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FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PURE AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS

A Wiley Series of Texts, Monographs, and Tracts

Founded by RICHARD COURANT

Editors Emeriti: MYRON B. ALLEN III, DAVID A. COX, PETER HILTON,
HARRY HOCHSTADT, PETER LAX, JOHN TOLAND

A complete list of the titles in this series appears at the end of this volume.
FUNCTIONAL
DIFFERENTIAL
EQUATIONS
Advances and Applications

CONSTANTIN CORDUNEANU
YIZENG LI
MEHRAN MAHDAVI
Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Corduneanu, C., author. | Li, Yizeng, 1949– author. | Mahdavi, Mehran,
1959– author.
Title: Functional differential equations : advances and applications /
Constantin Corduneanu, Yizeng Li, Mehran Mahdavi.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2016] | Series:
Pure and applied mathematics | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015040683 | ISBN 9781119189473 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Functional differential equations.
Classification: LCC QA372 .C667 2016 | DDC 515/.35–dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040683

Set in 10.5/13pts Times by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 This book is dedicated to the memory of three
pioneers of the Theory of Functional
Differential Equations:

A.D. MYSHKIS, the author of the first book

on non-classical differential equations

N.N. KRASOVSKII, for substantial contributions,

particularly for extending Liapunov’s
method in Stability Theory, to the
case of delay equations with finite
delay, thus opening the way to the
methods of Functional Analysis

J.K. HALE, for creating a vast theory in the

study of functional differential equations,
by using the modern tools of
Functional Analysis

Each created a research school, with

many distinguished contributors
CONTENTS

PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

1 Introduction, Classification, Short History, Auxiliary Results,

and Methods 1
1.1 Classical and New Types of FEs, 2
1.2 Main Directions in the Study of FDE, 4
1.3 Metric Spaces and Related Concepts, 11
1.4 Functions Spaces, 15
1.5 Some Nonlinear Auxiliary Tools, 21
1.6 Further Types of FEs, 25

2 Existence Theory for Functional Equations 37

2.1 Local Existence for Continuous or Measurable Solutions, 38
2.2 Global Existence for Some Classes of Functional
Differential Equations, 43
2.3 Existence for a Second-Order Functional Differential
Equation, 50
2.4 The Comparison Method in Obtaining Global Existence
Results, 55
2.5 A Functional Differential Equation with Bounded
Solutions on the Positive Semiaxis, 59
vii
viii CONTENTS

2.6 An Existence Result for Functional Differential Equations

with Retarded Argument, 64
2.7 A Second Order Functional Differential Equation with
Bounded Solutions on the Positive Semiaxis, 68
2.8 A Global Existence Result for a Class of First-Order
Functional Differential Equations, 72
2.9 A Global Existence Result in a Special Function Space
and a Positivity Result, 76
2.10 Solution Sets for Causal Functional Differential Equations, 81
2.11 An Application to Optimal Control Theory, 87
2.12 Flow Invariance, 92
2.13 Further Examples/Applications/Comments, 95
2.14 Bibliographical Notes, 98

3 Stability Theory of Functional Differential Equations 105

3.1 Some Preliminary Considerations and Definitions, 106
3.2 Comparison Method in Stability Theory of Ordinary
Differential Equations, 111
3.3 Stability under Permanent Perturbations, 115
3.4 Stability for Some Functional Differential Equations, 126
3.5 Partial Stability, 133
3.6 Stability and Partial Stability of Finite Delay Systems, 139
3.7 Stability of Invariant Sets, 147
3.8 Another Type of Stability, 155
3.9 Vector and Matrix Liapunov Functions, 160
3.10 A Functional Differential Equation, 163
3.11 Brief Comments on the Start and Evolution of the
Comparison Method in Stability, 168
3.12 Bibliographical Notes, 169

4 Oscillatory Motion, with Special Regard to the

Almost Periodic Case 175
4.1 Trigonometric Polynomials and APr -Spaces, 176
4.2 Some Properties of the Spaces APr (R, C), 183
4.3 APr -Solutions to Ordinary Differential Equations, 190
4.4 APr -Solutions to Convolution Equations, 196
4.5 Oscillatory Solutions Involving the Space B, 202
4.6 Oscillatory Motions Described by Classical Almost
Periodic Functions, 207
4.7 Dynamical Systems and Almost Periodicity, 217
CONTENTS ix

4.8 Brief Comments on the Definition of APr (R, C) Spaces

and Related Topics, 221
4.9 Bibliographical Notes, 224

5 Neutral Functional Differential Equations 231

5.1 Some Generalities and Examples Related to Neutral
Functional Equations, 232
5.2 Further Existence Results Concerning Neutral
First-Order Equations, 240
5.3 Some Auxiliary Results, 243
5.4 A Case Study, I, 248
5.5 Another Case Study, II, 256
5.6 Second-Order Causal Neutral Functional Differential
Equations, I, 261
5.7 Second-Order Causal Neutral Functional Differential
Equations, II, 268
5.8 A Neutral Functional Equation with Convolution, 276
5.9 Bibliographical Notes, 278

Appendix A On the Third Stage of Fourier Analysis 281

A.1 Introduction, 281
A.2 Reconstruction of Some Classical Spaces, 282
A.3 Construction of Another Classical Space, 288
A.4 Constructing Spaces of Oscillatory Functions:
Examples and Methods, 290
A.5 Construction of Another Space of Oscillatory Functions, 295
A.6 Searching Functional Exponents for Generalized
Fourier Series, 297
A.7 Some Compactness Problems, 304

BIBLIOGRAPHY 307
INDEX 341
PREFACE

The origin of this book is in the research seminar organized by the first co-
author (alphabetically), during the period September 1990 to May 1994, in
the Department of Mathematics at The University of Texas at Arlington. The
second and the third co-authors were, at that time, Ph.D. students working
under the guidance of the first co-author. The seminar was also attended
by another Ph.D. student, Zephyrinus Okonkwo, who had been interested in
stochastic problems, and sporadically by other members of the Department
of Mathematics (among them, Dr. Richard Newcomb II). Visitors also occa-
sionally attended and presented their research results. We mention V. Barbu,
Y. Hamaya, M. Kwapisz, I. Gyori, and Cz. Olech. Cooperation between the
co-authors continued after the graduation of the co-authors Li and Mahdavi,
who attained their academic positions at schools in Texas and Maryland,
respectively. All three co-authors continued to pursue the topics that were pre-
sented at the seminar and that are included in this book through their Ph.D.
theses as well as a number of published papers (single author or jointly). The
list of references in this book contains almost all of the contributions that were
made during the past two decades (1994–2014). Separation among the co-
authors certainly contributed to the extended period that was needed to carry
out the required work.
The book is a monograph, presenting only part of the results available in
the literature, mainly mathematical ones, without any claim related to the
coverage of the whole field of functional differential equations (FDEs). Para-
phrasing the ancient dictum “mundum regunt numeri,” one can instead say,
“mundum regunt aequationes.” That is why, likely, one finds a large number
xi
xii PREFACE

of reviews dedicated to this field of research, in all the publications concerned

with the review of current literature (Mathematical Reviews, Zentralblatt fur
Mathematik, Referativnyi Zhurnal, a. o.).
Over 550 items are listed in the Bibliography, all of which have been
selected from a much larger number of publications available to the co-
authors (i.e., university libraries, preprints, or reprints obtained from authors,
papers received for review in view of insertion into various journals, or on the
Internet).
The principles of selection were the connections with the topics considered
in the book, but also the inclusion of information for themes similar to those
treated by the co-authors, but not covered in the book because of the limitations
imposed by multiple factors occurring during the preparation of the final text.
Mehran Mahdavi was in charge of the technical realization of the
manuscript, a task he carried out with patience and skill. The other co-authors
thank him for voluntarily assuming this demanding task, which he accom-
plished with devotion and competence.
Some developing fields of research related to the study of FDEs, but not
included in this book’s presentations, are the stochastic equations, the fuzzy
equations, and the fractional-order functional equations. Some sporadic ref-
erences are made to discrete argument functional equations, also known as
difference equations. While their presence is spotted in many publications,
Springer recently dedicated an entire journal to the subject, Advances in Dif-
ference Equations (R. P. Agarwal, editor). In addition, Clarendon Press is
publishing papers on functional differential equations of the time scale type,
which is encountered in some applications.
The plan that was followed in presenting the discussed topics is imposed by
the different types of applications the theory of FDEs is dealing with, including
the following:

1) Existence, uniqueness, estimates of solutions, and some behavior, when

they are globally defined (e.g., domain invariance).
2) Stability of solutions is also of great interest for those applying the results
in various fields of science, engineering, economics, and others.
3) Oscillatory motion/solutions, a feature occurring in many real phenom-
ena and in man-made machines.

Chapter 1 is introductory and is aimed at providing the readers with the tools
necessary to conduct the study of various classes of FDEs. Chapter 2 is pri-
marily concerned with the existence of solutions, the uniqueness (not always
present), and estimate for solutions, in view of their application to specific
problems. Chapter 3, the most extended, deals with problems of stability, par-
ticularly for ordinary DEs (in which case the theory is the most advanced and
PREFACE xiii

can provide models for other classes of FDEs). In this chapter, the interest is
of concern not only to mathematicians, but also to other scientists, engineers,
economists, and others deeply engaged in related applied fields. Chapter 4
deals with oscillatory properties, especially of almost periodic type (which
includes periodic). The choice of spaces of almost periodic functions are not,
as usual, the classical Bohr type, but a class of spaces forming a scale, starting
with the simplest space (Poincaré) of those almost periodic functions whose
Fourier series are absolutely convergent and finishes with the space of Besi-
covitch B2 , the richest one known, for which we have enough meaningful tools.
Chapter 5 contains results of any nature, available for the so-called neutral
equations. There are several types of FDEs belonging to this class, which can
be roughly defined as the class of those equations that are not solved with
respect to the highest-order derivative involved.
For those types of equations, this book proves existence results, some
kinds of behavior (e.g., boundedness), and stability of the solutions (especially
asymptotic stability).
Appendix A, written by C. Corduneanu, introduces ∞ the reader to what is
known about generalized Fourier series of the form k=1 ak ei λk (t) with ak ∈ C
and λk (t) some real-valued function on R. Such series intervene in studying
various applied problems and appears naturally to classify them as belonging
to the third stage of development of the Fourier analysis (after periodicity and
almost periodicity). The presentation is descriptive, less formal, and somewhat
a survey of problems occurring in the construction of new spaces of oscillatory
functions.
Since the topics discussed in this book are rather specialized with respect
to the general theory of FDEs, the book can serve as source material for grad-
uate students in mathematics, science, and engineering. In many applications,
one encounters FDEs that are not of a classical type and, therefore, are only
rarely taken into consideration for teaching. The list of references in this book
contains many examples of this situation. For instance, the case of equations
in population dynamics is a good illustration (see Gopalsamy [225]). Also,
the book by Kolmanovskii and Myshkis [292] provides a large number of
applications for FDEs, which may interest many categories of readers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to express our appreciation to John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for
publishing our book and to Ms. Susanne Steitz-Filler, senior editor, and the
editorial and production staff at Wiley.

