Devonshire Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Devonshire Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England) -- Biography; Devon (England) -- History
I modify the broad dialect, which would not be generally intelligible.
When into Exeter he had got
To Master Tucker’s door he sot;
He rung’d the bell, the message sent,
Pulled off his hat, and in he went,
And seed a fellow in a room
That seem’d in such a fret and fume.
He said he’d lost a calf and cow,
And com’d in there to know as how,
For Master T., at little cost,
Had often found the things he’d lost.
Thereupon the farmer opened his own trouble, and told how he and his
were bewitched by Nan Tap. And as he told his tale, it seemed so sad
that the man in the room bade him go in first to consult the White
Witch.
Now this fuming man was employed by Tucker to draw out from the gulls
what their trouble was, and there was but a sham wall of paper between
the room where the interview took place and that in which he received
the farmer, whom he greatly astonished by informing him of all the
circumstances that led to the visit. The remedy he prescribed was to
carry a little bag he gave him, in which were some stones, and to dash
water in the direction of the old woman, and say, “I do it in the name
of Tucker,” and if this did not answer, he was to put a faggot up his
chimney, set fire to it, and say a prayer he taught him while it was
burning. We need not follow the account any further.
There was a few years ago a notable White Witch of the name of Snow,
at Tiverton, who did great business. In a case with which I am well
acquainted, he certainly was the means of curing a substantial farmer.
The man had caught a severe chill one night of storm, when a torrent
threatened to inundate his house. He had stood for hours endeavouring
to divert the stream from his door. The chill settled on his chest, and
he became a wreck; he drew his breath with difficulty, walked bent,
almost double, and as I was convinced would not live out the twelve
months. He consulted the most famous and experienced physicians, and
they did him no good. Then in desperation he went to “Old Snow.” From
that day he mended. What the White Witch gave him I do not know; but
the man is now robust, hearty, and looks as if many years were before
him.
I know another case, but this is of a different nature. A young farmer,
curious as to the future, visited a White Witch to learn who his
future wife would be. Said she--this witch was a woman, and an old
one: there are female witches who are young and exercise very powerful
charms--said she: “Next Sunday, you go along Narracott lane, and the
first young woman you see pass, look her well in the face, and when
you’ve gone by, turn your head and look, and if she’s also turned her
head and is looking at you, that’s the one.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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