disconsolate fisherman attributed his lack of success in that season to his own folly in having parted with the stallion’s shoe.[207]

The horse-shoe figures often in traditions of the sea as a protection to sailors. When the ghostly ship of the Flying Dutchman meets another vessel, some of its uncanny crew approach the latter in a boat and beg them to take charge of a packet of letters.

These letters must be nailed to the mast, else some misfortune will overtake the ship; especially if there be no Bible on board, nor any horse-shoe fastened to the foremast.

In the month of September, 1825, lightning struck a brigantine which lay at anchor in the Bay of Armiso, in the Adriatic. A sailor was killed by the bolt, and tradition says that on one of his hips was seen the perfect representation of a horse-shoe, a counterpart of one nailed to the vessel’s foremast in accordance with the custom in vogue on the Mediterranean.[208]

The same custom is common in German inland waters, as, for example, on the river craft which ply on the Elbe below Hamburg, and on those which navigate the Trave, at Lubec. On the latter vessels horse-shoes are usually fastened to the stern-post, instead of to the mast.

In a German work, entitled “Seespuk,” by P. G. Heims, page 138, the writer remarks that, among seafaring people, the old pagan emblem, the horse-shoe, whose talismanic origin is so closely associated with horse-sacrifice and the use of horse-flesh as food among the heathen nations of the North, is even now the most powerful safeguard aboard ship against lightning and the powers of evil.

There are comparatively few small vessels laden with wood, fruit, vegetables, or other merchandise, sailing between Baltic Sea ports, upon whose foremast, or elsewhere upon deck, horse-shoes are not nailed.

Indeed, continues the same writer, this symbol has a notable significance in German art as well, a fact attributable less to its graceful curving shape than to the deeply rooted superstitions, relics of barbaric times, which yet cling to it.

Whether we regard the horse-shoe as a symbol of Wodan, the chief deity of the northern nations, as deriving magical power from its half-moon shape, as a product of supernatural skill in dealing with iron and fire, or as appertaining to the favorite sacrificial animal of antiquity, the pagan source of its superstitious use is equally evident.

The horse-shoe, whether as an amulet or as a sign of good luck, has nothing to do with the Christian religion. In either case it is a wholly superstitious symbol, and savors of paganism; it is in fact an inheritance from our heathen ancestors, a barbaric token, unworthy even to be named in connection with the sacred cross. Yet throughout many centuries it has captivated the popular fancy, and its emblematic use appears to be as firmly established to-day as ever in many parts of the world.

It is popularly believed that the chance finding of a horse-shoe greatly enhances its magical power; and it is claimed, moreover, by some writers, to be an axiom in folk-lore that talismanic objects thrust upon one’s notice, as it were, are direct gifts from the goddess Fortune, and hence possessed of a special value for the finder. Such a notion is as clearly of pagan origin as the custom of bowing to the new moon, or of fixing representations of horses’ heads upon the gables of houses in order to terrify wandering spirits of evil.

In “Curiosities of Popular Customs,” by William S. Walsh (p. 665, 1898), it is stated that the Northern peoples were wont to offer sacrifices to Wodan after the harvest, and that the little cakes still baked on St. Martin’s Day, November 11, throughout Germany, are shaped like a horn or horse-shoe, which was a token of the pagan god. Although not susceptible of proof, it seems highly probable that we have here another relic of idolatry. It is a point worthy of note, moreover, that Wodan was not only an all-powerful deity, corresponding to the Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter, but that he was also a great magician, and hence quite naturally the horse-shoe, as one of his symbols, inherits magical attributes.

In Tuscany a horse-shoe when found is placed in a small red bag with some hay, which the Tuscans consider also a luck-bringing article, and the twofold charm is kept in its owner’s bed.[209]

Dr. Robert James, an English physician of the eighteenth century, and the inventor of a well-known fever-powder, ascribed his success in acquiring a fortune to his good luck in having once found a horse-shoe on Westminster Bridge. The sincerity of his faith was attested by the adoption of the horse-shoe as his family crest.

