Devil; Witchcraft -- Great Britain; Witchcraft -- United States
S. A. S., writing in _Notes and Queries_, June 25, 1853, says, ‘A
cottager, who does not live five minutes’ walk from my house, found his
pig seized with a strange and unaccountable disorder. He, being a sensible
man, instead of asking the advice of a veterinary surgeon, immediately
went to the white witch (a gentleman who drives a flourishing trade in
this neighbourhood). He received his directions, and went home, and
implicitly followed them. In perfect silence, he went to the pigsty; and,
lancing each foot and both ears of the pig, he allowed the blood to run
into a piece of common dowlas. Then, taking two large pins, he pierced the
dowlas in opposite directions; and, still keeping silence, entered his
cottage, locked the door, placed the bloody rag upon the fire, heaped up
some turf over it, and, reading a few verses of the Bible, waited till the
dowlas was burned. As soon as this was done, he returned to the pigsty;
found his pig perfectly restored to health, and, _mirabile dictu!_ as the
white witch had predicted, the old woman, who it was supposed had
bewitched the pig, came to inquire after the pig’s health. The animal
never suffered a day’s illness afterwards. My informant was the owner of
the pig himself.
‘Perhaps, when I heard this story, there may have been a lurking
expression of doubt upon my face, so that my friend thought it necessary
to give me farther proof. Some time ago, a lane in this town began to be
looked upon with a mysterious awe, for every evening a strange white
rabbit would appear in it, and, running up and down, would mysteriously
disappear. Dogs were frequently put on the scent, but all to no purpose,
the white rabbit could not be caught; and rumours began to assert pretty
confidently that the white rabbit was nothing more nor less than a witch.
The man whose pig had been bewitched was all the more confident, as, every
evening when the rabbit appeared, he had noticed the bedroom window of his
old enemy’s window open! At last, a large party of bold-hearted men, one
evening, were successful enough to find the white rabbit in a garden, the
only egress from which is through a narrow passage between two cottages,
all the rest of the garden being securely surrounded by brick walls.
‘They placed a strong guard in this entry, to let nothing pass, while the
remainder advanced as skirmishers among the cabbages: one of these was
successful, and caught the white rabbit by the ears, and, not without some
trepidation, carried it towards the reserve in the entry. But, as he came
nearer to his friends, his courage grew, and gradually, all the wrongs his
poor pig had suffered took form and vigour in a powerful kick at the poor
little rabbit. No sooner had he done this than, he cannot tell how, the
rabbit was out of his grasp; the people in the entry saw it come, but
could not stop it; through them all it went, and has never been seen
again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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