Some writers have maintained that the luck associated with the horse-shoe
is due chiefly to the metal, irrespective of its shape, as iron and
steel are traditional charms against malevolent spirits and goblins. In
their view, a horse-shoe is simply a piece of iron of graceful shape
and convenient form, commonly pierced with seven nail-holes (a mystic
number), and therefore an altogether suitable talisman to be affixed to
the door of dwelling or stable in conformity with a venerable custom
sanctioned by centuries of usage. Of the antiquity of the belief in the
supernatural properties of iron there can be no doubt.
Among the ancient Gauls this metal was thought to be consecrated to the
Evil Principle, and, according to a fragment of the writings of the
Egyptian historian Manetho (about 275 B. C.), iron was called in Egypt
the bone of Typhon, or Devil’s bone, for Typhon in the Egyptian mythology
was the personification of evil.[58]
Pliny, in his “Natural History,” states that iron coffin-nails affixed
to the lintel of the door render the inmates of the dwelling secure from
the visitations of nocturnal prowling spirits.
According to the same author, iron has valuable attributes as a
preservative against harmful witchcrafts and sorceries, and may thus be
used with advantage both by adults and children. For this purpose it was
only necessary to trace a circle about one’s self with a piece of the
metal, or thrice to swing a sword around one’s body. Moreover, gentle
proddings with a sword wherewith a man has been wounded were reputed to
alleviate divers aches and pains, and even iron-rust had its own healing
powers:—
If a horse be shod with shoes made from a sword wherewith a man
has been slain, he will be most swift and fleet, and never,
though never so hard rode, tire.[59]
The time-honored belief in the magical power of iron and steel is shown
in many traditions of the North.
A young herdswoman was once tending cattle in a forest of Vermaland
in Sweden; and the weather being cold and wet, she carried along her
tinder-box with flint and steel, as is customary in that country.
Presently along came a giantess carrying a casket, which she asked the
girl to keep while she went away to invite some friends to attend her
daughter’s marriage. Quite thoughtlessly the girl laid her fire-steel on
the casket, and when the giantess returned for the property she could not
touch it, for steel is repellant to trolls, both great and small. So the
herdswoman carried home the treasure-box, which was found to contain a
golden crown and other valuables.[60]
The heathen Northmen believed in the existence of a race of dwarfish
artisans, who were skilled in the working of metals, and who fashioned
implements of warfare in their subterranean workshops. These dwarfs
were also thought to inhabit isolated rocks; and according to a popular
notion, if a man chanced to encounter one of them, and quickly threw a
piece of steel between him and his habitation, he could thereby prevent
the dwarf from returning home, and could exact of him whatever he
desired.[61]
Among French Canadians, fireflies are viewed with superstitious eyes as
luminous imps of evil, and iron and steel are the most potent safeguards
against them; a knife or needle stuck into the nearest fence is thought
to amply protect the belated wayfarer against these insects, for they
will either do themselves injury upon the former, or will become so
exhausted in endeavoring to pass through the needle’s eye as to render
them temporarily harmless.[62] Such waifs and strays of popular
credulity may seem most trivial, yet they serve to illustrate the ancient
and widely diffused belief in the traditional qualities ascribed to
certain metals.
One widely prevalent theory ascribed to iron a meteoric origin, but the
different nations of antiquity were wont to attribute its discovery or
invention to some favorite deity or mythological personage; Osiris was
thus honored by the Egyptians, Vulcan by the Romans, and Wodan or Odin by
the Teutons.
In early times the employment of iron in the arts was much restricted by
reason of its dull exterior and brittleness. There existed, moreover,
among the Romans a certain religious prejudice against the metal, whose
use in many ceremonies was wholly proscribed. This prejudice appears to
have been due to the fact that iron weapons were held jointly responsible
with those who wielded them for the shedding of human blood; inasmuch as
swords, knives, battle-axes, lance and spear points, and other implements
of war were made of iron.[63]
Those mythical demons of Oriental lands known as the _Jinn_ are believed
to be exorcised by the mere name of iron;[64] and Arabs when overtaken by
a simoom in the desert endeavor to charm away these spirits of evil by
crying, “Iron, iron!”[65]
The _Jinn_ being legendary creatures of the Stone Age, the comparatively
modern metal is supposed to be obnoxious to them. In Scandinavia and in
northern countries generally, iron is a historic charm against the wiles
of sorcerers.