Brand quotes from John Bell’s MS. “Discourse on Witchcraft” (1705) as follows:—

Guard against devilish charms for Men or Beasts. There are many sorceries practiced in our day, against which I would on this occasion bear my testimony, and do therefore seriously ask you, what is it you mean by your observation of Times and Seasons as lucky or unlucky? What mean you by your many Spells, Verses, Words, so often repeated, said fasting or going backward? How mean you to have success by carrying about with you certain Herbs, Plants, and branches of Trees? Why is it that, fearing certain events, you do use such superstitious means to prevent them, by laying bits of Timber at Doors, carrying a Bible merely for a Charm, without any farther use of it? What intend ye by opposing Witchcraft to Witchcraft, in such sort that, when ye suppose one to be bewitched, ye endeavour his Relief by Burnings, Bottles, Horse-shoes, and such like magical ceremonies?

In some Roman Catholic countries the priests are wont to brand cows and pigs on the forehead with the mark of a horse-shoe, to insure them against disease.[210] It was, moreover, an old Scotch superstition, or freet, to pass a horse-shoe thrice beneath the belly and over the back of a cow that was considered elf-shot.[211]

Among the Wendish inhabitants of the Spreewald, in North Germany, the lucky finder of a horse-shoe is careful not to tell any neighbor of his good fortune, but proceeds at once to fasten the shoe over the door of his house, or on the threshold, with three nails, and by three blows of a hammer, so that evil spirits may not enter.

We have seen that a horse-shoe picked up on the road is often prized as no mean acquisition by the finder thereof. It may not be out of place to give here a literal translation of a spell for the protection of a horse’s hoof when a shoe has been lost. The original appeared in Mone’s “Anzeiger” in 1834, and is written in the dialect known as “Middle High German,” which was in vogue from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries:—

When a horse has lost one of its iron shoes, take a bread-knife and incise the hoof at the edge from one heel to the other, and lay the knife crosswise on the sole and say: “I command thee, hoof and horn, that thou breakest as little as God the Lord broke his Word, when he created heaven and earth.” And thou shalt say these words three hours in succession, and five Paternosters and five Ave Marias to the praise of the Virgin. Then the horse will not walk lame until thou happenest to reach a smithy.

The Germans have a saying in regard to a young girl who has been led astray,—“She has lost a horse-shoe.” This saying has been associated with the shoe as a symbol of marriage, an idea found both in the northern and Indian mythologies. But the phrase has been also thought to refer to the horse-shoe shaped gloria which crowns the head of the Virgin, the horse-shoe thus becoming the symbol of maidenly chastity.[212] Again, it has been suggested, in reference to the same phrase, that the horse-shoe is a symbol of the V (or first letter of the word Virgo), which is used in church records to designate the unmarried state, just as the word “spinster” is used in legal documents.

The ancient Irish were wont to hang up in their houses the feet and legs of their deceased steeds, setting an especial value upon the hoofs;[213] and with the Chinese of to-day a horse’s hoof hung up indoors is supposed to have the same protective influence over a dwelling that a horse-shoe has elsewhere. In southwestern Germany it is still a common practice to nail a hoof over the stable-door; and in the Netherlands a horse’s foot placed in a stable is thought to keep the horses from being bewitched.[214]

Burton, in his “Anatomy of Melancholy,” admits a belief in the virtues of a ring made from the hoof of the right foot of an ass, when carried about as an amulet.

Occasionally, though rarely, the horse-shoe is thought to have been employed by the witches themselves in furtherance of their mischievous designs.

In the “Revue des traditions populaires,” vol. ii. 1887, an anecdote is related of a veteran Polish cavalryman who had served under Napoleon I. While bivouacking with a detachment of lancers in a village of eastern Prussia, he and several others lodged in the house of an old peasant woman, and their horses were accommodated in her barn. It was shortly noticed that the animals appeared depressed and refused the hay and grain provided for them, whereupon the soldiers concluded that they were under some spell and began a search for the cause. They soon found an old horse-shoe with three nails remaining in it, and one of these was quickly driven out with a hammer. Instantly the horses began to snort and exhibited signs of restlessness. On the removal of the second nail they held up their heads proudly, and when the third nail was hammered out they fell upon their provender and devoured it voraciously. The cavalrymen were now convinced that their horses had been the victims of some deviltry at the hands of their hostess, whom they believed to be a sorceress. Before their departure, therefore, they gave her a good beating with their sabre scabbards to teach her not to practice her nefarious arts upon the horses of honest people.

