Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/181

Rh the 18th] used to make it a matter of conscience when they read Holy Scripture, or talked on religious subjects, to speak of the devil; but when they had occasion to use the word in oaths, or in talk of a lighter sort, they were careful to say Divil."." The development of this double aspect of mana into the ordeal of itself bears witness to the deep-rooted feeling that the intention or the attitude of mind of the person who comes into contact with great power is of the most vital importance.

We have seen then that contact with mana may kill or cure, and that, on occasions where the contact is accidental and the agent lacking in seriousness of intention, the result is liable to be fatal. There are, indeed, two ways of dealing with hostile magic powers: (1) to avoid the possibility of contact, to conceal your name, to keep silence, to keep still, to conceal carefully the fragments of your clothing, hair, nails, etc.: (2), if contact is unavoidable, to get the upper hand by taking the initiative, by anticipating the contact, by asserting your own mana. Unless the victim gives himself away his mana will suffice for defence, and the enemy has no power over him. Here lies the basis of responsibility in temptation and the ruses by which victims are entrapped into giving themselves into the enemy's hands. Fairies could not seize any victim they chose; it was only those who went to sleep under a rock or on a green hill after sunset, or those who joined voluntarily in their levels or entered the fairy circle. If some adventurous wight penetrates to the land of the dead, to the realm of Faerie or to Hell, his return can only be prevented if he is unwary enough to eat pomegranate seeds, sit in the chair of Lethe, play on a demoniac bagpipe, consume the repast offered him, pluck a flower there growing, or perform some similar act of aggregation. Had True Thomas eaten the fruit, the Queen of the