Old, in a suburb
of Ispahan, and another hung with amulets, rags, and tapers in a garden at
Shiraz.[7] One sacred tree mentioned by the Persian geographer Hamd Allah
as distinguishing the grave of a holy man at Bostam in Khorasan (the
species is not named, at least by Ouseley, from whom I borrow this) comes
into striking relation with the passage in our text. The story went that
it had been the staff of Mahomed; as such it had been transmitted through
many generations, until it was finally deposited in the grave of Abu
Abdallah Dasitani, where it struck root and put forth branches. And it is
explicitly called Dirakht-i-Khushk, i.e. literally L'ARBRE SEC.
This last legend belongs to a large class. The staff of Adam, which was
created in the twilight of the approaching Sabbath, was bestowed on him in
Paradise and handed down successively to Enoch and the line of Patriarchs.
After the death of Joseph it was set in Jethro's garden, and there grew
untouched, till Moses came and got his rod from it. In another form of the
legend it is Seth who gets a branch of the Tree of Life, and from this
Moses afterwards obtains his rod of power. These Rabbinical stories seem
in later times to have been developed into the Christian legends of the
wood destined to form the Cross, such as they are told in the Golden
Legend or by Godfrey of Viterbo, and elaborated in Calderon's Sibila del
Oriente. Indeed, as a valued friend who has consulted the latter for me
suggests, probably all the Arbre Sec Legends of Christendom bore mystic
reference to the Cross. In Calderon's play the Holy Rood, seen in vision,
is described as a Tree: -
- - "cuyas hojas,
Secas mustias y marchitas,
Desnudo el tronco dejaban
Que, entre mil copas floridas
De los arboles, el solo
Sin pompa y sin bizaria
Era cadaver del prado."
There are several Dry-Tree stories among the wonders of Buddhism; one is
that of a sacred tree visited by the Chinese pilgrims to India, which had
grown from the twig which Sakya, in Hindu fashion, had used as a
tooth-brush; and I think there is a like story in our own country of the
Glastonbury Thorn having grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.
["St Francis' Church is a large pile, neere which, yet a little without
the Citty, growes a tree which they report in their legend grew from the
Saint's Staff, which on going to sleepe he fixed in the ground, and at
his waking found it had grown a large tree. They affirm that the wood
of its decoction cures sundry diseases." (Evelyn's Diary, October,
1644.) - H. C.]
In the usual form of the mediaeval legend, Adam, drawing near his end,
sends Seth to the gate of Paradise, to seek the promised Oil of Mercy.
The Angel allows Seth to put his head in at the gate. Doing so (as an old
English version gives it) -
- "he saw a fair Well,
Of whom all the waters on earth cometh, as the Book us doth tell;
Over the Well stood a Tree, with bowes broad and lere
Ac it ne bare leaf ne rind, but as it for-olded were;
A nadder it had beclipt about, all naked withouten skin,
That was the Tree and the Nadder that first made Adam do sin!"
The Adder or Serpent is coiled about the denuded stem; the upper branches
reach to heaven, and bear at the top a new-born wailing infant, swathed in
linen, whilst (here we quote a French version) -
"Les larmes qui de lui issoient
Contreval l'Arbre en avaloient;
Adonc regarda l'enfant Seth
Tout contreval de L'ARBRE SECQ;
Les rachines qui le tenoient
Jusques en Enfer s'en aloient,
Les larmes qui de lui issirent
Jusques dedans Enfer cheirent."
The Angel gives Seth three kernels from the fruit of the Tree. Seth
returns home and finds his father dead. He buries him in the valley of
Hebron, and places the three grains under his tongue. A triple shoot
springs up of Cedar, Cypress, and Pine, symbolising the three Persons of
the Trinity. The three eventually unite into one stem, and this tree
survives in various forms, and through various adventures in connection
with the Scripture History, till it is found at the bottom of the Pool of
Bethesda, to which it had imparted healing Virtue, and is taken thence to
form the Cross on which Our Lord suffered.
The English version quoted above is from a MS. of the 14th century in the
Bodleian, published by Dr. Morris in his collection of Legends of the
Holy Rood. I have modernised the spelling of the lines quoted, without
altering the words. The French citation is from a MS. in the Vienna
Library, from which extracts are given by Sign. Adolfo Mussafia in his
curious and learned tract (Sulla Legenda del Legno della Croce, Vienna,
1870), which gives a full account of the fundamental legend and its
numerous variations. The examination of these two works, particularly
Sign. Mussafia's, gives an astonishing impression of the copiousness with
which such Christian Mythology, as it may fairly be called, was diffused
and multiplied. There are in the paper referred to notices of between
fifty and sixty different works (not MSS. or copies of works merely)
containing this legend in various European languages.
(Santarem, III. 380, II. 348; Ouseley, I. 359 seqq. and 391;
Herodotus, VII. 31; Pliny, XII. 5; Chardin, VII. 410, VIII. 44 and
426; Fabricius, Vet. Test. Pseud. I. 80 seqq.; Cathay, p. 365;
Beal's Fah-Hian, 72 and 78; Pelerins Bouddhistes, II.
