Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/90

80 pleasure. When the mother returned home and was washing her child she heard the melancholy mewing of a cat near the house, and was now thoroughly convinced of the truth of the wizard's statements. Margaret Klein, an estimable maiden of twenty-two, was on this account decried and shunned by nearly every person in the village, and was finally compelled, for the sake of her good name, to prosecute Frau Frenzel, who was sent to jail for five days and condemned to pay the costs of the trial.

It is hardly necessary to multiply instances of this kind. They are of constant occurrence and endlessly repetitious, the tautological echo of old superstition, a striking illustration of the persistency of tradition and the poverty of the popular imagination. The question as to when the last witch was burned has been frequently discussed by historians, who differ as to the exact date, but generally agree that it was not later than the second half of the eighteenth century. As a matter of fact, a woman named Agrafena Ignatyeva was burned as a witch by her fellow-countrymen at Vratshevo, in the Russian province of Novgorod, in 1879, if not with the co-operation at least with the collusion of the local authorities, and we have no reason to suppose that she was or will be the last victim of this cruel delusion.

The unpleasant smell of garlic which so often offends the nostrils of travelers in Servia and other countries of eastern and southern Europe is due in a great measure to the notion that witches have a strong aversion to this plant. It is chiefly for this reason that the common people not only eat it, but also rub themselves and their children with it, especially on going to bed, so as not to be visited by any wandering night hag who might otherwise strike the sleeper on his breast with her magic wand, open his side, and devour his heart; the wound would then close up without leaving any scar to show the cause of his death.

In some districts of Dalmatia it is still customary to throw all the women into the water on a specified day to see whether they will sink or swim. A rope is attached to each one in order to save from drowning those who prove their innocence by sinking. The witches who float are also pulled out, and after being rather roughly handled are made to promise to renounce the devil on pain of being stoned. The Dalmatians are evidently of Heine's opinion, that

 "Geuau bei Weibern Weiss man nicht wo der Engel Aufhört und der Teufel anfängt."

Hence they deem it necessary to apply their simple but decisive test occasionally, and the prevalence of an epidemic or epizooty is pretty sure to be followed by a general immersion of the fairer and frailer sex.