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piece of worship at his return, according to the king's pleasure.
Now, during their stay in Italy, they chanced to be in a nobleman's house where they kept but few servants, because of a spirit that haunted the house for the space of two hundred years before that time, so that no servant could work any kind of labour in or
about the house for it, except cooks; for what they vulgarly called a brownie, it did all itself and would suffer no fellow-labourer to work along with it. On the next morning George got up pretty early, and called for water wash himself, then directly comes the brownie, with a bason of water in one hand and a clean clotn in the other. George perceiving him have such a pale ghostly countenance, and not to be an earthly creature, said, of what nation art thou? To which he answered in Gaelic, A countryman of your's, Sir. The ambassador smiled and joked George, telling him, it was a devil, and how could it be a countryman of his? O, says George, I will shew your the contrary of that, for the devil dare not stay in my country. George having washed himself, it came again to take away the bason and the towel; then says George, And how long is it since you left your own country? About two hundred and fifty years ago, replied the brownie. Then certainly, says he, thou art a devil and not an earthly creature. To which it answered:
I am what I am and a christian too. Then I am what I am to conjure you. says George.
He taking a handful of water and throwing it upon the old wither'd face of it and repeated the form of the words of baptism in Gaelic, thus, If thou be a christian thou art old enough to be baptized. No
