§ 1. _Tree-spirits_—Great forests of ancient Europe; tree-worship
practised by all Aryan races in Europe; trees regarded as animate;
tree-spirits, sacrifices to trees; trees sensitive to wounds; apologies
for cutting down trees; bleeding trees; trees threatened to make them
bear fruit; attempts to deceive spirits of trees and plants; trees
married to each other; trees in blossom and rice in bloom treated like
pregnant women; trees tenanted by the souls of the dead; trees as the
abode, not the body, of spirits; ceremonies at felling trees;
propitiating tree-spirits in house-timber; sacred trees the abode of
spirits; sacred groves.
§ 2. _Beneficent Powers of Tree-spirits_—Tree-spirit develops into
anthropomorphic deity of the woods; tree-spirits give rain and sunshine;
tree-spirits make crops to grow; the Harvest May and kindred customs;
tree-spirits make herds and women fruitful; green boughs protect against
witchcraft; influence of tree-spirits on cattle among the Wends,
Esthonians, and Circassians; tree-spirits grant offspring or easy
delivery to women.