Constantin Corduneanu
[email protected]

Yizeng Li
[email protected]

Mehran Mahdavi
[email protected]

xv
1
INTRODUCTION, CLASSIFICATION,
SHORT HISTORY, AUXILIARY
RESULTS, AND METHODS

Generally speaking, a functional equation is a relationship containing an

unknown element, usually a function, which has to be determined, or at least
partially identifiable by some of its properties. Solving a functional equation
(FE) means finding a solution, that is, the unknown element in the relationship.
Sometimes one finds several solutions (solutions set), while in other cases the
equation may be deprived of a solution, particularly when one provides the
class/space to which it should belong.
Since a relationship could mean the equality, or an inequality, or even the
familiar “belongs to,” designated by =, ∈, ⊂ or ⊆, the description given ear-
lier could also include the functional inequalities or the functional inclusions,
rather often encountered in the literature. Actually, in many cases, their theory
is based on the theory of corresponding equations with which they interact.
For instance, the selection of a single solution from a solution set, especially
in case of inclusions.
In this book we are mainly interested in FEs, in the proper/usual sense.
We send the readers to adequate sources for cases of related categories, like
inequalities or inclusions.

Functional Differential Equations: Advances and Applications, First Edition.

Constantin Corduneanu, Yizeng Li and Mehran Mahdavi
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2 INTRODUCTION

1.1 CLASSICAL AND NEW TYPES OF FEs

The classical types of FEs include the ordinary differential equations (ODEs),
the integral equations (IEs) of Volterra or Fredholm and the integro-differential
equations (IDEs). These types, which have been thoroughly investigated
since Newton’s time, constitute the classical part of the vast field of FEs, or
functional differential equations (FDEs).
The names Bernoulli, Newton, Riccati, Euler, Lagrange, Cauchy (analytic
solutions), Dini, and Poincaré as well as many more well-known mathemati-
cians, are usually related to the classical theory of ODE. This theory leads to a
large number of applications in the fields of science, engineering, economics,
in cases of the modeling of specific problems leading to ODE.
A large number of books/monographs are available in the classical field
of ODE: our list of references containing at least those authored by Halanay
[237], Hale [240], Hartman [248], Lefschetz [323], Petrovskii [449], Sansone
and Conti [489], Rouche and Mawhin [475], Nemytskii and Stepanov [416],
and Coddington and Levinson [106].
Another classical type of FEs, closely related to the ODEs, is the class of
IEs, whose birth is related to Abel in the early nineteenth century. They reached
an independent status by the end of nineteenth century and the early twenti-
eth century, with Volterra and Fredholm. Hilbert is constituting his theory of
linear IEs of Fredholm’s type, with symmetric kernel, providing a successful
start to the spectral theory of completely continuous operators and orthogonal
function series.
Classical sources in regard to the basic theory of integral equations include
books/monographs by Volterra [528], Lalesco [319], Hilbert [261], Lovitt
[340], Tricomi [520], Vath [527]. More recent sources are Corduneanu [135],
Gripenberg et al. [228], Burton [80, 84], and O’Regan and Precup [430].
A third category of FEs, somewhat encompassing the differential and the
IEs, is the class of IDEs, for which Volterra [528] appears to be the originator.
It is also true that E. Picard used the integral equivalent of the ODE ẋ(t) =
f (t, x(t)), under initial condition x(t0 ) = x0 , Cauchy’s problem, namely
 t
x(t) = x0 + f (s, x(s)) ds,
t0

obtaining classical existence and uniqueness results by the method of succes-

sive approximations.
A recent reference, mostly based on classical analysis and theories of DEs
and IEs, is Lakshmikantham and R. M. Rao [316], representing a rather com-
prehensive picture of this field, including some significant applications and
indicating further sources.
CLASSICAL AND NEW TYPES OF FEs 3

The extended class of FDEs contains all preceding classes, as well equa-
tions involving operators instead of functions (usually from R into R). The
classical categories are related to the use of the so-called Niemytskii operator,
defined by the formula (Fu)(t) = f (t, u(t)), with t ∈ R or in an interval of R,
while in the case of FDE, the right-hand side of the equation

ẋ(t) = (Fx)(t),

implies a more general type of operator F. For instance, using Hale’s notation,
one can take (Fx)(t) = f (t, x(t), xt ), where xt (s) = x(t + s), −h ≤ s ≤ 0 repre-
sents a restriction of the function x(t), to the interval [t − h, t]. This is the finite
delay case. Another choice is

(Fx)(t) = (Vx)(t), t ∈ [t0 , T],

where V represents an abstract Volterra operator (see definition in Chapter 2),

also known as causal operator.
Many other choices are possible for the operator F, leading to various
classes of FDE. Bibliography is very rich in this case, and exact references will
be given in the forthcoming chapters, where we investigate various properties
of equations with operators.
The first book entirely dedicated to FDE, in the category of delay type (finite
or infinite) is the book by A. Myshkis [411], based on his thesis at Moscow
State University (under I. G. Petrovskii). This book was preceded by a sur-
vey article in the Uspekhi Mat. Nauk, and one could also mention the joint
paper by Myshkis and Eĺsgoĺtz [412], reviewing the progress achieved in this
field, due to both authors and their followers. The book Myshkis [411] is the
first dedicated entirely to the DEs with delay, marking the beginnings of the
literature dealing with non-traditional FEs.
The next important step in this direction has been made by N. N. Krasovskii
[299], English translation of 1959 Russian edition. In his doctoral thesis (under
N. G. Chetayev), Krasovskii introduced the method of Liapunov functionals
(not just functions!), which permitted a true advancement in the theory of
FDEs, especially in the nonlinear case and stability problems. The research
school in Ekaterinburg has substantially contributed to the progress of the the-
ory of FDEs (including Control Theory), and names like Malkin, Barbashin,
and Krasovskii are closely related to this progress.
The third remarkable step in the development of the theory of FDE has been
made by Jack Hale, whose contribution should be emphasized, in respect to
the constant use of the arsenal of Functional Analysis, both linear and non-
linear. A first contribution was published in 1963 (see Hale [239]), utilizing
the theory of semigroups of linear operators on a Banach function space.
4 INTRODUCTION

This approach allowed Hale to develop a theory of linear systems with finite
delay, in the time-invariant framework, dealing with adequate concepts that
naturally generalize those of ODE with constant coefficients (e.g., character-
istic values of the system/equation). Furthermore, many problems of the theory
of nonlinear ODE have been formulated and investigated for FDE (stability,
bifurcation, and others (a.o.)). The classical book of Hale [240] appears to be
the first in this field, with strong support of basic results, some of them of
recent date, from functional analysis.
In the field of applications of FDE, the book by Kolmanovskii and
Myshkis [292] illustrates a great number of applications to science (includ-
ing biology), engineering, business/economics, environmental sciences, and
medicine, including the stochastic factors. Also, the book displays a list of
references with over 500 entries.
In concluding this introductory section, we shall mention the fact that the
study of FDE, having in mind the nontraditional types, is the focus for a
large number of researchers around the world: Japan, China, India, Russia,
Ukraine, Finland, Poland, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria,
Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Morocco, Algeria, Israel, Australia and
the Americas, and elsewhere.
The Journal of Functional Differential Equations is published at the Col-
lege of Judea and Samaria, but its origin was at Perm Technical University
(Russia), where N. V. Azbelev created a school in the field of FDE, whose
former members are currently active in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Norway, and
Mozambique.
Many other journals are dedicated to the papers on FDE and their appli-
cations. We can enumerate titles like Nonlinear Analysis (Theory, Methods &
Applications), published by Elsevier; Journal of Differential Equations; Jour-
nal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, published by Academic
Press; Differentsialuye Uravnenja (Russian: English translation available);
and Funkcialaj Ekvacioj (Japan). Also, there are some electronic journals
publishing papers on FDE: Electronic Journal of Qualitative Theory of Dif-
ferential Equations, published by Szeged University; EJQTDE, published by
Texas State University, San Marcos.

1.2 MAIN DIRECTIONS IN THE STUDY OF FDE

This section is dedicated to the description of various types of problems aris-

ing in the investigation of FDE, at the mathematical side of the problem as
well as the application of FDE in various fields, particularly in science and
engineering.
MAIN DIRECTIONS IN THE STUDY OF FDE 5

A first problem occurring in relationship with an FDE is the existence

or absence of a solution. The solution is usually sought in a certain class
of functions (scalar, vector, or even Banach space valued) and “a priori”
limitations/restrictions may be imposed on it.
In most cases, besides the “pure” existence, we need estimates for the
solutions. Also, it may be necessary to use the numerical approach, usually
approximating the real values of the solution. Such approximations may have
a “local” character (i.e., valid in a neighborhood of the initial/starting value of
the solution, assumed also unique), or they may be of “global” type, keeping
their validity on the whole domain of definition of the solution.
Let us examine an example of a linear FDE, of the form

ẋ(t) = (Lx)(t) + f (t), t ∈ [0, T], (1.1)

with L : C([0, T], Rn ) → C([0, T], Rn ) a linear, casual continuous map, while
f ∈ C([0, T], Rn ). As shown in Corduneanu [149; p. 85], the unique solution of
equation (1.1), such that x(0) = x0 ∈ Rn , is representable by the formula
 t
x(t) = X(t, 0) x + 0
X(t, s) f (s) ds, t ∈ [0, T]. (1.2)
0

In (1.2), the Cauchy matrix is given, on 0 ≤ s ≤ t ≤ T, by the formula

 t
X(t, s) = I + k̃(t, u) du, (1.3)
s

where k̃(t, s) stands for the conjugate kernel associated to the kernel k(t, s), the
latter being determined by the relationship
 t  t
(Lx)(s) ds = k(t, s) x(s) ds, t ∈ [0, T]. (1.4)
0 0

For details, see the reference indicated earlier in the text.

