Nor was the adaptation of the figure less suitable to the purposes of superstition, by which it
was seized on, both for the purpose of driving away the evil one or forcing him to appear: all edged tools, or angular forms, gave complete mastery over him. Therefore, the best method of obtaining sight of the otherwise invisible spirits of the air, is by putting the head beneath the legs, the human fork or angle—the true Greek chele—as it is also used by Saxo-Grammaticus in a dialogue between Bearco and Ruta, to see Odin riding on the whirlwind:
"Bearco. At nunc ille ubi sit qui vulgo dicitur Othin
Armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello;
Dic mihi Ruta, precor, usquam si conspicis illum?
Ruta. Adde oculum proprius et nostras prospice chelas,
Ante sacraturus victrici lumina signo,
Si vis presentem tuto cognoscere Martem.
Bearco. Sic potero horrendum Frigæ spectare maritum," &c.
So boys in the north put their heads between their legs to see the devil looking over Lincoln: and I am indebted to a mention of my Shakspeare's Puck and his Folk-lore in the Maidstone Journal for the proof that this belief still exists in Ireland from an anecdote told by Curran, who, in the absence of a Währwolf on which to try its efficacy, would prove it on a large mastiff by walking backwards to it in this posture, "while the animal made such a grip at the poor barrister's hinder region, that Curran was unable to sit with any gratification to himself for some weeks afterwards."