Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-08-17

A rich lady sat up late one night cardlng
and preparing wool, while all the family and
servants were asleep. Suddenly knock was
| given at the door. and voice called, "Open
open !" "Who is there?" said the woman of
the house. II am the witch of the one horn, y
was answered. The mistress. supposing that
one Of her neighbors had called and re-
quired assistance. opened the door, and a
woman entered, having in her hand pair OF
wool carders, and bearing q horn on her fore
head, as if growing there. She sat down by
the fire in silence, and began to card the wool
with violent haste. Suddenly she paused,
and said aloud Where are the women !?
they delay too long" Then second knock
came TO the koor and voice called rs be-
fore, "Open open - The mistress felt
| herself constrained to rise and open to the
call, and Immediately second witch enter
| ed, having two horns on her forehead, and in
her hand Il wheel for spinning the wool.
| "Give me place" she said /; II am the witch
of the two horns," and she began to spin As
quick as lightning. And so the knocks went
on, and the call was heard, and the witches
| entered, until at last twelve women sat round
| the fre-the first with one horn, the last with
twelve horns. And they carded the thread.
| and turned their spinning wheels, and wound
and wove. all singing together an ancient
mistress of the house. Strange to hear and
frightful to look upon were these twelve wo-
men, with their horns and their wheels !; and
the mistress felt near to death, and she tried
to rise that she might call for help, but she
could not move, nor could she utter word
or cry, for the spell of the witches was
upon her. Then one OF them called to her
in Irish and said "Rise, woman, and make
us a cake" Then the mistress searched for
q vessel to bring water from tine well that she
might mix it with the meal and make the
cake, but she could find none. And they
said to her !: Take sieve and bring water
in it." And she took the sieve and went to
the well but the water poured from it, and
she could fetch none for the cake, and she
sat down by the well and wept. Then a voice
came by her, and said: Take yellow clay
and moss, and bind them together. and plas-
ter the sieve so that it will hold" This she
did, and the sieve held the water for the cake.
And the voice said again "Return, and
when thou comest to the north angle of the
house cry aloud three times, and say, The
mountain of the Fenian women and the sky
over it is all on fire And she did so. When the
witches inside heard the call, great and ter
rible cry broke from their lips, and they
rushed forth with wild lamentations and
shrieks, and fled away TO SLEEVE -namon,
where was their chief abode. But the spirit
of the well babe the mistress of the house to
enter and prepare her home against the en-
| chantments OF the witches if they returned
again. And first, to break their spells, she
sprinkled the water in which she had washed
her child's feet (the feet water) outside the
door of the threshold secondly, she took
| the cake which the witches had made in her
absence, of meal mixed with the blood drawn
| from the sleeping family. And she broke the
| cake into bits, and placed II bit in the mouth
| of each sleeper, and they were restored, and
she took the cloth they had woven and placed
| it half in half out OF the chest with the Iad-
| lock and lastly, she secured the door with n
great cross-beam fastened i'll the jambs, 30
| that they could not enter. And having done
| these things she waited. Not long were the
witches i'll coming back, and they ragged and
| called for vengeance. "Open open they
screamed. 'Open, ieet-water !" they scream
ed. "Open, feet-water Il cannot" said
the feet-water al am scattered on the
ground, and my path is down to the Lough. ="
"Open, open. wood and tree and beam, they
cried to the door, 81 cannot" said the door,
.'for the beam il fixed in the lambs and
have no power to move" "Open, open,
cake that we have made, and mingled with
blood" they cried again. II cannot, said
the cake, ''for am broken and bruised, and
my blood is on the lips of the sleeping child
rem" Then the witches rushed through the
air with great cries. and fied back to Sieve
namon, uttering strange curses on the spirit
of the well, who had wished their ruin. but
the woman and the house were left in peace,
and II mantle dropped by one of the witches
in her flight was hung up by the mistress as
"a sign of the nights awful contest. and this
mantle was In possession of the same family
from generation to generation for 500 years
after Di,Lim University Magazine.