XVI. THE HORSE-SHOE AS A PHALLIC SYMBOL

It will suffice merely to allude to the theory of the phallic origin of the superstitious use of the horse-shoe, a branch of our subject capable of much elaboration. The horse-shoe is still the conventional figure for the yoni (a phallic emblem) in modern Hindu temples. This theory is discussed in “Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Names,” by Thomas Inman, M. D., London, 1873; and in “A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus,” by Richard Payne Knight, Esq., London, 1865.

Phallic ornaments are of great antiquity, and amulets of this character have been found in the earliest Etruscan tombs. Specimens are also to be seen in the various Italian museums.

The yoni symbol guards the entrances of ancient temples in Mexico and Peru, as well as in India.

Ornate Mexican sacred stones of the horse-shoe form, relics of the ancient Maya tribes, are classed in the National Museum at Washington, D. C., as representative of fecundity and nature-worship; and horse-shoe symbols are found in Aztec manuscripts relating to agriculture as signs of abundance.[215]

Phallic charms are seen above the entrances of houses and over tent-doors in north Africa to avert the evil eye, and to bring health and good fortune. Much information on this subject may be found in a chapter on serpent and phallic worship in “Rivers of Life,” by Major-General J. G. R. Forlong, London, 1883; and in an essay on “Phallism in Ancient Religions,” by C. Staniford Wake, 1888.

On a curious tablet found near a prehistoric mound in the vicinity of the village of Cahokia, Saint Clair County, Illinois, are portrayed human faces with bird-like profiles, diamond-shaped eyes, and low foreheads surmounted by ornamental crowns or head-dresses. The mouths are wide open, and in front of them are represented symbols having a well-defined horse-shoe form. These symbols, although probably of phallic origin, are thought to signify the principle of life residing in the breath, just as in India the horse-shoe is an emblem of the soul.[216]

XVII. THE HORSE-SHOE AS A SYMBOL ON TAVERN SIGN-BOARDS

The horse-shoe, associated usually with some other symbol, is not infrequently seen displayed on the signs of British taverns. There is a well-known hostelry bearing this sign and name on Tottenham Court Road in London. To quote from “The History of Signboards,” by Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten:—

The Three Horse-shoes are not uncommon, and the single shoe may be met with in many combinations, arising from the old belief in its lucky influences. Thus the Horse and Horse-Shoe was the sign of William Warden at Dover, as appears from his token. The Sun and Horse-Shoe is still a public-house sign in Great Tichfield Street, and the Magpie and Horse-Shoe may be seen carved in Fetter Lane; the magpie is perched within the horse-shoe, a bunch of grapes being suspended from it. The Horns and Horse-shoe is represented on the token of William Grainge, in Gutter Lane, 1666, a horse-shoe within a pair of antlers. The Hoop and Horse-shoe on Tower Hill was formerly called the Horse-shoe.

Miller Christy, in his book “The Trade Signs of Essex,” says that horse-shoe signs probably owe their origin partly to the fact that this symbol appears on the arms of the Farriers’ Company, and partly to the old practice of fastening a horse-shoe upon the stable-door or elsewhere as a witch-scarer. In the county of Essex the horse-shoe may be seen upon the signs of beer-houses at Great Parndon, Braintree, Waltham Abbey, and High Ongar.

There was formerly more than one noted inn in London known as the Half-Moon, and a street of that name, leading from Piccadilly, is well known. The name and symbol of the full moon, however, seldom appear on sign-boards. Butler asks in “Hudibras:”—

The reason is doubtless because of the favorable auspices associated from time immemorial with the crescent moon.

One need hardly accept as plausible the explanation sometimes offered, namely, that the half-moon tavern symbol is a silent invitation to eat and drink to one’s full capacity; a hint, as it were, to follow the crescent moon’s example and “get full.”

XVIII. HORSE-SHOES ON CHURCH-DOORS

The origin of the horse-shoe as a charm has been ascribed to its resemblance to the metallic aureole or meniscus formerly placed over the heads of images of patron saints in churches, and which is also represented in ancient pictures of the Virgin.

