Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/86

58 on earth had its counterpart in the spiritual world, and therefore to say, "Sheep, take her," was equivalent to calling upon the spirit of that name. It may be observed, in passing, that to call out "Take it," or "Give it," without specifying who or what, is yet more dangerous, and gives power over the thing offered, not merely, as in the above instance, to one evil spirit, but to all evil spirits, be the object in question what it may—living or inanimate.

Another point taught by the story is the relation in which the Dervishes themselves stand to the Powers of Evil. Burton relates that the Devil once consorted with them for a week, after which he fled to the superior sanctity of his own regions. The families of the Shechs or Custodians of the Mosque "of Omar," as well as the wandering Dervishes, are considered to possess an hereditary gift of dealing with jinn and other spirits, and are resorted to by Christians and Moslems alike.

The Powers of Evil have, here as elsewhere, their favourite haunts, which include not merely dunghills and other such spots, as might be expected, but baths (which here, however, should perhaps be included among unclean resorts), springs, reservoirs (here known as "cisterns," as in our English Bible), oil-mills, soap-boilers, certain trees (also as in O.T. times), the threshold of the house, and indeed all doorways and entrances. When an Arab builds a house he places a coin, of which the value is unimportant provided it be of gold or silver, under the threshold, and with much ceremony sacrifices a cock, preferably a white one, sprinkling the door-posts with the blood, which is also allowed to run over the steps. Such a house is described