Narr

e in the byr

me couldna ra

lk' beast t

'd-rotted-o

e o' t

n of the "evil eye," a possession which at all times was deemed a certain means of bringing about supernatural ill. Other suspected workers of subtle cantrips whom the finger of suspicion was ready to point to were old c

d measures of protection and retaliation. The whole atmosphere of domestic life became charged with suspicious attitude towards one another, and when illness overtook either human being or four-footed beast, or some such minor happening as a heated stack, or a cow fa

still form a not inconsiderable part of the floating tradition p

are from western Galloway, and may be regarded

ay, muttering 'that maybe she would fen' without it,' and more talk to the same purpose. The farmer met her on the way from the house and heard her mutterings. On arriving at his house he asked what they had done to the old woman to put her in such a temper, and was told the circumstances. He had two young horses in a field beside the house, and going out of the house into the field he found one of them rolling on the ground seemingly in great pain. Of course he jumped to the conclusion that this was some of the witch's cantrips, and after trying to get it to rise, bethought himself of going after her and bring

it, the same old woman that cured the horse at The Clash happened to come in, and was informed of the trouble, and was asked if she could do anything, and was promised a piece of butter for her trouble. She went and looked at the cow, and said someone with an 'ill

orning, and one day took his courage in both hands and turned the witch at the gate. The old woman of course was sorely displeased, and told him that he would soon have plenty of 'beef,' and in the course of

iled him. Not caring to be troubled with her he made the excuse that his horse would not stand as it was young and very restive; but she said

diminutive woman knocked at the door and asked for a wee pickle meal. The good-wife answered in an off-hand manner that she had no meal for her, and told her to 'tak' the gait.' The old woman looked at her steadily for a short time, and then said, 'My good woman, you are strong and healthy just now, but strong and weel as ye are, that can sune be altered,

the Galloway Register for 1832, an almost forgotten periodical published at Stranraer. It is here set forth, as it minutely expresses and brings out

ave for

bairn was'na

, however, he wa

naething but me

ed sair-thought

had got a blin

the baby wad bra

lessing o' auld

in'd weel, that

past, but nae w

had soon after

greed that the ch

till auld Lucki

s sent for, and s

rannnum sair be

demeanour, every

ae guess'd that she

lang kept the

nweil, nor beas

e horses stood

the malt had the

byre fa'en dow

e fishing, the

e Lymeburn that bar

pride and rejoic

er glamour might h

house they aye g

gh the land was in

Kirkcolm to her

entioned the m

dame and to spea

tells how her bo

k say she's a

t the bairn and se

t the mill she w

ell thro' the mit

he bairn and wish

come about and b

Co'[1] the firs

came round, as au

me round Luckie

t witches were

used that she de

orm she had rais

raw fishing boa

at she and her

the sheep on th

t in concert w

the Mull, a fine s

een bound for

s gliding o'er

her rear, when

l head, sudden ro

breeze the gal

d whirls her in th

hags, on the hi

r caldron, or wi

they try, but the

trove, nor their p

l threat'ning the

one, have relin

rew labour'd the

sail would th

a tar, a regard

steer though the

weird-woman's s

e rocks, and soon'

some deeds of

gnew and Lymeb

es on-full conf

o' Wigton they're

aditions concerning witchcraft. In the south-west country the favourite animal-form selected was tha

a hare for the dinner on New-Year's Day. His mother told him to be careful he was not caught poaching. He had not been long in the moor when a hare got up, at which he shot repeatedly, but apparently without effect. At last he came to the conclusion that the hare was one of the numerous Kirkmaiden witches, and thought he would try the effect of silver. The hare had observed him, and a

mething gave a sound, not unlike the noise one makes when clapping mud with a spade, and immediately a hare hopped past her on the road, and went over the dyke into the garden. When she went round the end of the

or about to be sacrificed by witchcraft was believed by some subtle power to gain and absorb to itself some considerable part of the spirit or en

wood round his cow, setting it on fire. The flame began to catch hold of the victim, and its outer parts to consume, when a man, reputed to be a warlock, came flying over the fields, yelling horribly and loudly, conjuring the farmer to slake the fire. 'Kep skaith wha brings't,' exclaimed the farmer,

ople still living there was an old woman lived at Logan Mill, who whenever she had a mind to travel, go

was easily tired. When she found herself in this condition of exhaustion away from her home she was credited with e

rel, fully illustrates the dread in which the Kirkmaiden witches were held, and more particularly the

son's

dames may

heir nose

Elson's

y bragged

ld kill each

heir milk

gi'en Maggy'

