Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/183

Rh should say to them "Let the wolves eat you," as is usual with the reindeer Chukchi, he is considered to have promised his entire flock to the kelat, to whom the wolves are said to be akin, and the promise must be redeemed by slaying several of his best animals."

In possession by the Devil is to be found just the same responsibility on the part of the victim. He must have let the fiend within the circle of his defence. He must have put himself in the weaker position. The disciples suppose that an unfortunate cured by Jesus must have committed in his own person or that of his parents some grievous sin. So those who omit obvious precautions are liable to possession. "A Nunne did eat a lettice without grace or signing it with the signe of the cross, and was instantly possessed (sine cruce atque sanctificatione sic a demone obsessa. dial. Greg. pap. cap 9). Durand, lib 6. Rational, cap. 86. num. 8, relates that hee saw a wench possessed in Bononia with two Divells by eating an unhallowed Pomegranet, as she did afterwards confess, when she was cured by exorcismes." Exactly analogous is the case of the savage who leaves his fragments lying about. His carelessness puts him in the weaker position. It is his own fault that his enemy can come to close quarters with him. The case of the name is particularly instructive from our point of view. Of course, it is dangerous to let people get hold of your name, which they can use as easily as a piece of your clothes as an instrument of secret magic for your undoing. But the most fatal thing of all is to tell your name yourself. "In the west of Ireland," says Dr.