This aureole, or more properly nimbus, was probably of pagan origin, for in early times circles of stars frequently ornamented the heads of statues of the gods, as emblematic of divinity. In speaking of certain ancient relics found in Ireland, Mr. W. G. Wood-Martin (“Pagan Ireland,” p. 492) says:—

Thin crescentic plates, with the extremities terminating in flat circular disks, are the ornaments most frequently discovered. In form they are identical with the half-moonshaped ornaments in use among the Greeks and Romans, and with the nimbi on carvings of the Byzantine school; and they differ but little from the ring which now is conventionally placed around the head of a saint. Thus this glory can be traced back to pagandom. The crescentic plate appears to have been primarily the badge of some distinguished person, a chief or king; then it became the emblem of one considered to be a very holy person, for in Ireland, in the early days of Christianity, the saints were derived principally from the aristocracy.

In the collection of the Royal Irish Academy is a golden tiara or diadem, said to have been found in County Clare. This relic, which measures about a foot in height and the same in breadth, is thought to have been a head-dress of some pagan or early Christian chieftain.

In the earlier years of the church these crescent symbols were avoided as savoring of heathenism; but without any thought of its significance, it became customary in the Middle Ages to place a circular brass plate upon the heads of statues as a protection from snow or rain. Hence arose the practice of similarly adorning images and paintings in churches.[217]

In later times these crescent-shaped pieces of metal were sometimes nailed up at the entrance of churches, and so came to be regarded as protective emblems.[218] The horse-shoe was an easily available substitute for the halo or glory, and so was often placed upon the doors of churches, especially in the southwest of England, as it was generally believed in olden times that evil spirits could enter even consecrated edifices. Aubrey, in his “Miscellanies,” mentions having seen under the porch of Staninfield Church, in Suffolk, an inscription with the device of a horse-shoe, intended to exclude witches, and he naïvely remarks that one would imagine holy water amply sufficient for the purpose.

On the south door of the parish church of Ashby-Foville, in Leicestershire, were formerly two ancient horse-shoes of great size, one of them measuring 16 by 11½ inches, or more than twice as large as an average modern shoe.

As it does not seem likely that such shoes were made to fit horses’ feet, in the absence of traditional information regarding them, it appears probable that they were intended solely to bar the ingress of witches.[219]

In St. Martin’s Church, Canterbury, the oldest in England, the sacristan shows visitors the site of an early English door on the south side, and a Norman doorway in the middle of the northern wall, both long since blocked up. Infants to be baptized were formerly brought into the church by the south entrance, and after the ceremony the north door was thrown open to permit the egress of evil spirits expelled by baptism. For in early times demons were believed to come from the north, where the habitations of the Norse gods were also thought to be. The pagans, when worshiping their deities, looked towards the north; but Christians engaged in prayer turned their faces eastward and lifted up their hands; they regarded the north as “the unblessed heathen quarter.” The unexplored Arctic regions, where night[220] reigned much of the time, were thought to belong especially to the Devil, or spirit of darkness;[221] and the same idea is conveyed in several passages of Holy Scripture, as, for example, in Jeremiah iv. 6: “I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”

In the Middle Ages the rose-windows in the north and south transepts of Lincoln Minster were called the two eyes of the cathedral, the former being known as the Dean’s Eye, ever on the watch against the attacks of Lucifer, who had his abode “in the sides of the north” (Isaiah xiv. 13); while the window in the south transept was called the Bishop’s Eye, “courting the influence of the Holy Spirit, of which the south wind was a type.” Apropos of evil spirits entering consecrated places, there is a quaint legend about a little stone figure yclept the Lincoln Imp, which is to be seen perched upon a corbel of a column on the north side of the Angel Choir of the same cathedral. According to one version of the legend, when Bishop Remigius came to Lincoln, in the year after the Norman Conquest, the Devil was sorely tried; for until that time he had had undisturbed control of affairs in the town and neighborhood. In vain the Evil One sought to hinder the completion of the church, and finally he waylaid the bishop outside the building and attempted to kill him. But the good bishop at this critical time called upon the Blessed Virgin Mary for assistance, and she sent a tempest of wind which so buffeted and distracted the Devil that he sought refuge inside the church, not daring to venture out because of the fierce wind, which prevails a good part of the time even nowadays, and which is still awaiting the Devil’s reappearance!

