Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/164

 154 Charm against file Child-stealing Witch.

whom the mad priest Jeremiah had written. This Jeremiah wasthcfamousfounderof the newManichaean sect in Bulgaria, known as that of the Bogomils, from whom all the European heretical sects took their origin, such as the Albigenses, the Kathars, and others. He is specially credited with the authorship of such a conjuration in which Sisynios, the archangel Michael, and some demons are concerned. I have no doubt that it refers to this conjuration against the female child-stealing demon and to those charms which have grown out of it, such as the old charm against fever in Russia. As some of the primitive elements have been retained in that charm, I translate it here as given by Maikov, who enumerates sundry variants from various parts of Russia. " Close to the Red Sea stands a marble column, on it sits the holy Sisynie, and he sees the waters of the sea mount, lifted up to the Heavens ; from the midst of the waters came out twelve women with long plaits, who say, ' We are the fevers, the daughters of Herod.' And the saint asked, ' Accursed devils, why do you come out ? ' They replied, ' We have come to torture mankind ; those who do not rise up early and say their prayers, who do not keep the festivals, and who indulge in eating and drinking very early in the mornings.' Saint Sisynie prayed to God and said, * Send, O Lord (thy messengers?), and save the world from these accursed devils.' And God sent two angels, Sihail and Anas, and the four Evangelists. They took hold of the fever-demons and beat them with fiery rods, and in- flicted on them daily four thousand wounds. So they began to cry and to say, ' Do not torture us any longer, for wher- ever we shall see your holy names, or wherever they will hold your holy names in veneration, we will not approach them a distance of three miles.' And the holy Sisynie asked, ' What are your names ? ' The first replied, 'My name is the "Trembler." The second said, 'My name is "Heating," as I cause the human body to burn as with fire.' The third said, 'My name is "Icy," for I cause the human body to be freezing, &c.' "