Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/96

 8o Collectanea.

" One day some folk came to old Jenkyns about a witch ; they told 'im 'ow she used to turn herself into a hare an' stand on an old gate-post an' frighten folk terrible. Once there was some men goin' by an' they see'd 'er on the post, an' she called out ' Pee wow, pee wow ! ' and jumped down ; an' they all runned away. So old Jenkyns he says, 'You follow after her,' says 'e, her.' Now this old witch had put a spell on a woman in the village, so 'er husband an' 'er brother said they'd pay 'er out.
 * an' stick a knife into 'er third ^eel-mark, then you'll be rid of

" They see'd the old lady goin' along the road one day, an' so in the third heel-mark from where she was they stuck a knife into the ground. She set up such a screechin' you could a' heard it for miles. ' Oo told you to do that ? ' says she, an' begins sayin' things most awful. Then she went off limpin' like, as if a knife was put right thro' 'er foot. So you see old Jenkyns 'e knew 'ow to settle witches, 'e did. 'Twas a pity he never see'd them on the Buckle. I'll tell you about them.

" One day there was a man going down the Buckle pitch, an' as 'e was goin' along, all of a sudden 'e 'eard sumthin' a comin' down behind 'im, an' 'e looked an' there 'e saw an old 'ooman a comin' gallopin' down the pitch on a piece of an old hurdle. She come right past 'im, an' 'e tried to catch hold of the hurdle ; but no, 'e couldn't touch it, nohow. Then there came along another old hag, leppin' an' gallopin' on a ladder, an' behind her came another, as I'm alive, trundlin' on a common grindstone ! They came right past 'im, an' on to a public beyond the pitch, an' there they stopped, an' them that wasn't too frightened tried to shoot 'em, but no, nothing couldn't touch 'em, nobody could catch hold of that hurdle, nor the ladder, nor the grindstone neither ; an' presently they called, ' Pee wow, Pee wow ! ' an' was off again, so as nobody couldn't stop 'em."

" Well, now I'd like to have seen that," said Mrs. Briton. " I expect w/^'ll be practising on one o' them old grindstones, won't you, to see if you can get along same as the witches ? "

" Talkin' of witches," said Mrs. Pryce, " there was a wise woman way over the mountains some time ago, as I heard tell of. She could find anything that were lost. One day there was a man that had a very fine watch, an' 'e put it on the table one day while 'e went to clean 'isself, an' when 'e come back 'twas gone. So 'is mother went off 'way over the mountains to this old 'ooman. Jcs' as she