In southern Germany, Bavaria, and Tyrol, the horse-shoe symbol is to be seen on church-doors, as an emblem of St. Leonard, the guardian and protector of horses and travelers; and it is usually associated with some romantic legend, having oftentimes a historic basis. Traditions relating to horse-shoes on church-doors are, indeed, plentiful in the popular literature of Germany, and a few examples are given later. St. Leonard’s Day, November 6, had its special observances. The peasants were wont to bring their horses to some church dedicated to that worthy, and ride them thrice around the sacred building, a procedure which was believed to be highly auspicious.[223] It was, moreover, customary for noblemen, before starting on an equestrian journey, to fasten a horse-shoe on the church-door as a votive offering to St. Leonard.[224]

Especial honor is accorded to this saint on the day of his festival, at Fischhausen, a seaport village in northeastern Prussia. On that occasion the parish church is surrounded by farm wagons and other vehicles drawn by gayly decorated horses, for here the country people have a grand rendezvous; young women in holiday attire drive hither the cows, who have been brought from their summer quarters in the upland pastures, that they, too, may participate in the festivities. A religious service, largely attended by the peasants, is first held in the church, and then follow the outdoor exercises, of which a chief feature consists in driving the horses three times around the building at a rapid pace.[225]

During the prevalence of a severe epizoötic in Würtemberg many years ago, the people removed the shoes from their horses’ feet, and hung them on the walls of churches as propitiatory offerings. Various other iron implements, such as chain traces, were thus similarly displayed.

An ancient St. Leonard’s Chapel, in the town of Laupheim, is encircled by an iron chain, which is said to have been forged from horse-shoes thus piously contributed.[226] The largest church dedicated to this saint is at Tölz, in upper Bavaria, and its altar is likewise surrounded by an iron chain.

Pictures of St. Leonard are sometimes placed upon stable-doors to bring luck; he is usually represented as holding a pastoral staff, while on one side is seen a colt or filly, on the other a sick ox, and at his feet is a ewe lamb.

In northern Germany, St. George, as a successor of Wodan, is one of the special guardians and protectors of horses. On the festal day of this saint, April 23, the peasants gather in large numbers around some church dedicated to him, and their horses and vehicles, numbering sometimes many hundreds, are drawn up in a circle around the sanctuary. After the parish priest has delivered a sermon in the church, he comes to the door and blesses each horse separately as the animal is led past, meanwhile sprinkling him with holy water. Then the young men mount their best horses and ride them three times at full speed around the church, shouting lustily meanwhile.

Jähns remarks that this ceremony is doubtless a relic of some pagan rite, and that in many places a venerable tree, instead of a Christian church, is chosen as the place of rendezvous on St. George’s Day. During the ride around the tree, an aged peasant standing in its shade throws upon each horse, as it passes, a little moist earth taken from about the roots of the sacred tree, and this insures the animal against sickness until the following spring, especially if some of the earth be placed in a bag and hung up in the stable.

As the hammer was Thor’s emblem, so the horse-shoe has been thought to possess a certain mystic significance as a symbol of the heathen god Wodan; and it has been assumed that the ancient churches, upon whose doors horse-shoes are still to be seen, were built upon the sites of pagan temples dedicated to that deity. It has been argued, moreover, that the modern use of a horse-shoe as a talisman, and the placing of horses’ heads on peasants’ houses, are relics of heathendom, and have a mysterious affinity with the hoof-print legends of Teutonic mythology. Such a theory appears plausible enough in view of the fact that many of the superstitious customs and beliefs of modern times are known to have existed before the Christian era.

