[681] Miss Hull, 53; O'Ourry, _MS. Mat._ 465. Writing tablets, made from each of the trees when they were cut down, sprang together and could not be separated. [682] _Stat. Account_, iii. 27; Moore, 151; Sébillot, i. 262, 270. [683] Dom Martin, i. 124; _Vita S. Eligii_, ii. 16. [684] _Acta Sanct._ (Bolland.), July 31; Sulp. Sever. _Vita S. Mart._ 457. [685] Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 76; Maury, 13, 299. The story of beautiful women found in trees may be connected with the custom of placing images in trees, or with the belief that a goddess might be seen emerging from the tree in which she dwelt. [686] De la Tour, _Atlas des Monnaies Gaul_, 260, 286; Reinach, _Catal. Sommaire_, 29. [687] Pliny, _HN_ xvi. 44. [688] See p. 162, _supra_. [689] See Cameron, _Gaelic Names of Plants_, 45. In Gregoire de Rostren, _Dict. françois-celt._ 1732, mistletoe is translated by _dour-dero_, "oak-water," and is said to be good for several evils. [690] Pliny, xxiv. 11. [691] Ibid. [692] Ibid. xxv. 9. [693] See Carmichael, _Carmina Gadelica_; De Nore, _Coutumes ... des Provinces de France_, 150 f.; Sauvé, _RC_ vi. 67, _CM_ ix. 331. [694] O'Grady, ii. 126. [695] Miss Hull, 172; see p. 77, _supra_. CHAPTER XIV. ANIMAL WORSHIP. Animal worship pure and simple had declined among the Celts of historic times, and animals were now regarded mainly as symbols or attributes of divinities. The older cult had been connected with the pastoral stage in which the animals were divine, or with the agricultural stage in which they represented the corn-spirit, and perhaps with totemism. We shall study here (1) traces of the older animal cults; (2) the transformation of animal gods into symbols; and (3) traces of totemism. 1.