The Chinese sometimes wear outside of their clothing a piece of an old
iron plough-point as a charm;[66] and they have also a custom of driving
long iron nails in certain kinds of trees to exorcise some particularly
dangerous female demons which haunt them.[67] The ancient Irish were wont
to hang crooked horse-shoe nails about the necks of their children as
charms;[68] and in Teutonic folk-lore we find the venerable superstition
that a horse-shoe nail found by chance and driven into the fireplace will
effect the restoration of stolen property to the owner. In Ireland, at
the present time, iron is held to be a sacred and luck-bringing metal
which thieves hesitate to steal.[69]
A Celtic legend says that the name _Iron-land_ or _Ireland_ originated
as follows: The Emerald Isle was formerly altogether submerged, except
during a brief period every seventh year, and at such times repeated
attempts were made by foreigners to land on its soil, but without
success, as the advancing waves always swallowed up the bold invaders.
Finally a heavenly revelation declared that the island could only be
rescued from the sea by throwing a piece of iron upon it during its
brief appearance above the waters. Profiting by the information thus
vouchsafed, a daring adventurer cast his sword upon the land at the time
indicated, thereby dissolving the spell, and Ireland has ever since
remained above the water. On account of this tradition the finding of
iron is always accounted lucky by the Irish; and when the treasure-trove
has the form of a horse-shoe, it is nailed up over the house door.
Thus iron is believed to have reclaimed Ireland from the sea, and the
talismanic symbol of its reclamation is the iron horse-shoe.[70]
Once upon a time—so runs a tradition of the Ukraine, the border region
between Russia and Poland—some men found a piece of iron. After having
in vain attempted to eat it, they tried to soften it by boiling it in
water; then they roasted it, and afterwards beat it with stones. While
thus engaged, the Devil, who had been watching them, inquired, “What are
you making there?” and the men replied, “A hammer with which to beat the
Devil.” Thereupon Satan asked where they had obtained the requisite sand;
and from that time men understood that sand was essential for the use of
iron-workers; and thus began the manufacture of iron implements.[71]
Among the Scotch fishermen also iron is invested with magical attributes.
Thus if, when plying their vocation, one of their number chance to
indulge in profanity, the others at once call out, “Cauld airn!” and
each grasps a handy piece of the metal as a counter influence to the
misfortune which would else pursue them throughout the day.[72] Even
nowadays in England, in default of a horse-shoe, the iron plates of the
heavy shoes worn by farm laborers are occasionally to be seen fastened at
the doors of their cottages.[73]
When in former times a belief in the existence of mischievous elves was
current in the Highland districts of Scotland, iron and steel were in
high repute as popular safeguards against the visits of these fairy-folk;
for they were sometimes bold enough to carry off young mothers, whom they
compelled to act as wet-nurses for their own offspring. One evening many
years ago a farmer named Ewen Macdonald, of Duldreggan, left his wife and
young infant indoors while he went out on an errand; and tradition has it
that while crossing a brook, thereafter called in the Gaelic tongue “the
streamlet of the knife,” he heard a strange rushing sound accompanied
with a sigh, and realized at once that fairies were carrying off his
wife. Instantly throwing a knife into the air in the name of the Trinity,
the fairies’ power was annulled, and his wife dropped down before him.[74]
In Scandinavian and Scottish folk-lore, there is a marked affinity
between iron and flint. The elf-bolt or flint arrowhead was formerly in
great repute as a charm against divers evil influences, whether carried
around as an amulet, used as a magical purifier of drinking-water for
cattle, or to avert fairy spite. It seems possible that iron and steel
in superseding flint, which was so useful a material in the rude arts of
primitive peoples, inherited its ancient magical qualities.