' hae but

ps eac

n, a' roun'

might an

ll furnish f

r Maggy'

l fear the cl

that roun'

red up by c

you wi'

sea s

bleat the kno

at roam t

f Maggy's m

forth mair

r mare, by C

turn up

lock'd Meg's

the keys

p this

corresponding to and somewhat similar in trend to the first acts in the dram

long been in a state of disuse. Their curiosity being thus awakened, they approached to look through the chinks of the door, when to their astonishment they beheld a sight somewhat similar to that seen by 'Tam o' Shanter' at 'Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirk.' Among the dramatis person? who should they recognise but the minister's wife, whom they both knew well. She, along with a bevy of withered hags, was engaged in cantrips, being distinguished by a peculiar kind of garter which she wore. Next Sabbath the tailor elder demanded a meeting of the Kirk-Session; but the minis

specially concerned with the actual evil

the manse in the form of a bumble-bee, but was driven away by a chance pious exclamation. Another time he arrived in the form of a handsome young gentleman, fascinated the damsel, induced her to play cards with him on a Sunday, and bore he

amily of Shaws of Craigenbay and Craigend, Sir Chesney Shaw, is reputed to have been stran

rlin's

. Cop

from its name, might be taken to have some special link with the witchcraft of the district.

t countenanced by the well-known facts that Grierson was laird of Garryhorn and other lands in the neighbourhood of this ancient cairn, and that his party pursued and slaughtered some staunch Presbyterians in the environs of Loch Doon. Yet the foundation of the cairn can boast of a much older date than the persecutions under

e tradition tells that on these characteristic-looking pinnacles, the witches in their

n (Barr-nam-ban) and Cairnmon (Cairn-nam-ban) which, being in

lustrate a point of superstitious custom. It has here a wider mission in accentuating bewitchment in angry retaliati

, sought lodgings for the night. The wife of the carle, though rather unwilling to take in a stranger during the absence of her husband, who was on a journey, eventually granted his request. On her making excuse for the poverty of the milk she offered, when he tasted it he said the cows were bewitched, and for her kindness he would tell her what would break the spell, which was to put some 'cowsherne' into the mouths of the calves before they were allowed to suck. As the carle approached his house, when returning from his journey, he noticed a bright light in the hut of the old hag which had cursed him. Curiosity induced him to look in, when he saw a pot on the fire, into which she was stirring something and muttering incantations all the while till it boiled, when

rew and I

. Copland,

and tr

d caldron bub

narrative" are gathered from the sou

on. A row of hair ropes draped the lintel of the small windows at the front of the cottage, from which was suspended the whitened skulls of hares, and ravens, rooks or corbies. The interior was also garnished with dried kail-stocks, leg and arm bones, no doubt picked up in the churchyard, all arranged in the form of a star, and over her bed-head hung a roughly drawn circle of the signs of the zodiac. She was often to be seen wandering about the fields in moonlight nights with a gnarled old blackthorn stick with a ram's horn head, and was altogether generally regarded as uncanny. The old man who thus describes her person and surroundings told of two occasions in which he suffered at her hands. He was at one time engaged with a farmer in the parish of Kelton, and one day he and a son of the farmer set out for the town of Kirkcudbright with two heavily laden carts of hay, the farmer in a jocular way calling after them as they left, 'Noo Johnie, yer cairts are a' fair and square the noo, and let's see ye reach Kirkcudbright without scathe, for ye maun mind ye hae tae pass auld Jean on the wey. Dinna ye stop aboot her door or say ocht tae her, tae offend her. Gude kens hoo she may tak' it.' Johnie was of a very sceptical nature about such characters as Jean, and replied, 'Man, Maister M'C--, dae ye ken a wudna care the crack o' a coo's thumb gin a' the wutches ooten the ill bit war