Formula (1.2) is helpful in finding various estimates for the solution x(t) of
the initial value problem considered previously.
Assume, for instance, that the Cauchy matrix X(t, s) is bounded on 0 ≤ s ≤
t ≤ T by M, that is, |X(t, s)| ≤ M; hence |X(t, 0)| ≤ m ≤ M, then (1.2) yields
the following estimate for the solution x(t):
 T
|x(t)| ≤ m |x | + M
0
|f (s)| ds, (1.5)
0
6 INTRODUCTION

with T < ∞ and f continuous on [0, T]. We derive from (1.5) the estimate

sup |x(t)| ≤ m |x0 | + M |f |L1 , (1.6)

0≤t≤T

which means an upper bound of the norm of the solutions, in terms of data.
We shall also notice that (1.6) keeps its validity in case T = ∞, that is, we
consider the problem on the semiaxis R+ . This example shows how, assum-
ing also f ∈ L1 (R+ , Rn ), all solutions of (1.1) remain bounded on the positive
semiaxis.
Boundedness of all solutions of (1.1), on the positive semiaxis, is also
assured by the conditions |X(t, 0)| ≤ m, t ∈ R+ , and
 t
|X(t, s)| ds ≤ M, |f (t)| ≤ A < ∞, t ∈ R+ .
0

The readers are invited to check the validity of the following estimate:

sup |x(t)| ≤ m |x0 | + A M, t ∈ R+ . (1.7)

t≥0

Estimates like (1.6) or (1.7), related to the concept of boundedness of solu-

tions, are often encountered in the literature. Their significance stems from the
fact that the motion/evolution of a man-made system takes place in a bounded
region of the space. Without having estimates for the solutions of FDE, it is
practically impossible to establish properties of these solutions.
One of the best examples in this regard is constituted by the property of
stability of an equilibrium state of a system, described by the FDE under inves-
tigation. At least, theoretically, the problem of stability of a given motion of a
system can be reduced to that of an equilibrium state. Historically, Lagrange
has stated a result of stability for the equilibrium for a mechanical system,
in terms of a variational property of its energy. This idea has been devel-
oped by A. M. Liapunov [332] (1857–1918), who introduced the method
of an auxiliary function, later called Liapunov function method. Liapunov’s
approach to stability theory is known as one of the most spectacular develop-
ments in the theory of DE and then for larger classes of FDE, starting with
N. N. Krasovskii [299].
The comparison method, on which we shall rely (in Chapter 3), has brought
new impetus to the investigation of stability problems. The schools created
by V. V. Rumiantsev in Moscow (including L. Hatvani and V. I. Vorotnikov),
V. M. Matrosov in Kazan, then moved to Siberia and finally to Moscow, have
developed a great deal of this method, concentrating mainly on the ODE case.
Also, V. Lakshmikantham and S. Leela have included many contributions in
their treaty [309]. They had many followers in the United States and India,
MAIN DIRECTIONS IN THE STUDY OF FDE 7

publishing a conspicuous number of results and developments of this method.

One of the last contributions to this topic [311], authored by Lakshmikantham,
Leela, Drici, and McRae, contains the general theory of equations with causal
operators, including stability problems.
The comparison method consists of the simultaneous use of Liapunov func-
tions (functionals), and differential inequalities. Started in its general setting
by R. Conti [110], it has been used to prove global existence criteria for ODE.
In short time, the use has extended to deal with uniqueness problems for
ODE by F. Brauer [75] and Corduneanu [114, 115] for stability problems.
The method is still present in the literature, with contributions continuing
those already included in classical references due to Sansone and Conti [489],
Hahn [235], Rouche and Mawhin [475], Matrosov [376–378], Matrosov and
Voronov [387], Lakshimikantham and Leela [309], and Vorotnikov [531].
A historical account on the development of the stability concept has
been accurately given by Leine [325], covering the period from Lagrange
to Liapunov. The mechanical/physical aspects are emphasized, showing the
significance of the stability concept in modern science. The original work of
Liapunov [332] marks a crossroad in the development of this concept, with
so many connections in the theory of evolutionary systems occurring in the
mathematical description in contemporary science.
In Chapter 3, we shall present stability theory for ODE and FDE, particu-
larly for the equations with finite delay. The existing literature contains results
related to the infinite delay equations, a theory that has been originated by
Hale and Kato [241]. An account on the status of the theory, including sta-
bility, is to be found in Corduneanu and Lakshmikantham [167]. We notice
the fact that a theory of stability, for general classes of FDE, has not yet been
elaborated. As far as special classes of FDE are concerned, the book [84] by
T. Burton presents the method of Liapunov functionals for integral equations,
by using modern functional analytic methods. The book [43] by Barbashin,
one of the first in this field, contains several examples of constructing
Liapunov functions/functionals.
The converse theorems in stability theory, in the case of ODE, have
been obtained, in a rather general framework, by Massera [373], Kurzweil
[303], and Vrkoč [532]. Early contributions to stability theory of ODE were
brought by followers of Liapunov, (see Chetayev [103] and Malkin [356]). In
Chapter 3, the readers will find, besides some basic results on stability, more
bibliographical indications pertaining to this rich category of problems.
As an example, often encountered in some books containing stability
theory, we shall mention here the classical result (Poincaré and Liapunov)
concerning the differential system ẋ(t) = A(t) x(t), t ∈ R+ , x : R+ → Rn ,
and A : R+ → L(Rn , Rn ) a continuous map. If we admit the commutativity
condition
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
conceived as the spirit of vegetation in general, whose vivifying and
fructifying influence is thus brought to bear upon the corn in
particular. Hence in Swabia the Harvest-May is fastened amongst the
last stalks of corn left standing on the field; in other places it is
planted on the cornfield and the last sheaf cut is fastened to its
trunk.256 The Harvest-May of Germany has its counterpart in the
eiresione of ancient Greece.257 The eiresione was a branch of olive or
laurel, bound about with ribbons and hung with a variety of fruits.
This branch was carried in procession at a harvest festival and was
fastened over the door of the house, where it remained for a year.
The object of preserving the Harvest-May or the eiresione for a year
is that the life-giving virtue of the bough may foster the growth of
the crops throughout the year. By the end of the year the virtue of
the bough is supposed to be exhausted and it is replaced by a new
one. Following a similar train of thought some of the Dyaks of
Sarawak are [pg 069] careful at the rice harvest to take up the roots
of a certain bulbous plant, which bears a beautiful crown of white
and fragrant flowers. These roots are preserved with the rice in the
granary and are planted again with the seed-rice in the following
season; for the Dyaks say that the rice will not grow unless a plant
of this sort be in the field.258

Customs like that of the Harvest-May appear to exist in India and

Africa. At a harvest festival of the Lhoosai of S. E. India the chief
goes with his people into the forest and fells a large tree, which is
then carried into the village and set up in the midst. Sacrifice is
offered, and spirits and rice are poured over the tree. The ceremony
closes with a feast and a dance, at which the unmarried men and
girls are the only performers.259 Among the Bechuanas the hack-
thorn is very sacred, and it would be a serious offence to cut a
bough from it and carry it into the village during the rainy season.
But when the corn is ripe in the ear the people go with axes, and
each man brings home a branch of the sacred hack-thorn, with
which they repair the village cattle-yard.260 Many tribes of S. E. Africa
will not cut down timber while the corn is green, fearing that if they
did so, the crops would be destroyed by blight, hail, or early frost.261
Again, the fructifying power of the tree is put forth at seed-time as
well as at harvest. Among the Aryan tribes of Gilgit, on the north-
western frontier of India, the sacred tree is the Chili, a species of
cedar (Juniperus excelsa). At the beginning of wheat-sowing [pg
070] the people receive from the Raja's granary a quantity of wheat,
which is placed in a skin mixed with sprigs of the sacred cedar. A
large bonfire of the cedar wood is lighted, and the wheat which is to
be sown is held over the smoke. The rest is ground and made into a
large cake, which is baked on the same fire and given to the
ploughman.262 Here the intention of fertilising the seed by means of
the sacred cedar is unmistakable. In all these cases the power of
fostering the growth of crops, and, in general, of cultivated plants, is
ascribed to trees. The ascription is not unnatural. For the tree is the
largest and most powerful member of the vegetable kingdom, and
man is familiar with it before he takes to cultivating corn. Hence he
naturally places the feebler and, to him, newer plant under the
dominion of the older and more powerful.

