At the recurrence of the words _ja_ and _nein_ a leaf is pulled out, and the answer depends on which of these words is pronounced as the last of the leaves is plucked. Göthe introduces this rustic superstition in his tragedy of ‘Faust,’ where the luckless heroine consults the floral oracle as to the affection entertained for her by Faust. The French call the Italian Star-wort, or Amellus, _l’Œil de Christ_, and the China Aster _la Reine Marguerite_----The Aster is considered to be a herb of Venus. =ASH.=--This tree (_Fraxinus excelsior_), called, on account of its elegance, the Venus of the forest, and from its utility, the husbandman’s tree, was regarded by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Scandinavians as a sacred tree, and as one of good omen. In the Teutonic mythology, the Ash is the most venerated of trees, and the Scandinavian Edda, the sacred book of the Northmen, furnishes a detailed account of the mystic Ash Yggdrasill, or mundane tree, beneath whose shade was the chief or holiest seat of the gods, where they assembled every day in council. (See YGGDRASILL.) According to the old Norse tradition, it was out of the wood of the Ash that man was first formed; and the Greeks entertained a similar belief, for we find Hesiod deriving his brazen race of men from it. The goddess Nemesis was sometimes represented with an Ashen wand. Cupid, before he learnt to use the more potent Cypress, employed Ash for the wood of his arrows. At the Nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, Chiron appeared with a branch of Ash, from which was made the lance of Peleus, which afterwards became the spear of Achilles. Rapin writes of this tree-- “But on fair levels and a gentle soil The noble Ash rewards the planter’s toil. Noble e’er since Achilles from her side Took the dire spear by which brave Hector died; Whose word resembling much the hero’s mind, Will sooner break than bend--a stubborn kind.” There exists an old superstition, that a serpent will rather creep into the fire than over a twig of the Ash-tree, founded upon the statements of Pliny with respect to the magical powers of the Ash against serpents. It was said that serpents always avoided the shade of the Ash; so that if a fire and a serpent were placed within a circle of Ash-leaves, the serpent, to avoid the Ash, would even run into the midst of the fire. Cowley, enumerating various prodigies, says:-- “On the wild Ash’s tops, the bats and owls, With, all night, ominous and baleful fowls, Sate brooding, while the screeches of these droves Profaned and violated all the groves. * * * * * But that which gave more wonder than the rest, Within an Ash a serpent built her nest, And laid her eggs; when once to come beneath The very shadow of an Ash was death.”