ce that a bargain was at once struck. The farmer's wife was obliged to tell her small customers, Meg among the number, that she 'would not be able tae gie them ony mair butter as she had a freen in the trade who would need all she could spare, and more if she had it.' Meg was the only one to murmur at the information, and did so in no unmistakable terms. 'Aye, woman,' said she, 'y'er getting far ower prood and big tae ser' a puir bodie. Folk sood na' seek tae haud their he

ses usually marked these little havens, generally made up of an inn, a few fishermen's cottages, huts, and sail-lofts. On the Rerwick, or Monkland shore as it was then called, four or five of these little hamlets stood, some on the actual shore, others a short way inland. The incident which follows was founded upon the visit of three young sailors, who had for a day or two been living p

, an' wile yer twa-three bawbees frae ooten yer pooches, an' sen' ye awa' as empty as ma meal poke.' The youngest of the three, being elated and reckless with drink, commenced to mock and taunt the old woman, his companions foolishly joining him also in jeering at her, until soon she was almost beside herself with rage. Shaking her fist at them as they passed on she pursued them with threat and invective that brought a chill of terror to their young hearts, and made them glad to find themselves at last beyond the range of her bitter tongue. The tragic sequel, coincident or

ay however, he found that his plan was discovered, and that to persist in it would be to court disaster. Crossing the moor he observed the old woman busily gathering birns[3] and small whin roots. She was undoubtedly watching and waiting for him, and was the first to speak. 'Aye, aye, man; ye maun reckon me gey blin' no' tae see ye stavering oot o' the gate among moss holes tae get ooten my wey. Ye hae wat yer cloots monie a mornin' tae keep awa' frae my hoose, and for nae ither guid reason than tae save twa or three eggs or a morsel o' butter that ony weel-minded neebor wud at ony time gie an auld donnert cripple tae feed and shelter. Losh, man, but ye hae a puir, mean speerit. Yer auld faither wudna hae din ony sic thing, an' mony a soup o' tea a hae geen 'im when he used to ca' in on his hame-gaun frae the toon gey weel the waur o' a dram.' Annoyed at being challenged the farmer was not quite in a mood to laugh the matter off, and accordingly he, with some degree of temper, told the old woman to go to a place where neither birns nor whin roots were needed for kindling purposes. About a mile further over the moor he met a neighbour's boy hurrying along, making for his farm to ask him to come over to help his master to pull a cow out of a hole in the peat-moss. He at once went, as

r was not always an influence for evil i

er carters passed him, and only jeered both at the witch and the boy, when the former, to whom he had always been civil, came forward, and with a slight push adjusted the ponderous stone, which had slipped and was stopping the wheel.

, near Sanquhar. The following allusion is drawn from a recently published work on the folk-lore of Upper Nithsdale, and in it w

farmer's best cow would lose its milk; a mare would miss foal; or the churn would be spellbound, and the dairymaid might churn and churn, and churn again, but no butter would come. No class of people was safe. The malignant power of the witches reached all classes of society; and even the minister's churn on one occasion would yield no butter. Everything had been tried without effect. The manse of Sanquhar at that time was situated close to the river on the site now occupied by the farm-house of Blackaddie, and the good man told the servant girl to carry the churn to

carried off by the torrent and drowned. A young man going a journey started early in the morning, and, shortly after he set out, met one of the witches, when some words passed between them. She said to him, 'Ye're gaun briskly awa', my lad, but ye'll come ridin' hame the nicht.' The poor fellow got his leg broken that day, and was brought home in a cart as the witch predicted. An old woman named Nannie is said to

was the witch-wife of the Wyliehole, whose strange exploits and infernal doings w

incessantly with strange accidents and misfortunes, sometimes with nocturnal visits in the form of fierce wild cats and weasels, and not only disturbed their repose but kept them in cons

the popular measures resorted to, to count

as at all events all-prevailing. The mountain ash or rowan tree was believed to have a strong counter influence against unholy rite, and a very usual custom was to plait a branc

ee and re

tches to t

anti-burgher clergyman in these parts, who actually procured from a person who pretended to skill in these charms, two small pieces of wood, curiously wrought, to be kept in hi

ce in various ways, not least in the operation of "churning," a handful being added to the cream before even commencing. To this day old horse-shoes are nail