Again, the tree-spirit makes the herds to multiply and blesses

women with offspring. The sacred Chili or cedar of Gilgit was
supposed to possess this virtue in addition to that of fertilising the
corn. At the commencement of wheat-sowing three chosen
unmarried youths, after undergoing daily washing and purification
for three days, used to start for the mountain where the cedars
grew, taking with them wine, oil, bread, and fruit of every kind.
Having found a suitable tree they sprinkled the wine and oil on it,
while they ate the bread and fruit as a sacrificial feast. Then they cut
off the branch and brought it to the village, where, amid general
rejoicing, it was placed on a large stone beside running water. “A
goat was then sacrificed, its blood poured over the cedar branch,
and a [pg 071] wild dance took place, in which weapons were
brandished about, and the head of the slaughtered goat was borne
aloft, after which it was set up as a mark for arrows and bullet-
practice. Every good shot was rewarded with a gourd full of wine
and some of the flesh of the goat. When the flesh was finished the
bones were thrown into the stream and a general ablution took
place, after which every man went to his house taking with him a
spray of the cedar. On arrival at his house he found the door shut in
his face, and on his knocking for admission, his wife asked, ‘What
have you brought?’ To which he answered, ‘If you want children, I
have brought them to you; if you want food, I have brought it; if you
want cattle, I have brought them; whatever you want, I have it.’ The
door was then opened and he entered with his cedar spray. The wife
then took some of the leaves and pouring wine and water on them
placed them on the fire, and the rest were sprinkled with flour and
suspended from the ceiling. She then sprinkled flour on her
husband's head and shoulders, and addressed him thus: ‘Ai Shiri
Bagerthum, son of the fairies, you have come from far!’ Shiri
Bagerthum, ‘the dreadful king,’ being the form of address to the
cedar when praying for wants to be fulfilled. The next day the wife
baked a number of cakes, and taking them with her, drove the family
goats to the Chili stone. When they were collected round the stone,
she began to pelt them with pebbles, invoking the Chili at the same
time. According to the direction in which the goats ran off, omens
were drawn as to the number and sex of the kids expected during
the ensuing year. Walnuts and pomegranates were then placed on
the Chili stone, the cakes were distributed and [pg 072] eaten, and
the goats followed to pasture in whatever direction they showed a
disposition to go. For five days afterwards this song was sung in all
the houses:—

‘Dread Fairy King, I sacrifice before you,

How nobly do you stand! you have filled up my house,
You have brought me a wife when I had not one,
Instead of daughters you have given me sons.
You have shown me the ways of right,
You have given me many children.’ ”263

Here the driving of the goats to the stone on which the cedar had
been placed is clearly meant to impart to them the fertilising
influence of the cedar. In Europe the May-tree (May-pole) is
supposed to possess similar powers over both women and cattle. In
some parts of Germany on the 1st of May the peasants set up May-
trees at the doors of stables and byres, one May-tree for each horse
and cow; this is thought to make the cows yield much milk.264
Camden says of the Irish, “They fancy a green bough of a tree,
fastened on May-day against the house, will produce plenty of milk
that summer.”265

On the 2d of July some of the Wends used to set up an oak-tree in

the middle of the village with an iron cock fastened to its top; then
they danced round it, and drove the cattle round it to make them
thrive.266

Some of the Esthonians believe in a mischievous spirit called Metsik,

who lives in the forest and has the weal of the cattle in his hands.
Every year a new image of him is prepared. On an appointed day all
the villagers assemble and make a straw man, dress [pg 073] him in
clothes, and take him to the common pasture land of the village.
Here the figure is fastened to a high tree, round which the people
dance noisily. On almost every day of the year prayer and sacrifice
are offered to him that he may protect the cattle. Sometimes the
image of Metsik is made of a corn-sheaf and fastened to a tall tree
in the wood. The people perform strange antics before it to induce
Metsik to guard the corn and the cattle.267

The Circassians regard the pear-tree as the protector of cattle. So

they cut down a young pear-tree in the forest, branch it, and carry it
home, where it is adored as a divinity. Almost every house has one
such pear-tree. In autumn, on the day of the festival, it is carried
into the house with great ceremony to the sound of music and amid
the joyous cries of all the inmates, who compliment it on its
fortunate arrival. It is covered with candles, and a cheese is fastened
to its top. Round about it they eat, drink, and sing. Then they bid it
good-bye and take it back to the courtyard, where it remains for the
rest of the year, set up against the wall, without receiving any mark
of respect.268

The common European custom of placing a green bush on May Day

before the house of a beloved maiden probably originated in the
belief of the fertilising power of the tree-spirit.269 Amongst the Kara-
Kirgiz barren women roll themselves on the ground under a solitary
apple-tree, in order to obtain offspring.270 [pg 074] Lastly, the power
of granting to women an easy delivery at child-birth is ascribed to
trees both in Sweden and Africa. In some districts of Sweden there
was formerly a bårdträd or guardian-tree (lime, ash, or elm) in the
neighbourhood of every farm. No one would pluck a single leaf of
the sacred tree, any injury to which was punished by ill-luck or
sickness. Pregnant women used to clasp the tree in their arms in
order to ensure an easy delivery.271 In some negro tribes of the
Congo region pregnant women make themselves garments out of
the bark of a certain sacred tree, because they believe that this tree
delivers them from the dangers that attend child-bearing.272 The
story that Leto clasped a palm-tree and an olive-tree or two laurel-
trees when she was about to give birth to Apollo and Artemis
perhaps points to a similar Greek belief in the efficacy of certain
trees to facilitate delivery.273

From this review of the beneficent qualities commonly ascribed to

tree-spirits, it is easy to understand why customs like the May-tree
or May-pole have prevailed so widely and figured so prominently in
the popular festivals of European peasants. In spring or early
summer or even on Midsummer Day, it was and still is in many parts
of Europe the custom to go out to the woods, cut down a tree and
bring it into the village, where it is set up amid general rejoicings. Or
the people cut branches in the woods, and fasten them on every
house. The intention of these customs is to bring home to the
village, and to each house, the blessings which the tree-spirit has in
its power to bestow. [pg 075] Hence the custom in some places of
planting a May-tree before every house, or of carrying the village
May-tree from door to door, that every household may receive its
share of the blessing. Out of the mass of evidence on this subject a
few examples may be selected.

Sir Henry Piers, in his Description of Westmeath, writing in 1682

says: “On May-eve, every family sets up before their door a green
bush, strewed over with yellow flowers, which the meadows yield
plentifully. In countries where timber is plentiful, they erect tall
slender trees, which stand high, and they continue almost the whole
year; so as a stranger would go nigh to imagine that they were all
signs of ale-sellers, and that all houses were ale-houses.”274 In
Northamptonshire a young tree ten or twelve feet high used to be
planted before each house on May Day so as to appear growing.275
“An antient custom, still retained by the Cornish, is that of decking
their doors and porches on the 1st of May with green boughs of
sycamore and hawthorn, and of planting trees, or rather stumps of
trees, before their houses.”276 In the north of England it was formerly
the custom for young people to rise very early on the morning of the
1st of May, and go out with music into the woods, where they broke
branches and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers.
This done, they returned about sunrise and fastened the flower-
decked branches over the doors and windows of their houses.277 At
Abingdon in Berkshire young people formerly went about in groups
on May morning, singing a carol of which the following are some of
the verses—

[pg 076]

“We've been rambling all the night;

And sometime of this day;
And now returning back again,
We bring a garland gay.

“A garland gay we bring you here;

And at your door we stand;
It is a sprout well budded out,
 The work of our Lord's hand.”278

At the villages of Saffron Walden and Debden in Essex on the 1st of

May little girls go about in parties from door to door singing a song
almost identical with the above and carrying garlands; a doll dressed
in white is usually placed in the middle of each garland.279 At Seven
Oaks on May Day the children carry boughs and garlands from
house to house, begging for pence. The garlands consist of two
hoops interlaced crosswise, and covered with blue and yellow
flowers from the woods and hedges.280 In some villages of the
Vosges Mountains on the first Sunday of May young girls go in bands
from house to house, singing a song in praise of May, in which
mention is made of the “bread and meal that come in May.” If
money is given them, they fasten a green bough to the door; if it is
refused, they wish the family many children and no bread to feed
them.281 In Mayenne (France), boys who bore the name of Maillotins
used to go about from farm to farm on the 1st of May singing carols,
for which they received money or a drink; they planted a small tree
or a branch of a tree.282

On the Thursday before Whitsunday the Russian villagers “go out

into the woods, sing songs, weave [pg 077] garlands, and cut down
a young birch-tree, which they dress up in woman's clothes, or
adorn with many-coloured shreds and ribbons. After that comes a
feast, at the end of which they take the dressed-up birch-tree, carry
it home to their village with joyful dance and song, and set it up in
one of the houses, where it remains as an honoured guest till
Whitsunday. On the two intervening days they pay visits to the
house where their ‘guest’ is; but on the third day, Whitsunday, they
take her to a stream and fling her into its waters,” throwing their
garlands after her. “All over Russia every village and every town is
turned, a little before Whitsunday, into a sort of garden. Everywhere
along the streets the young birch-trees stand in rows, every house
and every room is adorned with boughs, even the engines upon the
railway are for the time decked with green leaves.”283 In this Russian
custom the dressing of the birch in woman's clothes shows how
clearly the tree is conceived as personal; and the throwing it into a
stream is most probably a rain-charm. In some villages of Altmark it
was formerly the custom for serving-men, grooms, and cowherds to
go from farm to farm at Whitsuntide distributing crowns made of
birch-branches and flowers to the farmers; these crowns were hung
up in the houses and left till the following year.284

In the neighbourhood of Zabern in Alsace bands of people go about

carrying May-trees. Amongst them is a man dressed in a white shirt,
with his face blackened; in front of him is carried a large May-tree,
but each member of the band also carries a smaller one. One of the
company carries a huge basket in which he [pg 078] collects eggs,
bacon, etc.285 In some parts of Sweden on the eve of May Day lads
go about carrying each a bunch of fresh-gathered birch twigs, wholly
or partially in leaf. With the village fiddler at their head they go from
house to house singing May songs; the purport of which is a prayer
for fine weather, a plentiful harvest, and worldly and spiritual
blessings. One of them carries a basket in which he collects gifts of
eggs and the like. If they are well received they stick a leafy twig in
the roof over the cottage door.286