XIX. HORSE-SHOE LEGENDARY LORE

1. Within recent years two horse-shoes were to be seen on the door of the parish church of Haccombe in Derbyshire. A romantic legend associated with these horse-shoes is the theme of a ballad supposed to have been written by a master of Exeter Grammar School in the early part of the nineteenth century. The ballad graphically describes a race for a wager between a certain Earl of Totnes, mounted on a Derbyshire roan, and one Sir Arthur Champernowne, on a fleet Barbary courser. The race was won by the earl, who thereupon rode straight to the door of Haccombe Church,

2. In the traditionary lore of the Harz Mountains there is a weird tale of four horse-shoes, which for ages were to be seen on the door of a church in the suburbs of Klettenburg.

Once upon a time, so runs the story, a great drinking-match was held on a Sunday morning at Elrich. The prize was a golden chain, and many knights assembled from near and far. The carousal lasted for some hours, until Count Ernest of Klettenburg, the only one who could still keep on his feet, exultantly claimed the golden chain, which he hung about his neck. Then, mounting his horse, he rode homeward, and while nearing Klettenburg he heard the strains of even-song in a church dedicated to St. Nicholas. Urging on his steed, he rode madly through the open door straight to the altar. Then, so runs the legend, the horse’s four shoes fell off, and horse and rider sank down together out of sight. In memory of this wonderful event, the four horse-shoes were placed on the door of the church, and for many years were regarded with awe by the simple countryfolk.[228]

3. In the construction of the Church of St. Stephen, at Tangermünde, in Prussian Saxony, a brick edifice of the fourteenth century, the members of two guilds, those of the blacksmiths and shoemakers, were of especial assistance; and in remembrance of this, a horse-shoe and an iron shoe-sole were built into the outer wall of the church. The former indicates that up to its level the blacksmiths had built the walls, and the latter shows that all the work above the horse-shoe was done by the shoemakers; such, at least, is the popular explanation, which may well be received cum grano salis.

4. In the parish church of Schwarzenstein, in east Prussia, hang two horse-shoes as reminders of the following tradition: In the village of Eichmedien, one mile from Rastenburg, lived formerly as tavern-keeper a woman, who had earned an unenviable notoriety by her practice of charging double the proper fees for board and lodging. Late one night, when several of her guests accused her of being a cheat, she asseverated her honesty by holding up her hand, and saying in the form of an oath: “If my score is not correct, may the Devil now jump on my back.” The Evil One took the woman promptly at her word, transformed her into a mare, and rode her out of the village, laughing scornfully. At headlong speed he rode to a blacksmith’s shop in Schwarzenstein, and demanded that his mare be shod at once. The blacksmith, routed out of his sleep, excused himself, pleading the lateness of the hour and the fact that there was no fire in his forge. The Devil insisted, however, and promised liberal payment if the work were done quickly. The blacksmith yielded at length, but had not proceeded far in shaping the shoes when the mare began to speak. “My cousin, don’t you know me?” she said; “I am the tavern-keeper.” Upon this the blacksmith was so horrified that neither threats nor entreaties could prevail to make him proceed with the shoeing, and before he had finished the third shoe a cock crowed, and immediately the spell was broken and the woman reassumed her own form. And to point the moral of this legend, and as a warning to cheats, the two horse-shoes which the smith had completed were nailed up in the village church at Schwarzenstein.

5. According to an old tradition, the Lapp king, Olaf Skötkonung (995-1030), wishing to become a Christian, asked his royal contemporary, Ethelred II. of England, to send him a teacher. In response to this request Bishop Siegfried and three missionaries came to Sweden, and, landing on the southwestern coast, encamped the first night at Wexio, on Lake Sodre. Here the bishop saw in a vision a great company of angels, and thereupon determined to build a church at that place. The pagan inhabitants, however, were hostile to the undertaking, and seized the three missionaries, Winaman, Unaman, and Sunaman, whom they beheaded, and caused their heads to be thrown into the water.

