The Bretons have a legend that the Saviour’s cross was made of Aspen wood; and that the ceaseless trembling of the leaves of this tree marks the shuddering of sympathetic horror. The Germans preserve an ancient tradition that, during their flight into Egypt, the Holy Family came to a dense forest, in which, but for an angelic guide, they must have lost their way. As they entered this wilderness, all the trees bowed themselves down in reverence to the infant God; only the Aspen, in her exceeding pride and arrogance, refused to acknowledge Him, and stood upright. Then the Holy Child pronounced a curse against her, as He in after life cursed the barren Fig-tree; and at the sound of His words the Aspen began to tremble through all her leaves, and has not ceased to tremble to this day. Mr. Henderson, in his ‘Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,’ states that this tradition has been embodied in a little poem, which may be thus translated:-- “Once as our Saviour walked with men below, His path of mercy through a forest lay; And mark how all the drooping branches show, What homage best a silent tree may pay! “Only the Aspen stands erect and free, Scorning to join the voiceless worship pure; But see! He casts one look upon the tree, Struck to the heart she trembles evermore!” The Kirghises, who have become almost Mussulmans, have nevertheless preserved a profound veneration for the sacred Aspen.----Astrologers hold that the Aspen is a lunar tree. =ASPHODEL.=--The Asphodel is the flower which flourished in the Elysian Fields. Orpheus, in Pope’s ‘Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day,’ conjures the infernal deities-- “By the streams that ever flow; By the fragrant winds that blow O’er the Elysian flowers; By those happy souls who dwell In yellow meads of Asphodel, Or Amaranthine bowers.”