But in Sweden midsummer is the season when these ceremonies are

chiefly observed. On the Eve of St. John (23d June) the houses are
thoroughly cleansed and garnished with green boughs and flowers.
Young fir-trees are raised at the door-way and elsewhere about the
homestead; and very often small umbrageous arbours are
constructed in the garden. In Stockholm on this day a leaf-market is
held at which thousands of May-poles (Maj Stănger) six inches to
twelve feet high, decorated with leaves, flowers, slips of coloured
paper, gilt egg-shells, strung on reeds, etc. are exposed for sale.
Bonfires are lit on the hills and the people dance round them and
jump over them. But the chief event of the day is setting up the
May-pole. This consists of a straight and tall spruce-pine tree,
stripped of its branches. “At times hoops and at others pieces of
wood, placed crosswise, are attached to it at intervals; whilst at
others it is provided with bows, representing so to say, a man with
his arms akimbo. From top to bottom not only the ‘Maj Stăng’ (May-
pole) itself, but the hoops, bows, etc. are ornamented with leaves,
[pg 079] flowers, slips of various cloth, gilt egg-shells, etc.; and on
the top of it is a large vane, or it may be a flag.” The raising of the
May-pole, the decoration of which is done by the village maidens, is
an affair of much ceremony; the people flock to it from all quarters
and dance round it in a great ring.287 In some parts of Bohemia also
a May-pole or midsummer-tree is erected on St. John's Eve. The lads
fetch a tall fir or pine from the wood and set it up on a height,
where the girls deck it with nosegays, garlands, and red ribbons.
Then they pile brushwood, dry wood, and other combustible
materials about the tree, and, when darkness has fallen, set the
whole on fire. While the fire was burning the lads used to climb up
the tree and fetch down the garlands and ribbons which the girls
had fastened to it; but as this led to accidents, the custom has been
forbidden. Sometimes the young people fling burning besoms into
the air, or run shouting down hill with them. When the tree is
consumed, the young men and their sweethearts stand on opposite
sides of the fire, and look at each other through garlands and
through the fire, to see whether they will be true lovers and will
wed. Then they throw the garlands thrice across the smouldering
fire to each other. When the blaze has died down, the couples join
hands and leap thrice across the glowing embers. The singed
garlands are taken home, and kept carefully in the house throughout
the year. Whenever a thunder-storm bursts, part of the garlands are
burned on the hearth; and when the cattle are sick or are calving,
they get a portion of the garlands to eat. The charred embers of the
bonfire are stuck in the cornfields and meadows and [pg 080] on the
roof of the house, to keep house and field from bad weather and
injury.288

It is hardly necessary to illustrate the custom of setting up a village

May-tree or May-pole on May Day. One point only—the renewal of
the village May-tree—requires to be noticed. In England the village
May-pole seems as a rule, at least in later times, to have been
permanent, not renewed from year to year.289 Sometimes, however,
it was renewed annually. Thus, Borlase says of the Cornish people:
“From towns they make incursions, on May-eve, into the country, cut
down a tall elm, bring it into the town with rejoicings, and having
fitted a straight taper pole to the end of it, and painted it, erect it in
the most public part, and upon holidays and festivals dress it with
garlands of flowers or ensigns and streamers.”290 An annual renewal
seems also to be implied in the description by Stubbs, a Puritanical
writer, of the custom of drawing home the May-pole by twenty or
forty yoke of oxen.291 In some parts of Germany and Austria the
May-tree or Whitsuntide-tree is renewed annually, a fresh tree being
felled and set up.292

We can hardly doubt that originally the practice everywhere was to

set up a new May-tree every year. As the object of the custom was
to bring in the fructifying spirit of vegetation, newly awakened in
spring, the end would have been defeated if, instead of a living tree,
green and sappy, an old withered one had been erected year after
year or allowed to stand permanently. When, however, the meaning
of the [pg 081] custom had been forgotten, and the May-tree was
regarded simply as a centre for holiday merrymaking, people saw no
reason for felling a fresh tree every year, and preferred to let the
same tree stand permanently, only decking it with fresh flowers on
May Day. But even when the May-pole had thus become a fixture,
the need of giving it the appearance of being a green tree, not a
dead pole, was sometimes felt. Thus at Weverham in Cheshire “are
two May-poles, which are decorated on this day (May Day) with all
due attention to the ancient solemnity; the sides are hung with
garlands, and the top terminated by a birch or other tall slender tree
with its leaves on; the bark being peeled, and the stem spliced to
the pole, so as to give the appearance of one tree from the
summit.”293 Thus the renewal of the May-tree is like the renewal of
the Harvest-May; each is intended to secure a fresh portion of the
fertilising spirit of vegetation, and to preserve it throughout the year.
But whereas the efficacy of the Harvest-May is restricted to
promoting the growth of the crops, that of the May-tree or May-
branch extends also, as we have seen, to women and cattle. Lastly,
it is worth noting that the old May-tree is sometimes burned at the
end of the year. Thus in the district of Prague young people break
pieces off the public May-tree and place them behind the holy
pictures in their rooms, where they remain till next May Day, and are
then burned on the hearth.294 In Würtemberg the bushes which are
set up on the houses on Palm Sunday are sometimes left there for a
year and then burnt.295 The [pg 082] eiresione (the Harvest-May of
Greece) was perhaps burned at the end of the year.296

So much for the tree-spirit conceived as incorporate or immanent in

the tree. We have now to show that the tree-spirit is often conceived
and represented as detached from the tree and clothed in human
form, and even as embodied in living men or women. The evidence
for this anthropomorphic representation of the tree-spirit is largely to
be found in the popular customs of European peasantry.

There is an instructive class of cases in which the tree-spirit is

represented simultaneously in vegetable form and in human form,
which are set side by side as if for the express purpose of explaining
each other. In these cases the human representative of the tree-
spirit is sometimes a doll or puppet, sometimes a living person; but
whether a puppet or a person, it is placed beside a tree or bough; so
that together the person or puppet, and the tree or bough, form a
sort of bilingual inscription, the one being, so to speak, a translation
of the other. Here, therefore, there is no room left for doubt that the
spirit of the tree is actually represented in human form. Thus in
Bohemia, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, young people throw a
puppet called Death into the water; then the girls go into the wood,
cut down a young tree, and fasten to it a puppet dressed in white
clothes to look like a woman; with this tree and puppet they go from
house to house collecting gratuities and singing songs with the
refrain—

“We carry Death out of the village,

 We bring Summer into the village.”297

[pg 083]
Here, as we shall see later on, the “Summer” is the spirit of
vegetation returning or reviving in spring. In some places in this
country children go about asking for pence with some small
imitations of May-poles, and with a finely dressed doll which they
call the Lady of the May.298 In these cases the tree and the puppet
are obviously regarded as equivalent.

At Thann, in Alsace, a girl called the Little May Rose, dressed in

white, carries a small May-tree, which is gay with garlands and
ribbons. Her companions collect gifts from door to door, singing a
song—

“Little May Rose turn round three times,

Let us look at you round and round!
Rose of the May, come to the greenwood away,
We will be merry all.
So we go from the May to the roses.”

In the course of the song a wish is expressed that those who give
nothing may lose their fowls by the marten, that their vine may bear
no clusters, their tree no nuts, their field no corn; the produce of the
year is supposed to depend on the gifts offered to these May
singers.299 Here and in the cases mentioned above, where children
go about with green boughs on May Day singing and collecting
money, the meaning is that with the spirit of vegetation they bring
plenty and good luck to the house, and they expect to be paid for
the service. In Russian Lithuania, on the 1st of May, they used to set
up a green tree before the village. Then the rustic swains chose the
prettiest girl, crowned her, swathed her in birch branches and set her
beside the May-tree, where they danced, sang, and shouted [pg
084] “O May! O May!”300 In Brie (Isle de France) a May-tree is set up
in the midst of the village; its top is crowned with flowers; lower
down it is twined with leaves and twigs, still lower with huge green
branches. The girls dance round it, and at the same time a lad wrapt
in leaves and called Father May is led about.301 In Bavaria, on the 2d
of May, a Walber (?) tree is erected before a tavern, and a man
dances round it, enveloped in straw from head to foot in such a way
that the ears of corn unite above his head to form a crown. He is
called the Walber, and used to be led in solemn procession through
the streets, which were adorned with sprigs of birch.302 In Carinthia,
on St. George's Day (24th April), the young people deck with flowers
and garlands a tree which has been felled on the eve of the festival.
The tree is then carried in procession, accompanied with music and
joyful acclamations, the chief figure in the procession being the
Green George, a young fellow clad from head to foot in green birch
branches. At the close of the ceremonies the Green George, that is
an effigy of him, is thrown into the water. It is the aim of the lad
who acts Green George to step out of his leafy envelope and
substitute the effigy so adroitly that no one shall perceive the
change. In many places, however, the lad himself who plays the part
of Green George is ducked in a river or pond, with the express
intention of thus ensuring rain to make the fields and meadows
green in summer. In some places the cattle are crowned and driven
from their stalls to the accompaniment of a song—

[pg 085]

“Green George we bring,

Green George we accompany,
May he feed our herds well,
If not, to the water with him.”303

Here we see that the same powers of making rain and fostering the
cattle, which are ascribed to the tree-spirit regarded as incorporate
in the tree, are also attributed to the tree-spirit represented by a
living man.
An example of the double representation of the spirit of vegetation
by a tree and a living man is reported from Bengal. The Oraons have
a festival in spring while the sál trees are in blossom, because they
think that at this time the marriage of earth is celebrated and the sál
flowers are necessary for the ceremony. On an appointed day the
villagers go with their priest to the Sarna, the sacred grove, a
remnant of the old sál forest in which a goddess Sarna Burhi, or
woman of the grove, is supposed to dwell. She is thought to have
great influence on the rain; and the priest arriving with his party at
the grove sacrifices to her five fowls, of which a morsel is given to
each person present. Then they gather the sál flowers and return
laden with them to the village. Next day the priest visits every
house, carrying the flowers in a wide open basket. The women of
each house bring out water to wash his feet as he approaches, and
kneeling make him an obeisance. Then he dances with them and
places some of the sál flowers over the door of the house and in the
women's hair. No sooner is this done than the women empty their
water-jugs over him, drenching him to the skin. A feast follows, and
the young people, with sál flowers in their hair, dance all night on
the village green.304 Here, the equivalence of the flower-bearing [pg
086] priest to the goddess of the flowering-tree comes out plainly.
For she is supposed to influence the rain, and the drenching of the
priest with water is, doubtless, like the ducking of the Green George
in Bavaria, a rain-charm. Thus the priest, as if he were the tree
goddess herself, goes from door to door dispensing rain and
bestowing fruitfulness on each house, but especially on the women.

