IN THE DAYS OF WOAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 499, 31 October 1928, Page 6

IN THE DAYS OF WOAD

Before the Romans dealt them . a severe blow at the Battle of Anglesea, the Druids were a powerful body of priests among the Ancient Britons. And even after their groves were destroyed, they often served great chiefs with their magic. One of the superstitions they taught was about snakes’ eggs. They pretended that numbers of snakes 'came together in the summer and blew a froth into the air which formed an egg. This the Druids said they caught in a bag at great danger and took away. Such an egg was supposed to be able to gain for the chief an emperor’s favour and also to bring him success when he went to law. During a legal dispute before the Emperor Claudius, a Roman knight, who was pleading his case, ■was discovered to have one of these eggs hidden in his tunic. The knight was thought to be taking an unfair advantage by bringing magic into the courts to aid him, and was sentenced to death.

So, you see, nearly everyone believed in the Druids’ snakes eggs, though this one did not bring luck to its owner. But, after all, as a famous Roman historian tells, us, they were all fakes made of glass.