She said she had passed a dreadful night, at times dreaming about the goodman, so dreadful that she could endure the misery no longer, and that she had now come to see him, and must speak with him. She was for a time denied admittance to him, but she became only the more pressing. Her request was at last granted. She spoke to him, was relieved, and the cow's milk was restored.—Told by an old couple living in the parish of Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire.
Scratching a Witch.—On the farm of K——, in the parish of P——, Aberdeenshire, lived the grandfather of the present tenant. For a considerable time after he entered on the farm his cattle did not thrive. He could account for this in no way, and at last he came to the conclusion that witch influence was at work. One morning he set out on horseback to consult "Sawtie," a noted man of wisdom in Buchan in those days. He was cordially received, and told his errand. "Oh, aye," said Sawtie, "an I can lat ye see the man's face it's deein ye a the ill, an y'ill nivver get yir nowt t' thrive til ye draw bleed o' him abeen the breath."
In somewhat vigorous words the farmer said he would soon do that, mounted his horse, and rode home as fast as possible. On reaching home and getting rid of his horse he went into the kitchen to fetch a knife to carry out his instruction—to "draw bleed abeen the breath."
The girl of the kitchen happened to be baking oatmeal cakes, and he seized hold of the "gullie" with which she was cutting each cake into quarters and turning them on the "girdle." With this he went straight to a neighbouring farmer, who was ploughing in a field not far off. He seized him, at the same time using a few strong words about his being a witch, and adding that he would soon take away his power of doing mischief to his cattle. Being a strong man, he threw him on the ground, held him down, and with the "gullie" inflicted on his forehead, just over the eyebrows, two cuts in the form of a cross. The cattle throve daily afterwards.[1]—Told by a man, aged 77, living in the parish of Pitsligo.
- ↑ See Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 181, by William Henderson; Popular Romances of the West of England, p. 315, by Robert Hunt, F.R.S.; Choice Notes, p. 83. Compare Folk-Lore Record, vol. v. pp. 155-7.