Without citing more examples to the same effect, we may sum up

the result of the preceding paragraphs in the words of Mannhardt.
“The customs quoted suffice to establish with certainty the
conclusion that in these spring processions the spirit of vegetation is
often represented both by the May-tree and in addition by a man
dressed in green leaves or flowers or by a girl similarly adorned. It is
the same spirit which animates the tree and is active in the inferior
plants and which we have recognised in the May-tree and the
Harvest-May. Quite consistently the spirit is also supposed to
manifest his presence in the first flower of spring and reveals himself
both in a girl representing a May-rose, and also, as giver of harvest,
in the person of the Walber. The procession with this representative
of the divinity was supposed to produce the same beneficial effects
on the fowls, the fruit-trees, and the crops as the presence of the
deity himself. In other words, the mummer was regarded not as an
image but as an actual representative of the spirit of vegetation;
hence the wish expressed by the attendants on the May-rose and
the May-tree that those who refuse them gifts of eggs, bacon, etc.
may have no share in the blessings which it is in the power of the
itinerant spirit to bestow. We may conclude that these begging
processions with May-trees or May-boughs from door [pg 087] to
door (‘bringing the May or the summer’) had everywhere originally a
serious and, so to speak, sacramental significance; people really
believed that the god of growth was present unseen in the bough;
by the procession he was brought to each house to bestow his
blessing. The names May, Father May, May Lady, Queen of the May,
by which the anthropomorphic spirit of vegetation is often denoted,
show that the conception of the spirit of vegetation is blent with a
personification of the season at which his powers are most strikingly
manifested.”305

Thus far we have seen that the tree-spirit or the spirit of vegetation
in general is represented either in vegetable form alone, as by a
tree, bough, or flower; or in vegetable and human form
simultaneously, as by a tree, bough, or flower in combination with a
puppet or a living person. It remains to show that the representation
of him by a tree, bough, or flower is sometimes entirely dropped,
while the representation of him by a living person remains. In this
case the representative character of the person is generally marked
by dressing him or her in leaves or flowers; sometimes too it is
indicated by the name he or she bears.

We saw that in Russia at Whitsuntide a birch-tree is dressed in

woman's clothes and set up in the house. Clearly equivalent to this is
the custom observed on Whit-Monday by Russian girls in the district
of Pinsk. They choose the prettiest of their number, envelop her in a
mass of foliage taken from the birch-trees and maples, and carry her
about through the village. In a district of Little Russia they take
round a “poplar,” represented by a girl wearing bright flowers in her
hair.306 [pg 088] In the Département de l'Ain (France) on the 1st of
May eight or ten boys unite, clothe one of their number in leaves,
and go from house to house begging.307 At Whitsuntide in Holland
poor women used to go about begging with a little girl called
Whitsuntide Flower (Pinxterbloem, perhaps a kind of iris); she was
decked with flowers and sat in a waggon. In North Brabant she
wears the flowers from which she takes her name and a song is
sung—

“Whitsuntide Flower
Turn yourself once round.”308

In Ruhla (Thüringen) as soon as the trees begin to grow green in

spring, the children assemble on a Sunday and go out into the
woods, where they choose one of their playmates to be the Little
Leaf Man. They break branches from the trees and twine them about
the child till only his shoes peep out from the leafy mantle. Holes are
made in it for him to see through, and two of the children lead the
Little Leaf Man that he may not stumble or fall. Singing and dancing
they take him from house to house, asking for gifts of food (eggs,
cream, sausage, cakes). Lastly they sprinkle the Leaf Man with water
and feast on the food they have collected.309 In England the best-
known example of these leaf-clad mummers is the Jack-in-the-
Green, a chimney-sweeper who walks encased in a pyramidal-
shaped framework of wicker-work, which is covered with holly and
ivy, and surmounted by a crown of flowers and ribbons. Thus
arrayed he dances on May Day at the head of a troop [pg 089] of
chimney-sweeps, who collect pence.310 In some parts also of France
a young fellow is encased in a wicker framework covered with leaves
and is led about.311 In Frickthal (Aargau) a similar frame of
basketwork is called the Whitsuntide Basket. As soon as the trees
begin to bud, a spot is chosen in the wood, and here the village lads
make the frame with all secrecy, lest others should forestall them.
Leafy branches are twined round two hoops, one of which rests on
the shoulders of the wearer, the other encircles his calves; holes are
made for his eyes and mouth; and a large nosegay crowns the
whole. In this guise he appears suddenly in the village at the hour of
vespers, preceded by three boys blowing on horns made of willow
bark. The great object of his supporters is to set up the Whitsuntide
Basket beside the village well, and to keep it and him there, despite
the efforts of the lads from neighbouring villages, who seek to carry
off the Whitsuntide Basket and set it up at their own well.312 In the
neighbourhood of Ertingen (Würtemberg) a masker of the same
sort, known as the Lazy Man (Latzmann), goes about the village on
Midsummer Day; he is hidden under a great pyramidal or conical
frame of wicker-work, ten or twelve feet high, which is completely
covered with sprigs of fir. He has a bell which he rings as he goes,
and he is attended by a suite of persons dressed up in character—a
footman, a colonel, a butcher, an angel, the devil, the doctor, etc.
They march in Indian file and halt before every house, where each
of them speaks in character, except the Lazy Man, [pg 090] who
says nothing. With what they get by begging from door to door they
hold a feast.313

In the class of cases of which the above are specimens it is obvious

that the leaf-clad person who is led about is equivalent to the May-
tree, May-bough, or May-doll, which is carried from house to house
by children begging. Both are representatives of the beneficent spirit
of vegetation, whose visit to the house is recompensed by a present
of money or food.

Often the leaf-clad person who represents the spirit of vegetation is

known as the king or the queen; thus, for example, he or she is
called the May King, Whitsuntide King, Queen of May, and so on.
These titles, as Mannhardt observes, imply that the spirit incorporate
in vegetation is a ruler, whose creative power extends far and
wide.314

In a village near Salzwedel a May-tree is set up at Whitsuntide and

the boys race to it; he who reaches it first is king; a garland of
flowers is put round his neck and in his hand he carries a May-bush,
with which, as the procession moves along, he sweeps away the
dew. At each house they sing a song, wishing the inmates good luck,
referring to the “black cow in the stall milking white milk, black hen
on the nest laying white eggs,” and begging a gift of eggs, bacon,
etc.315 In some villages of Brunswick at Whitsuntide a May King is
completely enveloped in a May-bush. In some parts of Thüringen
also they have a May King at Whitsuntide, but he is got up rather
differently. A frame of wood is made in which [pg 091] a man can
stand; it is completely covered with birch boughs and is surmounted
by a crown of birch and flowers, in which a bell is fastened. This
frame is placed in the wood and the May King gets into it. The rest
go out and look for him, and when they have found him they lead
him back into the village to the magistrate, the clergyman, and
others, who have to guess who is in the verdurous frame. If they
guess wrong, the May King rings his bell by shaking his head, and a
forfeit of beer or the like must be paid by the unsuccessful
guesser.316 In some parts of Bohemia on Whit-Monday the young
fellows disguise themselves in tall caps of birch bark adorned with
flowers. One of them is dressed as a king and dragged on a sledge
to the village green, and if on the way they pass a pool the sledge is
always overturned into it. Arrived at the green they gather round the
king; the crier jumps on a stone or climbs up a tree and recites
lampoons about each house and its inmates. Afterwards the
disguises of bark are stripped off and they go about the village in
holiday attire, carrying a May-tree and begging. Cakes, eggs, and
corn are sometimes given them.317 At Grossvargula, near
Langensalza, in last century a Grass King used to be led about in
procession at Whitsuntide. He was encased in a pyramid of poplar
branches, the top of which was adorned with a royal crown of
branches and flowers. He rode on horseback with the leafy pyramid
over him, so that its lower end touched the ground, and an opening
was left in it only for his face. Surrounded by a cavalcade of [pg
092] young fellows, he rode in procession to the town hall, the
parsonage, etc., where they all got a drink of beer. Then under the
seven lindens of the neighbouring Sommerberg, the Grass King was
stripped of his green casing; the crown was handed to the Mayor,
and the branches were stuck in the flax fields in order to make the
flax grow tall.318 In this last trait the fertilising influence ascribed to
the representative of the tree-spirit comes out clearly. In the
neighbourhood of Pilsen (Bohemia) a conical hut of green branches,
without any door, is erected at Whitsuntide in the midst of the
village. To this hut rides a troop of village lads with a king at their
head. He wears a sword at his side and a sugar-loaf hat of rushes on
his head. In his train are a judge, a crier, and a personage called the
Frog-flayer or Hangman. This last is a sort of ragged merryandrew,
wearing a rusty old sword and bestriding a sorry hack. On reaching
the hut the crier dismounts and goes round it looking for a door.
Finding none, he says, “Ah, this is perhaps an enchanted castle; the
witches creep through the leaves and need no door.” At last he
draws his sword and hews his way into the hut, where there is a
chair, on which he seats himself and proceeds to criticise in rhyme
the girls, farmers, and farm-servants of the neighbourhood. When
this is over, the Frog-flayer steps forward and, after exhibiting a cage
with frogs in it, sets up a gallows on which he hangs the frogs in a
row.319 In the neighbourhood of Plas the ceremony differs in some
points. The king and his soldiers are completely clad in bark,
adorned [pg 093] with flowers and ribbons; they all carry swords
and ride horses, which are gay with green branches and flowers.
While the village dames and girls are being criticised at the arbour, a
frog is secretly pinched and poked by the crier till it quacks.
Sentence of death is passed on the frog by the king; the hangman
beheads it and flings the bleeding body among the spectators.
Lastly, the king is driven from the hut and pursued by the soldiers.320
The pinching and beheading of the frog are doubtless, as Mannhardt
observes,321 a rain-charm. We have seen322 that some Indians of the
Orinoco beat frogs for the express purpose of producing rain, and
that killing a frog is a German rain-charm.

