Sorrow: At first she would come as a great tawny cat, and then again as a pig, or as a mouse, and once I remember she came as a black dog. And she brings fiends with her, hairy little black men, and these torment us. Of late I think she comes only in her own proper form. Sometimes it is hard to tell, for she can at will assume any shape. And sometimes a hand puts into the bed amongst us and pulls at our vitals.
Judge Lollimour: When this woman came to you and offered you a book to sign (as you claim), what would she say?
Sorrow: She would say, ‘Sign.’
Judge Lollimour: And no other word?
Sorrow: Sometimes she would say, ‘Sign, or I’ll squeeze your vitals for you.’
Judge Lollimour: But you, being good and Christian girls, would not sign?
Labour: Oh, sir, once a most awful and majestic voice spoke out, and I do believe it was the voice of God, and He bade us not to sign. Then the fiend flew away in a clap and did not return for a three-day.
Their mother said, yes, this was true. She herself heard the clap and it was three days before the affliction again commenced.
Judge Lollimour: And if you sign, what does she promise you?
Sorrow: Prettiest things to play with—little goats, no larger than a cat and a cat as small as a kit, and brooms to ride on through the sky—and her own pretty babe to play with.