But as the leave granted to the King of
Calicut to reign so long as he could defend himself against all comers was
a mitigation of the old rule which set a fixed term to his life,(564) so
we may conjecture that the similar permission granted to the King of the
Wood was a mitigation of an older custom of putting him to death at the
end of a definite period. In both cases the new rule gave to the god-man
at least a chance for his life, which under the old rule was denied him;
and people probably reconciled themselves to the change by reflecting that
so long as the god-man could maintain himself by the sword against all
assaults, there was no reason to apprehend that the fatal decay had set
in.

(M161) The conjecture that the King of the Wood was formerly put to death
at the expiry of a fixed term, without being allowed a chance for his
life, will be confirmed if evidence can be adduced of a custom of
periodically killing his counterparts, the human representatives of the
tree-spirit, in Northern Europe. Now in point of fact such a custom has
left unmistakable traces of itself in the rural festivals of the
peasantry. To take examples.

(M162) At Niederpoering, in Lower Bavaria, the Whitsuntide representative
of the tree-spirit--the _Pfingstl_ as he was called--was clad from top to
toe in leaves and flowers. On his head he wore a high pointed cap, the
ends of which rested on his shoulders, only two holes being left in it for
his eyes. The cap was covered with water-flowers and surmounted with a
nosegay of peonies. The sleeves of his coat were also made of
water-plants, and the rest of his body was enveloped in alder and hazel
leaves. On each side of him marched a boy holding up one of the
_Pfingstl's_ arms. These two boys carried drawn swords, and so did most of
the others who formed the procession. They stopped at every house where
they hoped to receive a present; and the people, in hiding, soused the
leaf-clad boy with water. All rejoiced when he was well drenched. Finally
he waded into the brook up to his middle; 