So they played, but one man looked up, and saw through the window numbers and numbers of little demons weeding very quickly, and by mid-day the work was done.[361]
Mr. J. Linwood Pitts has also collected two stories bearing on the subject of the transformation of witches, both of which were related to him in perfect good faith by reliable witnesses.
Many years ago a Guernsey gentleman went over to Sark. While sitting on the cliffs above the Havre Gosselin he noticed a flock of birds, principally wild duck, circling round and round. He fired off his musket, but did not succeed in hitting any of them, or even, much to his astonishment, in frightening them away.
He thought there must be something mysterious about them, as wild duck are generally such shy birds, so he consulted a noted wizard, who told him that if he loaded his musket with a piece of silver having a cross on it it would take effect on any transformed witch. So he went over to Sark again with this silver bullet, and on returning to the Havre Gosselin again saw the birds. He picked out one, which seemed the finest of the flock, and apparently their leader. On firing at it he succeeded in winging it, though it disappeared, and he thought it had escaped.
That evening, on the return boat to Guernsey, a girl on board, who used to pay almost daily visits to Sark, and about whom there were many mysterious reports, appeared with a bad wound in her hand, about which she would vouchsafe no explanation, but looking very white and frightened. The man identified her in his own mind as the mysterious bird, but did not speak about the affair till long after.
[360] From Miss Le Pelley, who wrote it down word for word as it was said.
[361] Collected by Miss Le Pelley.
The Witch of Alderney.
A very respectable Alderney man used to tell old Mr. Barbenson, Wesleyan minister, about a noted Alderney witch.
He declared that one night, passing by her cottage, he looked in, and saw a blue flame blazing up, and the witch dancing in the middle of it, surrounded by little devils, also dancing.