Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/102

 an' they kinna be judge. He says they wi' fa' to the floor, as if they were deed, jist; an' then they wi' hae sich awfu' fits. They wi' foam an' bleed at the mou', and they wi' be a' knotted up, as it were; an' whiles their han's are clenched sae tight, nae ane kin open them; an' other whiles they are open, an' stretched out sae stiff nabodie kin bend them; an' he says it's jist gruesom' an' awfu' to hear how they'll groan an' scriech. An' sometime they'll be struck wi' blindness a' o' a sudden, an' grope aboot, an' their eyes wide open too. An' again they'll cry out they are tormentit; that some ane is stabbin' them wi' pins, or bitin', or pinchin', or chockin' them; an' they'll gasp for breath, maybe, an' turn black in the face, an' ye'd say they wa' deeing jist. Oh! Lord's sake! it wa' jist dreadfu' to hear him tellin' it, let alone seein' it. An' the folks say they maun be bewitched."

"And do you believe they are, grannie?"

"Gude sake! an' how should I ken? I hae na' seen them, na mair than yersel'."

"But, if they are bewitched, grannie, who do they think it is that bewitches them?"