One night soon after this sad event Siegfried was walking along the shore of the lake, sighing and praying, when he espied three luminous objects approaching on the water, borne onward by the waves, and soon he recognized them as the heads of his friends. And, behold, the first head said, “The dead shall be avenged.” And a voice from the second head exclaimed, “When?” Then replied the third head in solemn tones, “On their children and children’s children.” This prophecy was not, however, fulfilled to the letter, for through Siegfried’s intercession Olaf consented to spare the lives of the murderers, on condition that they should build a Christian church in Wexio; and this church, which still exists, has on its coat-of-arms, or seal, the representation of three severed heads, in memory of the occurrence and its legend. In this church hung formerly a shoe of Wodan’s famous steed Sleipnir, as a souvenir of the following tradition: When the church bells rang for the first time to summon the people to mass, Wodan came riding over the mountains, and, when nearing Wexio, Sleipnir, in a sudden fright, struck a rock with one of his feet, and the impress of the powerful blow remains in the rock to this day. But the shoe fell off and was placed in the church.[229]

6. Many years ago, so runs an old legend, a man obtained employment at a farm in Norway, where, unknown to him, the mistress was a witch. Although the man had plenty of good wholesome food, he did not thrive upon it, but became thinner each day. Being troubled at this, he sought the counsel of a wise man, from whom he learned the true character of his mistress. He learned, moreover, that she had been in the habit of transforming him into a horse at night while he slept, and riding him to Troms Church, a fact which fully accounted for his leanness.

The wise man also gave him a magical ointment, with which to rub his head at bedtime, and by virtue of which, on awaking the next morning, he found himself standing by Troms Church with a bridle in his hand, while behind him were a number of horses bound together by their tails. Soon he perceived his mistress coming out of the church, and when she was near enough to him he threw the bridle over her head, and instantly she was transformed into a handsome mare, which he mounted and rode homeward. On his way, however, he stopped at a farrier’s and had the animal shod with four new shoes, and on reaching home he told his master that he had bought a fine mare, that would be an excellent mate for one which he already had. His master bought the mare at a good price, but when he took the bridle off she disappeared, and in her place stood the mistress witch with new horse-shoes on her hands and feet. Thereupon the man related the wonderful tale of his experiences, and in consequence thereof the wife was turned out of doors, and never got rid of the horse-shoes.[230]

7. Once upon a time a gentleman of rank was driving with four horses along the highway which runs between the towns of Tübingen and Hirschau, in Würtemberg, and when opposite a roadside chapel he scoffed at a picture of the Madonna which adorned it. Immediately his horses came to a standstill, nor could he make them proceed, in spite of vigorous urging. At length, in this dilemma, a priest was called, who imposed as a penance the removal of a shoe from the right fore-foot of each horse, and after this had been done the gentleman was enabled to continue his journey. And in commemoration of this miracle one of the horse-shoes was nailed upon the chapel-door, where it was still to be seen in recent years.[231]

8. One Sunday morning a swarthy rider on a black horse rode at full speed through the village of Nabburg, in Bavaria, directly to the blacksmith’s shop, to have his horse shod. “Will you not rest on a Sunday?” demanded the smith. “My steed and I journey to and fro, and care nothing for the Christian Sunday,” replied the horseman; “therefore shoe my horse in the Devil’s name, and I counsel thee speak no pious word meanwhile, for no devout person has yet obtained the mastery over this spirited animal.” With these words he sprang to the ground and stroked his horse’s flowing mane. The smith, though ill at ease, began the work, and the horse was as quiet as if under a spell, much to the astonishment of his master, who could scarce believe his eyes. Three shoes were quickly set, and the smith called to his assistant, “Now, then, in God’s name, hand me the last shoe!” Instantly the fiery steed reared and struck out wildly, casting a shoe with such force against the wall that it remains to this day embedded there. But the horse and his rider were seen no more.[232]

9. In a wall on an estate called Ludwigstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, is to be seen a large stone bearing the imprint of a horse-shoe, wherewith is associated the following tale: One morning many years ago a horseman was riding along the road when the church prayer-bell rang, whereupon he swore an oath and said, “May the Devil take me if I am not again on this very spot this evening when the bell again sounds.” And indeed he kept his word, but at the stroke of the evening bell his horse slipped upon the stone and broke a leg, and the mark of a shoe is still to be seen there.

