Mæg simle se Godes cwide Ever may the God’s word[718] gumena gehwylcum, for every man, ealra feónda gehwone every fiend fleónde gebringan, put to flight, ðurh mannes múð, through mouth of man, mánfulra heáp the troop of evil ones, sweartne geswencan; the black troop, oppress; næfre híe ðæs syllíce let them never so strangely bleóum bregdað change their colours æfter báncofan, in their body, feðerhoman onfóð. or assume plumage. Hwílum flótan grípað, Sometimes they seize the sailor, hwílum híe gewendað sometimes they turn on wyrmes líc into the body of a snake scearpes and sticoles, sharp and piercing, stingað nýten they sting the neat feldgongende, going about the fields, feoh gestrúdað; the cattle they destroy; hwílum híe on wætere sometimes in the water wicg gehnǽgað, they bow the horse, hornum geheáwað with horns they hew him oððæt him heortan blód, until his heart’s blood, fámig flódes bæð, a foaming bath of flood, foldan geséceð. falls to the earth. Hwílum híe gefeterað Sometimes they fetter fǽges monnes handa, the hands of the doomed, gehefegað ðonne he they make them heavy when he æt hilde sceall is called upon in war, wið láðwerud against a hostile troop lifes tiligan: to provide for his life: áwrítað híe on his wæpne they write upon his weapon wælnóta heáp. a fatal heap of marks[719]. ----- Footnote 718: That is, the Paternoster. Footnote 719: Sal. Sat. pp. 143, 144. ----- Again we are told, in the same composition: “And when the devil is very weary he seeketh the cattle of some sinful man, or an unclean tree; or if he meeteth the mouth and body of a man that hath not been blessed with the sign of the cross, then goeth he into the bowels of the man who hath so forgotten, and through his skin and through his flesh departeth into the earth, and from thence findeth his way into the desert of hell[720].” ----- Footnote 720: Ibid. p. 149. -----