the water, popularly called "elf-cups," were also considered to pos

ople eyed askance, to put the thumb upon the palm of the hand and close t

ive, jacket-like garment, which had, at a certain mystic time of a March moon, been woven from the skins of water-snakes. These were popularly known as "warlock feckets." Silver alone could pierce such garments and seems to have possessed properties entire

on to the road in front of the man with the gun, who at once shot at it, but apparently missed. He fired four more shots at it, but the hare only jumped on the road as if making sport of them. Before he fired the ne

the supposed bewitchment of a cow, and it

red warm from the cow into a brass pan, and, every inlet to the house being closed, was placed over a gentle fire until it began to h

so long as the distillation of the charm was continued; and the further point is brought out that th

unrecorded story bea

once said the cow was witched, and told them of a way to find out the person who had done so. They got the cow to her feet, and took whatever milk she had from her, and put it in a pot with a number of pins in it, and set it on the fire to boil, with a green turf on the top of the lid. When the pot began to bo

atively rich in uncannie reminiscence, one of

ty of needles and pins in some milk drippings from the cow, when an old woman who was reputed to be a witch knocked at the window and begge

ed with love-making, strung togeth

pingle o

haurpan

art's-bluid

allow o'

kail an'

ese an chi

ddocks ch

n, and gel

wa, frae f

nty, frae t

stinking l

make a be

maun hae

ey hae fu

character, has evidently more spe

the blink

, when it

anches, yel

ps and be

k frae thr

es frae aff

es and blin

lls and wi

sweet, som

t wi' mil

kles, blui

s and nettl

s and gall

ttles, piz

nd fumart

rings, no

x, six

maid's cant

a vivid word-painting occurs of the popular estimatio

ken and despairing, goes to seek the aid of "

ole; I'll try so

··

es, a witch tha

antraips, and

t the night and

eils obedient

rs, o'er the ki

sten'd weans out

r livers in a

ins about the

does her prayers

omes with lumps

enom of black t

nsy pictures

he hates, an

racking pain

ns; the devilis

owk they repr

Shepherd-the modelling in clay of the object of resentment and the piercing and maiming of such effigies to compass corresponding bodil

we powr in this water

yning[5] an

it into

brunt both st

] brunt wi

le[7] upon

may be quoted from the confession of a reputed witch, "Janet Breadheid,"

he Hays of Errol (Perthshire)-a family represented in the south-west of Scotland by the Hays of Park, who inherited part of the lands of the Abbey o

learned ws, thryse ower, for destroyeing of this Lairdis (meall) children, and to mak his hows airles. It was werie sore wrought, lyk rye-bowt. It was about the bignes of a feadge or pow. It was just maid lyk the bairn; it vanted no mark of any maill child, such as heid, face, eyes, nose, mowth lippes, etc., and the handis of it folded downe by its sydis. It ves putt to the fyre, first till it scrunked, and then a cleir fyre about it, till it ves hard. And then we took out of the fyre, in the Divell's nam; and we laid a clowt about i

an example of a

meat in the

nd sych,[9] an

stroy hows

nd noat in t

sall come

est of the l

. It includes the prophetic utterings of a witch called Meg Macmuldroch at the "cannie moment" when Sir William Douglas of

l tide, and bein' lown and in the deid howe o' nicht, in Sandy Black's fey, I heard the sough o' the sea and the o'erswak o' the waves as they broke their bellies on the sawns o' Wigtown. There was a scaum i' the lift;

ith, the faith

rive to the b

f several witchcraft and old-world expressions, some of which have ju

id. His cow was weel fed, for ye ken 'the cow gives her milk by the mou', but the crone has milked the tether,' and his twa stirks are stannin' slaverin' at baith mouth and een, and its neither side-ill, quarter-ill, tail-ill, muir-ill, or water-ill, and its no the rinnin' doun, the black spauld, or the warbles, bu

he malign influence of the "uncannie e'en" these old women were propitiated by lavish presents of produce and provender, and so skillfully did many of them play their parts that they lived comfortably and bien at the expense of their neighbours, who were

auld Kimmer won

ld Kimmer maun f

aut, and Kimm

Kimmer, richt c

ead, and Kimme

ncannie e'en k

lowne, lest Kimme

e cross ye, an' G