[347] Festus, ed.  C.O.  Mueller (Leipsic, 1839), p. 106, s.v. “Ignis.”  Plutarch describes a method of rekindling the sacred fire by means of the sun’s rays reflected from a hollow mirror (Numa, 9); but he seems to be referring to a Greek rather than to the Roman custom.  The rule of celibacy imposed on the Vestals, whose duty it was to relight the sacred fire as well as to preserve it when it was once made, is perhaps explained by a superstition current among French peasants that if a girl can blow up a smouldering candle into a flame she is a virgin, but that if she fails to do so, she is not.  See Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Conde-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 27; B. Souche, Croyances, Presages et Traditions diverses (Niort, 1880), p. 12.  At least it seems more likely that the rule sprang from a superstition of this sort than from a simple calculation of expediency, as I formerly suggested (Journal of Philology, xiv. (1885) p. 158).  Compare The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings> ii. 234 sqq.

[348] Geoffrey Keating, D.D., The History of Ireland, translated from the original Gaelic, and copiously annotated, by John O’Mahony (New York, 1857), p. 300, with the translator’s note.  Compare (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London, 1888), pp. 514 sq.

[349] W.R.S.  Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, Second Edition (London, 1872), pp. 254 sq.

[350] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebraeuche und Maerchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 134 sqq.; id., Maerkische Sagen und Maerchen (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312 sq.; J.D.H.  Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark (Berlin, 1839), pp. 75 sq.; K. Lynker, Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen*[2] (Cassel and Goettingen, 1860), p. 240; H. Proehle, Harzbilder (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), pp. 240-242; W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebraeuche (Marburg, 1888), pp. 44-47; F.A.  Reimann, Deutsche Volksfeste (Weimar, 1839), p. 37; “Sitten und Gebraeuche in Duderstadt,” Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sitten-kunde, ii. (1855) p. 107; K. Seifart, Sagen, Maerchen, Schwaenke und Gebraeuche aus Stadt und Stift Hildesheim*[2] (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177, 180; O. Hartung, “Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt,” Zeitschrift des Vereins fuer Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 76.

[351] L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. p. 43 sq., Sec.313; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 505 sq.

[352] L. Strackerjan, op. cit. ii. p. 43, Sec.313.

[353] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 512; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme, pp. 506 sq.