Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of ScotlandWood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
History
Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of Scotland
Wood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
Folklore -- Scotland; Witchcraft -- Scotland
That on the said twenty-eighth day of December last you, the said Jean
Maxwell, told the said Jean Davidson that the Devil had rejected two
sixpences of the money formerly sent him in the tail of the shift; that he
insisted in lieu of the sixpences to have two shillings with heads on
them; and that he was up and stirring, and must be satisfied; and the said
Jean Davidson, having furnished the shillings, you, the said Jean Maxwell,
after stamping on the ground twice or thrice with your foot, pretended to
hand them to Satan as if he had stood behind you. That on the said
twenty-ninth day of December last you, the said Jean Maxwell, declared to
the said Jean Davidson that the Devil was still up, and that he must have
a man's shirt of plain linen, and in it a shoulder of mutton; and the said
Jean Davidson, terrified by your threats, gave you a check shirt of the
said Francis Scott's, her master, together with a Shoulder of Mutton, also
his property, tied up in the shirt; and you the said Jean Maxwell, tied up
these articles in your own Budget; and then, telling the said Jean
Davidson that all this was insufficient to lay the Devil, you asked her
for half-a-crown more; and the said Jean Davidson in confusion and fright
gave you a Dollar, which you said would do as well, and that at any rate
it must not be taken back being once offered; and then you the said Jean
Maxwell, went to the back of the byre at Little Cocklick aforesaid, and
returned and told the said Jean Davidson that you had laid the Devil so
that he could not come nearer her than the back of the byre, but cautioned
her strongly not to travel that way nor farther after it was dark. That on
the said first day of January last, you the said Jean Maxwell returned to
Little Cocklick aforesaid, and told the said Jean Davidson, that Hugh
Rafferton was to be with her on the Thursday ensuing, very lovingly and
ready to marry her, or do whatever she should ask of him: and moreover,
you the said Jean Maxwell declared that, if the said Jean Davidson used
Hugh Rafferton harshly, and refused to marry him, Hugh Rafferton would
lose his reason and go stark mad at the end of eight weeks; that in the
meantime however you must have another Guinea Note for the Devil, with a
faced shilling in it; and the money was furnished by the said Jean
Davidson; when you the said Jean Maxwell clipped or pretended to cut the
note, in small pieces with scissors, pretending that in this manner it was
to be presented to the Devil alongst with the faced shilling. That soon
after this, you the said Jean Maxwell, told the said Jean Davidson that
the first note was not accepted, and that you must have an Old and very
Tattered Note and three Shillings more, which having been furnished by the
said Jean Davidson, you the said Jean Maxwell bound up the Note with paper
and lint, and having stuck it with nine pins gave it to the said Jean
Davidson who threw it into the fire; and you the said Jean Maxwell, after
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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