Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/558

 2 1 o Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

who lived there. He said she was a witch, and had bewitched my gun. He said after I had named the tree as he directed I must shoot' at it, and listen to see if there- was any noise made at the house — for if I hit the tree the witch would be hurt, and then my gun would be all right.

" I did as he said, and at the first crack of the gun I heard the woman cry out, as if she had been hit instead of the tree. I went to the tree and found that it was hit. From that time on my gun was as good as ever, and my shooting was as reliable as it had ever been."

This same old man told Mr. Howard a story of

A BEWITCHED CHURNING.

" I was working for a man," he said, " whose wife was regarded as a witch. One day I saw her put a very small quantity of milk into the churn and go to churning. There was not over a teacupful, or such a matter, of it. But after a while I saw her put some white powder into it. She got a big lot of butter. I noticed where she put the powder, and the first chance that I got I stole some of it and went home.

" I asked mother to let me have some milk. She thought I wanted it to drink, and gave it to me. But I put it in the churn, put in some of the powder, and I got more butter than she usually got from a whole churnful of milk.

" On my way back to the farm where I worked I met a very small, dark-haired, red-complected man, that I had never seen before. He said to me, ' You have used some of my material, and now you must put your name in my book.'

" I asked him what he meant, and he said I had made butter with his material, and I 'd got to put my name down in his book. I hated like the mischief to do it, but was afraid of him, and decided to do what he said. So, following his directions, I scratched my arm until the blood came, and with it I wrote my name in a little book which he handed to me. He then went away, seeming to feel satisfied, and I have never seen him since."

The old man told Mr. Howard that the witches had several times turned him into a horse and ridden him off' to their night frolics.

He could remember distinctly looking at himself and thinking with pride what a fine horse he was.

He said that on one of these occasions they rode him through a lot of brier-bushes, and the next morning his hands were full of briers.

He also claimed to have learned the secrets of witchcraft, and de- clared that he could do anything with Mr. Howard that he pleased by simply thinking it, and offered to demonstrate his ability to do so by practical experiments.

�� �