Often the spirit of vegetation in spring is represented by a queen

instead of a king. In the neighbourhood of Libchowic (Bohemia), on
the fourth Sunday in Lent, girls dressed in white and wearing the
first spring flowers, as violets and daisies, in their hair, lead about
the village a girl who is called the Queen and is crowned with
flowers. During the procession, which is conducted with great
solemnity, none of the girls may stand still, but must keep whirling
round continually and singing. In every house the Queen announces
the arrival of spring and wishes the inmates good luck and blessings,
for which she receives presents.323 In German Hungary the girls
choose the prettiest girl to be their Whitsuntide Queen, fasten a
towering wreath on her brow, and carry her singing through the
streets. At every house they stop, sing old ballads, and receive
presents.324 In the [pg 094] south-east of Ireland on May Day the
prettiest girl used to be chosen Queen of the district for twelve
months. She was crowned with wild flowers; feasting, dancing, and
rustic sports followed, and were closed by a grand procession in the
evening. During her year of office she presided over rural gatherings
of young people at dances and merrymakings. If she married before
next May Day her authority was at an end, but her successor was
not elected till that day came round.325 The May Queen is common in
France326 and familiar in England.

Again the spirit of vegetation is sometimes represented by a king

and queen, a lord and lady, or a bridegroom and bride. Here again
the parallelism holds between the anthropomorphic and the
vegetable representation of the tree-spirit, for we have seen above
that trees are sometimes married to each other.327 In a village near
Königgrätz (Bohemia) on Whit-Monday the children play the king's
game, at which a king and a queen march about under a canopy,
the queen wearing a garland, and the youngest girl carrying two
wreaths on a plate behind them. They are attended by boys and
girls called groom's men and bridesmaids, and they go from house
to house collecting gifts.328 Near Grenoble, in France, a king and
queen are chosen on the 1st of May and are set on a throne for all
to see.329 At Headington, near Oxford, children used to carry
garlands from door to door on [pg 095] May Day. Each garland was
carried by two girls, and they were followed by a lord and lady—a
boy and girl linked together by a white handkerchief, of which each
held an end, and dressed with ribbons, sashes, and flowers. At each
door they sang a verse—

“Gentlemen and ladies,

We wish you happy May;
We come to show you a garland,
Because it is May-day.”

On receiving money the lord put his arm about his lady's waist and
kissed her.330 In some Saxon villages at Whitsuntide a lad and a lass
disguise themselves and hide in the bushes or high grass outside the
village. Then the whole village goes out with music “to seek the
bridal pair.” When they find the couple they all gather round them,
the music strikes up, and the bridal pair is led merrily to the village.
In the evening they dance. In some places the bridal pair is called
the prince and the princess.331

In the neighbourhood of Briançon (Dauphiné) on May Day the lads

wrap up in green leaves a young fellow whose sweetheart has
deserted him or married another. He lies down on the ground and
feigns to be asleep. Then a girl who likes him, and would marry him,
comes and wakes him, and raising him up offers him her arm and a
flag. So they go to the alehouse, where the pair lead off the
dancing. But they must marry within the year, or they are treated as
old bachelor and old maid, and are debarred the company of the
young folk. The lad is called the bridegroom of the month of May (le
fiancé du mois de May). In the alehouse he puts off his garment of
leaves, out of [pg 096] which, mixed with flowers, his partner in the
dance makes a nosegay, and wears it at her breast next day, when
he leads her again to the alehouse.332 Like this is a Russian custom
observed in the district of Nerechta on the Thursday before
Whitsunday. The girls go out into a birch-wood, wind a girdle or
band round a stately birch, twist its lower branches into a wreath,
and kiss each other in pairs through the wreath. The girls who kiss
through the wreath call each other gossips. Then one of the girls
steps forward, and mimicking a drunken man, flings herself on the
ground, rolls on the grass, and feigns to go fast asleep. Another girl
wakens the pretended sleeper and kisses him; then the whole bevy
trips singing through the wood to twine garlands, which they throw
into the water. In the fate of the garlands floating on the stream
they read their own.333 In this custom the rôle of the sleeper was
probably at one time sustained by a lad. In these French and
Russian customs we have a forsaken bridegroom, in the following a
forsaken bride. On Shrove Tuesday the Slovenes of Oberkrain drag a
straw puppet with joyous cries up and down the village; then they
throw it into the water or burn it, and from the height of the flames
they judge of the abundance of the next harvest. The noisy crew is
followed by a female masker, who drags a great board by a string
and gives out that she is a forsaken bride.334

Viewed in the light of what has gone before, the awakening of the
forsaken sleeper in these ceremonies probably represents the revival
of vegetation in spring. But it is not easy to assign their respective
[pg 097] rôles to the forsaken bridegroom and to the girl who wakes
him from his slumber. Is the sleeper the leafless forest or the bare
earth of winter? Is the girl who wakens him the fresh verdure or the
genial sunshine of spring? It is hardly possible, on the evidence
before us, to answer these questions. The Oraons of Bengal, it may
be remembered, celebrate the marriage of earth in the springtime,
when the sál-tree is in blossom. But from this we can hardly argue
that in the European ceremonies the sleeping bridegroom is “the
dreaming earth” and the girl the spring blossoms.

In the Highlands of Scotland the revival of vegetation in spring used

to be graphically represented as follows. On Candlemas day (2d
February) in the Hebrides “the mistress and servants of each family
take a sheaf of oats, and dress it up in women's apparel, put it in a
large basket, and lay a wooden club by it, and this they call Brüd's
bed; and then the mistress and servants cry three times, Brüd is
come, Brüd is welcome. This they do just before going to bed, and
when they rise in the morning they look among the ashes, expecting
to see the impression of Brüd's club there; which if they do they
reckon it a true presage of a good crop and prosperous year, and the
contrary they take as an ill omen.”335 The same custom is described
by another witness thus: “Upon the night before Candlemas it is
usual to make a bed with corn and hay, over which some blankets
are laid, in a part of the house near the door. When it is ready, a
person goes out and repeats three times, ... ‘Bridget, [pg 098]
Bridget, come in; thy bed is ready.’ One or more candles are left
burning near it all night.”336

Often the marriage of the spirit of vegetation in spring, though not

directly represented, is implied by naming the human representative
of the spirit “the Bride,” and dressing her in wedding attire. Thus in
some villages of Altmark at Whitsuntide, while the boys go about
carrying a May-tree or leading a boy enveloped in leaves and
flowers, the girls lead about the May Bride, a girl dressed as a bride
with a great nosegay in her hair. They go from house to house, the
May Bride singing a song in which she asks for a present, and tells
the inmates of each house that if they give her something they will
themselves have something the whole year through; but if they give
her nothing they will themselves have nothing.337 In some parts of
Westphalia two girls lead a flower-crowned girl called “the
Whitsuntide Bride” from door to door, singing a song in which they
ask for eggs.338 In Bresse in the month of May a girl called la Mariée
is tricked out with ribbons and nosegays and is led about by a
gallant. She is preceded by a lad carrying a green May-tree, and
appropriate verses are sung.339
§ 5.—Tree-worship in antiquity.

Such then are some of the ways in which the tree-spirit or the spirit
of vegetation is represented [pg 099] in the customs of our
European peasantry. From the remarkable persistence and similarity
of such customs all over Europe we are justified in concluding that
tree-worship was once an important element in the religion of the
Aryan race in Europe, and that the rites and ceremonies of the
worship were marked by great uniformity everywhere, and did not
substantially differ from those which are still or were till lately
observed by our peasants at their spring and midsummer festivals.
For these rites bear internal marks of great antiquity, and this
internal evidence is confirmed by the resemblance which the rites
bear to those of rude peoples elsewhere.340 Therefore it is hardly
rash to infer, from this consensus of popular customs, that the
Greeks and Romans, like the other Aryan peoples of Europe, once
practised forms of tree-worship similar to those which are still kept
up by our peasantry. In the palmy days of ancient civilisation, no
doubt, the worship had sunk to the level of vulgar superstition and
rustic merrymaking, as it has done among ourselves. We need not
therefore be surprised that the traces of such popular rites are few
and slight in ancient literature. They are not less so in the polite
literature of modern Europe; and the negative argument cannot be
allowed to go for more in the one case than in the other. Enough,
however, of positive evidence remains to confirm the presumption
drawn from analogy. Much of this evidence has been collected and
analysed with his usual learning and judgment by W. Mannhardt.341
Here I shall content myself with citing certain Greek festivals which
seem to be [pg 100] the classical equivalents of an English May Day
in the olden time.
Every few years the Boeotians of Plataea held a festival which they
called the Little Daedala. On the day of the festival they went out
into an ancient oak forest, the trees of which were of gigantic girth.
Here they set some boiled meat on the ground, and watched the
birds that gathered round it. When a raven was observed to carry off
a piece of the meat and settle on an oak, the people followed it and
cut down the tree. With the wood of the tree they made an image,
dressed it as a bride, and placed it on a bullock-cart with a
bridesmaid beside it. It seems then to have been drawn to the banks
of the river Asopus and back to the town, attended by a piping and
dancing crowd. After the festival the image was put away and kept
till the celebration of the Great Daedala, which fell only once in sixty
years. On this great occasion all the images that had accumulated
from the celebrations of the Little Daedala were dragged on carts in
solemn procession to the river Asopus, and then to the top of Mount
Cithaeron. Here an altar had been constructed of square blocks of
wood fitted together and surmounted by a heap of brushwood.
Animals were sacrificed by being burned on the altar, and the altar
itself, together with the images, were consumed by the flames. The
blaze, we are told, rose to a prodigious height and was seen for
many miles. To explain the origin of the festival it was said that once
upon a time Hera had quarrelled with Zeus and left him in high
dudgeon. To lure her back Zeus gave out that he was about to marry
the nymph Plataea, daughter of the river Asopus. He caused a
wooden image to be made, dressed and veiled as a bride, and
conveyed on [pg 101] a bullock-cart. Transported with rage and
jealousy, Hera flew to the cart, and tearing off the veil of the
pretended bride, discovered the deceit that had been practised on
her. Her rage was now changed to laughter, and she became
reconciled to her husband Zeus.342