In the Hebrides a popular charm against the wiles of sorcerers
consisted in placing pieces of flint and untempered steel in the milk
of cows alleged to have been bewitched. The milk was then boiled, and
this process was thought to foil the machinations of the witch or
enchantress.[75] The fairies of the Scottish lowlands were supposed to
use arrows tipped with white flint, wherewith they shot the cattle of
persons obnoxious to them, the wounds thus inflicted being invisible
except to certain personages gifted with supernatural sight.[76]
According to a Cornish belief, iron is potent to control the
water-fiends, and when thrown overboard enables mariners to land on a
rocky coast with safety even in a rough sea.[77] A similar superstition
exists in the Orkney Islands with reference to a certain rock on the
coast of Westray. It is thought that when any one with a piece of iron
about him steps upon this rock, the sea at once becomes turbulent and
does not subside until the magical substance is thrown into the water.[78]
The inhabitants of the rocky island of Timor, in the Indian Archipelago,
carry about them scraps of iron to preserve themselves from all kinds of
mishaps, even as the London cockney cherishes with care his lucky penny,
crooked sixpence, or perforated shilling; while in Hindostan iron nails
are frequently driven in over a door, or into the legs of a bedstead, as
protectives. It was a mediæval wedding custom in France to place on the
bride’s finger a ring made from a horse-shoe nail,[79] a superstitious
bid, as it were, for happy auspices.
In Sicily, iron amulets are popularly used against the evil eye;
indeed iron in any form, especially the horse-shoe, is thought to be
effective, and in fact talismanic properties are ascribed to all metals.
When, therefore, a Sicilian feels that he is being “overlooked,” he
instantly touches the first available metallic object, such as his
watch-chain, keys, or coins.[80] In ancient Babylon and Assyria it was
believed that invisible demons might enter the body during the acts of
eating and drinking and thus originate disease, and the doctrine of
demoniacal possession as the cause of illness is still widely prevalent
in uncivilized communities at the present day. Wherever, therefore,
such notions exist, talismans are naturally employed to render inert
the machinations of these little demons; and of all these safeguards,
iron and steel are perhaps the most potent. Quite commonly in Germany,
among the lower classes, such articles as knives, hatchets, and cutting
instruments generally, as well as fire-irons, harrows, keys, and needles,
are considered protectives against disease if placed near or about the
sick person.[81]
In Morocco it is customary to place a dagger under the patient’s
pillow,[82] and in Greece a black-handled knife is similarly used to keep
away the nightmare.
In Germany iron implements laid crosswise are considered to be powerful
anti-witch safeguards for infants; and in Switzerland two knives, or a
knife and fork, are placed in the cradle under the pillow. In Bohemia
a knife on which a cross is marked, and in Bavaria a pair of opened
scissors, are similarly used. In Westphalia an axe and a broom are laid
crosswise on the threshold, the child’s nurse being expected to step over
these articles on entering the room.[83]
The therapeutic value of iron and its use as a medicament do not properly
belong to our subject; and, indeed, neither the iron horse-shoe nor its
counterfeit symbol have usually been much employed in folk-medicine.
Professor Sepp, in his work on the religion of the early Germans,
mentions, however, a popular cure for whooping-cough, which consisted in
having the patient eat off of a wooden platter branded with the figure of
a horse-shoe.
In France, also, a favorite panacea for children’s diseases consists in
laying on the child an accidentally found horse-shoe, with the nails
remaining in it; and in Mecklenburg gastric affections are thought to
be successfully treated by drinking beer which has been poured upon a
red-hot horse-shoe.[84]
Pliny ascribed healing power to a cast-off horse-shoe found on the road.