10. The Horse-Shoe imprint in the cemetery of the Church of Our Lady at Munster. During the building of this beautiful Gothic church in the fourteenth century, the Devil observed its shapely proportions with increasing displeasure, and bethought himself of various schemes to hinder the work’s progress. Finally he decided on trying to bewitch the architect’s senses. Accordingly he braided his hair, arrayed himself in gay female attire, bedecked with costly jewels, and appeared before the architect, whom he sought to ensnare with soft words and gifts. But the latter was not thus to be deceived. Leaning upon his measuring-rod, he listened unmoved to the beguiling conversation of the pretended belle, and rejected with scorn the gold and precious stones which she brought him. Thereupon the Devil became enraged, stamped upon the ground with vehemence, and disappeared, leaving behind him an evil smell; and the mark of one of the iron horse-shoes, wherewith he was shod, was deeply imprinted on a stone in the cemetery, and, according to popular report, is still to be found there.

The impressions on stone of figures of horse-shoes, of which there are numerous examples in northern Europe, are regarded by some archæologists as sacred symbols of the pagans or relics of the cult of Wodan, and as showing the sites of ancient altars and burial places; while others maintain that these figures were originally intended as boundary marks. Numerous traditions associate them with battles fought in these localities, and in the popular fancy they are imagined to indicate the favorite haunts of witches, the meeting-places where they held their revels, the horse-shoe mark being an imprint of the Devil’s foot. These weird rendezvous were usually on the tops of mountains or hills, and are still known as Witches’ Dance-Places in different parts of Europe, especially in Germany.

XX. RECAPITULATION OF THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE HORSE-SHOE SUPERSTITION

In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to furnish plausible reasons for the horse-shoe’s universal popularity both as an amulet and as a token of good luck. It is evident, however, that this superstition cannot be referred to any one particular starting-point. Just as the sources of a river may be manifold, consisting of numerous springs and tributaries, so, too, the belief in the horse-shoe’s magical virtues is of complex origin, and can be traced to diverse beginnings.

It may be profitable, therefore, briefly to enumerate the different theories which have been advanced:—

1. At the rite of the Passover, the blood sprinkled upon the lintel and door-posts formed the chief points of an arch. Hence the value of arch-shaped talismans.

2. The magical virtue of the horse-shoe against witches and fiends has been attributed to its bifurcated form, and to its resemblance to the lunar crescent. Charms of similar shape are known to have been in use among the ancient Chaldeans and Egyptians.

3. Iron and steel, metals having traditional power against evil-disposed fairies and goblins.

4. The serpentine shape. Serpent-worship was nearly universal among primitive peoples, and amuletic symbols of this form were in use in the days of ancient Rome.

5. The so-called horse-shoe arch as typifying a beneficent, protecting power.

6. The ancient conception of the earth as having the shape of a round boat turned upside down and corresponding to the Egyptian Put-sign.

7. The Horse. This animal was worshiped among the early Germanic tribes, and an English myth accredits to it luck-bringing qualities.

8. The Scandinavian superstition of the Demon-Mare.

9. The old astrological principle that Mars, the God of War and the War Horse, was hostile to Saturn, the liege-lord of witches.

10. The legend of Saint Dunstan and the Devil.

11. Phallic Symbolism.

12. The Aureole or Nimbus.

13. Supernatural faculties ascribed to blacksmiths.

14. The Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol 𓎆, signifying the mystical door of life.

15. Horses’ hoof-prints in mythology and tradition.

16. The horse-shoe a symbol of the heathen god Wodan.

XXI. CONCLUSION

Whatever may be the origin of the superstitious employment of the horse-shoe, its adoption as a token of good luck appears to be comparatively modern, its earliest use having been for the exclusion of witches, evil spirits, and all such uncanny beings.

Before leaving the subject an extract may be given from an article in the “London World,” August 23, 1753, against the repeal of the so-called Witch Act, wherein the writer offers the following satirical advice to whomever it might concern:—

To secure yourself against the enchantments of witches, especially if you are a person of fashion and have never been taught the Lord’s Prayer, the only method I know of is to nail a horse-shoe upon the threshold. This I can affirm to be of the greatest efficacy, insomuch that I have taken notice of many a little cottage in the country with a horse-shoe at its door where gaming, extravagance, Jacobitism, and all the catalogue of witchcrafts have been totally unknown.

The world moves and civilization progresses, but the old superstitions remain the same. The rusty horse-shoe found on the road is still prized as a lucky token, and will doubtless continue to be so prized; for human nature does not change, and superstition is a part of human nature.