ve vold be owt of thes shapes, we say:
“Catt, catt, (or craw, craw,) [God] send the a blak shott! (or thraw)
I wes a catt (or craw) just now,
Bot I sal be [in a woman’s liknes evin now.]
Catt, catt, (or craw, craw,) God send the a blak shot! (or thraw).”
‘Giff we in the [shape of an catt, an craw, an] haire, or ony uther liknes, &c., go to any of our neighbouris howssis, being Witches, we will [say]:
“[I (or we) conjure] the Goe with ws (or me)!”
‘And presentlie they becom as we ar, either cats, hearis, crowes, &c., and goe [with ws whither we wold. Quhan] we wold ryd, we tak windlestrawes, or bean stakes,81 and put them betwixt owr foot, and say thryse:
‘“[Horse] and hattok, horse and goe,
Horse and pellatis, ho! ho!”
‘And immediatlie we flie away whair [evir we wold]; and least our husbandis sould miss vs owt of owr beddis, we put in a boosom,82 or a thrie [leggit stoole besyde thame] and say thryse ower:
“I lay down this boosom (or stooll) in the Devillis name Let it not steir ... [Quhill I] com again!”
‘And immediatlie it seimis a voman, besyd our husbandis.
‘Ve can not turn in the lik[nes of ...] Quhen my husband sold beeff, I used to put a swellowes feather in the hyd of the beast, and [say thryse]:
“[I] putt out this beeff in the Divellis nam, That meikle silver and good pryce com hame!”
‘I did ewin so [quhenevir I putt] furth either horse, noat,83 vebs,84 or any uther thing to be sold, and still put in this feather, and said the [samin wordis thryse] ower, to caws the comodities sell weill.
“Our Lord to hunting he [is gone]
... marble stone,
He sent vord to Saint Knitt....”
Quhan we vold heall ony sor or brokin limb, we say thryse ower
“He pat the blood to the blood, Till all up stood!
The lith to the lith, Till all look with;
Owr Ladie charmed her deirlie Sone, with hir tooth and her townge,
And her ten fingeris——
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Halie Ghaist!”
‘And this we say thryse ower, straiking85 the sor, and it becomes heall.
‘2dli For the Bean-straw,86 or pain in the heaunce,87 Wee ar heir thrie Maidens charming for the bean-straw; ye man of the Midle-earth, blew beaver, land-feaver, maneris of stooris, The Lord fleigged88 the Feind with his holy candles and yeird foot stone!—Thair she sittis, and heir she is gon!—Let hir nevir com heir again!
3dli For the Feaveris, we say thrise ower, I forbid the qwaking-feavers, the sea-feaveris, the land-feaveris, and all the feaveris that ewir God ordained, owt of the head, owt of the heart, owt of the bak, owt of the sydis, owt of the kneyis, owt of the thieghes, fra the pointis of the fingeris, to the nebes89 of the toes; owt fall the feaveris goe, [som] to the hill, som to the hap, som to the stone, som to the stok. In Saint Peiteris nam, Saint Paullis nam, and all the Saintis of Hevin: In the nam of The Father, the Sone, and The Halie Gost!
‘And when we took the frwit of the fishes from [the] fisheris, we went to the shore, before the boat wold com to it; and we wold say, on the shore syd, thrie seuerall tymes ower,
‘“The fisheris ar gon to the sea,
And they vill bring hom fishe to me;
They will bring them hom intill the boat,
Bot they sall get of thaim bot the smaller sort!”
So we either steall a fish, or buy a fish, or get a fish from them [for nowght] an or ma.90 And with that we haw all the fruit of the heall fishes in the boat; and the fishes that the fishermen thamselues will haw, will be bot froath &c.
‘The first woyag that ewer I went with the rest of owr Covens wes to Plewghlandis; and thair we shot an man betwixt the plewgh-stiltis, and he presentlie fell to the ground, wpon his neise and his mowth; and then the Divell gaw me an arrow, and cawsed me shoot an voman in that fieldis; quhilk I did, and she fell down dead. In Winter 1660, quhen Mr. Harie Forbes, Minister at Aulderne, was seik, we maid an bagg of the gallis, flesh, and guttis of toadis, pickles of bear,91 pairingis of the nailis of fingeris and toes, the liewer of ane hair, and bittis of clowtis. We steipit this all together, all night among watter, all haked92 throw uther. And whan we did put it among the water, Satan wes with ws, and learned ws the wordis following, to say thryse ower. They ar thus.
‘“He is lying in his bed,—he is lyeing seik and sair; Let him lye intill his bed two monethes and [thrie] dayes mair! 2li. Let him lye intill his bed—let him lye intill it seik and sore; Let him lye intill his bed, monthis two and thrie dayes mor! 3li. He sall lye intill his bed, he sall lye in it seik and sore; He sall lye intill his bed, two monethis and thrie dayes mor!”
‘Quhan we haid learned all these wordis from the Devill, as said is, we all fell down [wpon owr] kneis, with owr hear down ower owr showlderis and eyes, and owr handis lifted wp, and owr eyes [stedfastlie fixed wpon] the Divell; and said the forsaidis wordis thryse ower to the Divell, striktlie, against Maister Harie Forbes [his recowering from the said seiknes]. In the night tym we cam into Mr. Harie Forbes chalmer, quhair he lay, with owr handis all smeared [... out] of the bagg to swing it upon Mr. Harie, quhair he wes seik in his bed; and, in the day tyme [... ane of owr] nwmber, quho wes most familiar and intimat with him, to wring or swing the bagg wpon the said Mr. Harie, as we could not prevaill in the night tym against him; quhilk wes accordinglie done.’
‘Johne Taylor and his wyff, Bessie, and Margret Wilsones, and I, maid a pictur for the Laird of Parkis maill children. Johnne Taylor brought hom the clay in his plaid newk;93 his wyff sifted it; we poured in water in a cowg94 amongst it, and wrought it sor,95 and maid a pictor of it, lyk a child, als big as a pow. It vanted no mark of the imag of a bairn, eyes, nose, mouth, little lippies,
