Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/428

 420 TWELVE MEDIEVAL GHOST-STORIES July IX. Item de spiritu hominis de Aton 1 in Clyueland. Refertur quod sequebatur virum per quater viginti milliaria qui deberet coniurare et succurrere ei. Qui coniuratus confitebatur se fuisse excommunicatum pro re quadam [space]/ sex denariorum [space] sed post absolucionem et satisfaccionem factam requieuit in pace. In his omnibus ostendit se deus cum nil malum est impunitum r enumerator em iustum et cum nil bonum a conuerso irremuneratum. Dicitur quod idem spiritus priusquam esset coniuratus iactauit vi- uentem vltra sepem et suscepit eum ex altera parte in descensu. Qui coniuratus respondit Si f ecisses sic imprimis non tibi nocuissem f. . ter f 2 in talibus locis fuisti perterritus et ego feci hoc. Verso blank. The stories are continued on the last three pages of the volume (ff. 163 b, 164). I omit one extract ' de triplici genere confessionis ' and a story taken from a book, of which the cata- logue gives this synopsis. A servant guilty of adultery with his mistress, and suspected by his master, is taken to a ' vates qui habet spiritum phitonis ', but on the way he repents and lashes himself, whereby the spirit loses his memory. Caesarius of Heisterbach has many such tales. X. Quomodo latro penitens post confessionem euanuit ab oculis demonis. Contigit olim in Exon. quod quidam f ossor magnus laborator et come- stor mansit in quadam cellula spaciose domus que habebat plures cellulas cum muris intermixtis et ubi [ii : perhaps non nisi ?] vnum domicilium. hie autem fossor esuriens solebat sepius ascendere per quandam scalam in domicilium et amputare carnes ibidem suspensas et coquere et inde comedere eciam in quadragesima. Dominus vero domus videns carnes suas sic amputatas inquisiuit a domesticis suis de hoc facto. Negantibus autem omnibus et se purgantibus per iuramenta. minabatur ille quod vellet ire ad maleficum quendam nigromanticum et sciscitari per ipsum hoc factum mirandum. Quo audito fossor ille valde timuit et ibat ad fratres et confitebatur delict um suum in secreto et sacramentaliter absolue- batur. Prefatus quidem dominus domus vt minabatur ibat ad nigro- manticum, et ille vnxit vnguem cuiusdam pueruli et per incantaciones suas inquisiuit ab eo quid videret. Qui respondit Garcionem video coma tonsum. Cui dixit Coniures igitur eum quod appareat tibi in pulcherima forma qua poterit. Et fecit sic. Et amrmauit puerulus Ecce aspicio 1 ' Aton ', the catalogue suggests, may be Ayton. The ghost throws him over the hedge and catches him as he falls on the other side. So the Troll, whose (supposed) daughter married the blacksmith, when he heard that all the villagers shunned her, came to the church on Sunday before service when all the people were in the church- yard and drove them into a compact group. Then he said to his daughter, ' Will you throw or catch ? ' 'I will catch,' said she, in kindness to the people. ' Very well, go round to the other side of the church.' And he took them one by one and threw them over the church, and she caught them and put them down unhurt. ' Next time I come,' said the Troll, ' she shall throw, and I will catch if you don't treat her better.' Not very relevant, but less known than it should be. The word after ' nocuissem ' I cannot read : it ends -ter.