The resemblance of this festival to some of the European spring and

midsummer festivals is tolerably close. We have seen that in Russia
at Whitsuntide the villagers go out into the wood, fell a birch-tree,
dress it in woman's clothes, and bring it back to the village with
dance and song. On the third day it is thrown into the water.343
Again, we have seen that in Bohemia on Midsummer Eve the village
lads fell a tall fir or pine-tree in the wood and set it up on a height,
where it is adorned with garlands, nosegays, and ribbons, and
afterwards burnt.344 The reason for burning the tree will appear
afterwards; the custom itself is not uncommon in modern Europe. In
some parts of the Pyrenees a tall and slender tree is cut down on
May Day and kept till Midsummer Eve. It is then rolled to the top of
a hill, set up, and burned.345 In Angoulême on St. Peter's Day, 29th
June, a tall leafy poplar is set up in the market-place and burned.346
In Cornwall “there was formerly a great bonfire on midsummer-eve;
a large summer pole was fixed in the centre, round which the fuel
was heaped up. It had a large bush on the top of it.”347 In Dublin on
May-morning boys used to go out and cut a May-bush, bring it back
to town, and then burn it.348

[pg 102]
Probably the Boeotian festival belonged to the same class of rites. It
represented the marriage of the powers of vegetation in spring or
midsummer, just as the same event is represented in modern Europe
by a King and Queen or a Lord and Lady of the May. In the
Boeotian, as in the Russian, ceremony the tree dressed as a woman
represents the English May-pole and May-queen in one. All such
ceremonies, it must be remembered, are not, or at least were not
originally, mere spectacular or dramatic exhibitions. They are
magical charms designed to produce the effect which they
dramatically represent. If the revival of vegetation in spring is
represented by the awakening of a sleeper, the representation is
intended actually to quicken the growth of leaves and blossoms; if
the marriage of the powers of vegetation is represented by a King
and Queen of May, the idea is that the powers so represented will
really be rendered more productive by the ceremony. In short, all
these spring and midsummer festivals fall under the head of
sympathetic magic. The event which it is desired to bring about is
represented dramatically, and the very representation is believed to
effect, or at least to contribute to, the production of the desired
event. In the case of the Daedala the story of Hera's quarrel with
Zeus and her sullen retirement may perhaps without straining be
interpreted as a mythical expression for a bad season and the failure
of the crops. The same disastrous effects were attributed to the
anger and seclusion of Demeter after the loss of her daughter
Proserpine.349 Now the institution of a festival is often explained by a
mythical story of the occurrence upon a particular occasion of those
very calamities which it is the real [pg 103] object of the festival to
avert; so that if we know the myth told to account for the historical
origin of the festival, we can often infer from it the real intention
with which the festival was celebrated. If, therefore, the origin of the
Daedala was explained by a story of a failure of crops and
consequent famine, we may infer that the real object of the festival
was to prevent the occurrence of such disasters; and, if I am right in
my interpretation of the festival, the object was supposed to be
effected by a dramatic representation of the marriage of the
divinities most concerned with the production of vegetation.350 The
marriage of Zeus and Hera was dramatically represented at annual
festivals in various parts of Greece,351 and it is at least a fair
conjecture that the nature and intention of these ceremonies were
such as I have assigned to the Plataean festival of the Daedala; in
other words, that Zeus and Hera at these festivals were the Greek
equivalents of the Lord and Lady of the May. Homer's glowing
picture of Zeus and Hera couched on fresh hyacinths and
crocuses,352 like Milton's description of the dalliance of Zephyr and
Aurora, “as he met her once a-Maying,” was perhaps painted from
the life.

Still more confidently may the same character be vindicated for the
annual marriage at Athens of the [pg 104] Queen to Dionysus in the
Flowery Month (Anthesterion) of spring.353 For Dionysus, as we shall
see later on, was essentially a god of vegetation, and the Queen at
Athens was a purely religious or priestly functionary.354 Therefore at
their annual marriage in spring he can hardly have been anything
but a King, and she a Queen, of May. The women who attended the
Queen at the marriage ceremony would correspond to the
bridesmaids who wait on the May-queen.355 Again, the story, dear to
poets and artists, of the forsaken and sleeping Ariadne waked and
wedded by Dionysus, resembles so closely the little drama acted by
French peasants of the Alps on May Day356 that, considering the
character of Dionysus as a god of vegetation, we can hardly help
regarding it as the description of a spring ceremony corresponding
to the French one. In point of fact the marriage of Dionysus and
Ariadne is believed by Preller to have been acted every spring in
Crete.357 His evidence, indeed, is inconclusive, but the view itself is
probable. If I am right in instituting the comparison, the chief
difference between the French and the Greek ceremonies must have
been that in the former the sleeper was the forsaken bridegroom, in
the latter the forsaken bride; and the group of stars in the sky, in
which fancy saw Ariadne's wedding-crown,358 could only have been a
translation to heaven of the garland worn by the Greek girl who
played the Queen of May.

On the whole, alike from the analogy of modern [pg 105] folk-
custom and from the facts of ancient ritual and mythology, we are
justified in concluding that the archaic forms of tree-worship
disclosed by the spring and midsummer festivals of our peasants
were practised by the Greeks and Romans in prehistoric times. Do
then these forms of tree-worship help to explain the priesthood of
Aricia, the subject of our inquiry? I believe they do. In the first place
the attributes of Diana, the goddess of the Arician grove, are those
of a tree-spirit or sylvan deity. Her sanctuaries were in groves,
indeed every grove was her sanctuary,359 and she is often associated
with the wood-god Silvanus in inscriptions.360 Like a tree-spirit, she
helped women in travail, and in this respect her reputation appears
to have stood high at the Arician grove, if we may judge from the
votive offerings found on the spot.361 Again, she was the patroness
of wild animals;362 just as in Finland the wood-god Tapio was
believed to care for the wild creatures that roamed the wood, they
being considered his cattle.363 So, too, the Samogitians deemed the
birds and beasts of the woods sacred, doubtless because they were
under the protection of the god of the wood.364 Again, there are
indications that domestic cattle were protected by Diana,365 as they
certainly were supposed to be by Silvanus.366 But we have seen that
special influence over cattle is ascribed to wood-spirits; in Finland
the herds enjoyed the protection of the wood-gods both while they
were [pg 106] in their stalls and while they strayed in the forest.367
Lastly, in the sacred spring which bubbled, and the perpetual fire
which seems to have burned in the Arician grove,368 we may perhaps
detect traces of other attributes of forest gods, the power, namely,
to make the rain to fall and the sun to shine.369 This last attribute
perhaps explains why Virbius, the companion deity of Diana at Nemi,
was by some believed to be the sun.370

Thus the cult of the Arician grove was essentially that of a tree-spirit
or wood deity. But our examination of European folk-custom
demonstrated that a tree-spirit is frequently represented by a living
person, who is regarded as an embodiment of the tree-spirit and
possessed of its fertilising powers; and our previous survey of
primitive belief proved that this conception of a god incarnate in a
living man is common among rude races. Further we have seen that
the living person who is believed to embody in himself the tree-spirit
is often called a king, in which respect, again, he strictly represents
the tree-spirit. For the sacred cedar of the Gilgit tribes is called, as
we have seen, “the Dreadful King”;371 and the chief forest god of the
Finns, by name Tapio, represented as an old man with a brown
beard, a high hat of fir-cones and a coat of tree-moss, was styled
the Wood King, Lord of the Woodland, Golden King of the Wood.372
May not then the King of the Wood in the Arician grove have been,
like the King of May, the Grass King, and the like, an incarnation of
the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation? His title, his sacred [pg 107]
office, and his residence in the grove all point to this conclusion,
which is confirmed by his relation to the Golden Bough. For since the
King of the Wood could only be assailed by him who had plucked the
Golden Bough, his life was safe from assault so long as the bough or
the tree on which it grew remained uninjured. In a sense, therefore,
his life was bound up with that of the tree; and thus to some extent
he stood to the tree in the same relation in which the incorporate or
immanent tree-spirit stands to it. The representation of the tree-
spirit both by the King of the Wood and by the Golden Bough (for it
will hardly be disputed that the Golden Bough was looked upon as a
very special manifestation of the divine life of the grove) need not
surprise us, since we have found that the tree-spirit is not
unfrequently thus represented in double, first by a tree or a bough,
and second by a living person.

On the whole then, if we consider his double character as king and

priest, his relation to the Golden Bough, and the strictly woodland
character of the divinity of the grove, we may provisionally assume
that the King of the Wood, like the May King and his congeners of
Northern Europe, was deemed a living incarnation of the tree-spirit.
As such he would be credited with those miraculous powers of
sending rain and sunshine, making the crops to grow, women to
bring forth, and flocks and herds to multiply, which are popularly
ascribed to the tree-spirit itself. The reputed possessor of powers so
exalted must have been a very important personage, and in point of
fact his influence appears to have extended far and wide. For373 in
the days when the champaign country around was [pg 108] still
parcelled out among the petty tribes who composed the Latin
League, the sacred grove on the Alban Mountain is known to have
been an object of their common reverence and care. And just as the
kings of Cambodia used to send offerings to the mystic Kings of Fire
and Water far in the dim depths of the tropical forest, so, we may
well believe, from all sides of the broad Latian plain the eyes and
steps of Italian pilgrims turned to the quarter where, standing
sharply out against the faint blue line of the Apennines or the deeper
blue of the distant sea, the Alban Mountain rose before them, the
home of the mysterious priest of Nemi, the King of the Wood.
[pg 109]
Chapter II. The Perils Of The Soul.

“O liebe flüchtige Seele

Dir ist so bang und weh!”

Heine.
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