round borings equal to the thickness of the cord; then he collected sand from the river bed and placed it therein, so that when the sun arose and entered into the cylinder the sand appeared in the sunlight like unto ropes." [1]
Of Michael Scott, a note to The Lay of the Last Minstrel says:
"Michael Scott was, once upon a time, much embarrassed by a spirit for whom he was under the necessity of finding constant employment." Two tasks were accomplished in two nights by the spirit. "At length the enchanter conquered this indefatigable demon, by employing him in the hopeless and endless task of making ropes out of sea-sand."[2]
A passage in the Denham Tracts speaks of Michael Scott as famed
"for having beat the devil and his myrmidons by the well-known device of employing them to spin ropes of sand, denying them even the aid of chaff to supply some degree of tenacity . . . ."[3]
The wild Cornish spirit, Tregeagle, brings life into these somewhat tame accounts of futile industry. The wandering soul of a tyrannical magistrate, Tregeagle was bound to fruitless labour on coast or moor; his toil prevented and his work destroyed by storm and tide. His cries sounded above the roar of winter tempests; his moanings were heard in the soughing of the wind; when the sea lay calm his low wailing crept along the coast. More than one task was laid upon this tormented soul. On the proposal of a churchman and a lawyer it was agreed that he should be set to empty a dark tarn on desolate moors, known as Dosmery (or Dozmare) Pool, using a limpet-shell with a hole in it. Driven thence by a terrific storm, Tregeagle, hotly pursued by demons, sought sanctuary in the chapel of Roach Rock. From Roach he was removed by powerful spell to the sandy shores of the Padstow district, there to make trusses of sand and ropes of sand with which to bind them.[4]