The finder was recommended carefully to preserve such a horse-shoe; and
should he at any future time be afflicted with the hiccoughs, the mere
recollection of the exact spot where the shoe had been placed would
serve as a remedy for that sometimes obstinate affection.[85]
In Bavaria a popular alleged cure for hernia in children is as follows:
From a horse-shoe wherein all the nails remain, and which has been cast
by a horse, a nail is taken; and when next a new moon comes on a Friday,
one must go into a field or orchard before sunrise and drive the nail by
three blows into an oak-tree or pear-tree, according to the sex of the
child, and thrice invoke the name of Christ; after which one must kneel
on the ground in front of the tree and repeat a _Paternoster_. This is
an example of a kind of therapeutic measure not uncommon among peasants
in different parts of Germany, a blending of the use of a superstitious
charm with religious exercises.[86]
An ingenious theory ascribes the origin of the belief in the magical
properties of iron to the early employment of the actual cautery, and to
the use of the lancet in surgery.[87] In either case the healing effects
of the metal, whether hot or in the form of a knife, have been attributed
by superstitious minds to magical properties in the instruments, whereby
the demons who caused the disease were put to flight. In northern India
the natives believe that evil spirits are so simple-minded as to run
against the sharp edge of a knife and thus do themselves injury; and they
also make use of iron rings as demon-scarers, such talismans having the
double efficacy of the iron and of the sacred circle.[88]
In Bombay, when a child is born, the natives place an iron bar along the
threshold of the room of confinement as a guard against the entrance of
demons.[89] This practice is derived from the Hindoo superstition that
evil spirits keep aloof from iron; and even to-day pieces of horse-shoes
are to be seen nailed to the bottom sills of the doors of native
houses.[90] In east Bothnia, when the cows leave their winter quarters
for the first time, an iron bar is laid before the threshold of the door
through which the animals must pass, and the farmers believe that, if
this precaution were omitted, the cows would prove troublesome throughout
the summer.[91] So, too, in the region of Saalfield, in central Germany,
it is customary to place axes, saws, and other iron and steel implements
outside the stable door to keep the cattle from bewitchment.
The Scandinavian peasants, when they venture upon the water, are wont to
protect themselves against the power of the _Neck_, or river-spirit, by
placing a knife in the bottom of the boat, or by fixing an iron nail in
a reed. The following is the translation of a charm used in Norway for
this purpose:—
Neck, Neck, nail in water, the Virgin Mary casteth steel in
water. Do you sink, I flit.
In Finland there is an evil fairy known as the Alp Nightmare. Its name
in the vernacular is _Painajainen_, which means in English “Presser.”
This unpleasant being makes people scream, and causes young children to
squint; and the popular safeguard is steel, or a broom placed beneath the
pillow.[92]
Friedrich remarks that the Moslems look upon iron as a divine gift, and
that the Finlanders have their tutelary gods of this metal.
Among the Jews there prevails a popular belief that one should never make
use of a knife or other steel instrument for the purpose of more readily
following with the eye the pages of the Bible, the Talmud, or other
sacred book. Iron should never be permitted to touch any book treating
of religion, for the two are incompatible by nature, the one destroying
human life and the other prolonging it.[93] The Highlanders of Scotland
have a time-honored custom of taking an oath upon cold iron or steel.
The dirk, which was formerly an indispensable adjunct to the Highland
costume, is a favorite and handy object for the purpose. The faith in
the magical power of steel and iron against evil-disposed fairies and
ghosts was universal, and this form of oath was more solemn and binding
than any other.[94]
Among the Bavarian peasants nails and needles have a reputation the
reverse of that of the horse-shoe. A horse-shoe nail stuck into the front
door of a house will give the owner a serious illness. A needle, when
given to a friend, is sure to prick to death existing friendship, even as
such friendship is severed by the gift of a knife or pair of scissors.
Such an untoward result may be averted, however, if the recipient smile
pleasantly when the gift is made. A curious superstition about iron locks
prevails in Styria and Tyrol. If you procure from a locksmith a brand-new
lock and carry it to church at the time of a wedding ceremony, and if,
while the benediction is being said, you fasten the lock by a turn of
the key, then the young couple’s love and happiness is destroyed. Mutual
aversion will supplant affection until you open the lock again.[95]