On the other hand, in
Scotland the peasants say that the devil throws his cloak over
the blackberries and makes them unwholesome after that day, while
in Ireland he is said to stamp on the berries. Even that humble
plant, the cabbage, has been invested with some mystery. It was
said that the fairies were fond of its leaves, and rode to their
midnight dances on cabbage-stalks. The German women used to say
that 'Babies come out of the cabbage-heads.' The Irish peasant
ties a cabbage-leaf around the neck for sore throat. According to
Gerarde, the Spartans ate watercress with their bread, firmly
believing that it increased their wit and wisdom. The old proverb
is, 'Eat cress to learn more wit.'
"There is another phase to food-superstitions, and that is the
theory that the qualities of the eaten pass into the eater. Mr.
Tylor refers to the habit of the Dyak young men in abstaining
from deer-meat lest it should make them timid, while the warriors
of some South American tribes eat the meat of tigers, stags, and
boars for courage and speed. He mentions the story of an English
gentleman at Shanghai who at the time of the Taeping attack met
his Chinese servant carrying home the heart of a rebel, which he
intended to eat to make him brave.
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