Folk lore : $b or, Superstitious beliefs in the west of Scotland within this centuryNapier, James
History
Folk lore : $b or, Superstitious beliefs in the west of Scotland within this century
Napier, James
Folklore -- Scotland; Scotland -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
This belief in the ability of witches to convert themselves into the
appearance of animals at pleasure was prevalent even during this
century. In 1828, or there-about, there died an old woman, who when
alive had gone about with a crutch, and it was reported of her, and
generally believed, that in her younger days she had the power of
witchcraft, and that one morning as she was out about some of her
unhallowed sports, disporting herself in the shape of a hare, that a man
who was out with a gun saw, as he thought, in the moonlight, a hare, and
fired at it, breaking its leg; but it took shelter behind a stone, and
when he went to get the hare, he found instead a young woman sitting
bandaging with a handkerchief her leg, which was bleeding. He knew her,
and upon her entreaty promised never to disclose her secret, and ever
after she went with a crutch. I have heard similar stories told of other
women in other localities, showing the prevalence of this form of
belief. As those who had dealings with the devil were believed to have
renounced their baptism or their allegiance to Christ, they never went
to church, and hated the Bible. Therefore, all who did not follow the
custom of believers were not only considered infidels, but as having
enlisted in the devil's corps, and such people in small localities were
kept at an outside, and suspected, being regarded as capable of any
wickedness, and untrustworthy. I remember several persons, both men and
women, against intercourse with whom we were earnestly warned, and were
instructed that it was not even safe to play with their children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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