Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland / Tales and Traditions Collected Entirely from Oral Sources

by John Gregorson Campbell

A woman in Islay worked wonderful cures with the following. It is a wretched specimen of superstition, but is given to show how ancient creeds accommodate themselves to modern modes of thought. The ancient charm, instead of being entirely abandoned, became a sort of prayer:

“If eye has blighted,

Three have blessed,

Stronger are the Three that blessed,

Than the eye that blighted;

The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;

If aught elfin or worldly has harmed it,

On earth above,

Or in hell beneath,

Do Thou, God of Grace, turn it aside.”