The book Arran; - Cook Clan

FOLK LORE 299
to be either God or the devil that turned it ; to which she replied
that she did not think it was God, and she hoped it was not the devil
wherefore the minister laboured to convince her of the horrid sin
of this hellish art, and the heinousness of it, and how she had gone
to the devil to get knowledge of secret things, and how she might be
guilty of blaming innocent persons, and exhorting her to lay her sin
to heart and repent, she was removed. And the session taking her
confession into consideration, with the hatefulness of the wicked
practice, and after mature deliberation, having the advice of the
Presbytery, on the like affair, they do unanimously appoint her to
make her compearance before the congregation three several Sabbaths,
to give evidence of her repentance, and for the terror of others that
use such acts, they refer her to the civil magistrate, to be punished
as shall be thought fit by him, either corporally or pecunially ; and
she being called in again this was intimate unto her.'
The last person in the Shisken district who made use of a twig of
mountain ash to protect his cows from witchcraft, or the evil-eye,
was James M'A , a cottar, who died about forty years ago. It
was his custom to tie a piece of mountain ash to their tails with a
red string.
Once there lived at Beinnecarrigan a famous man of skill whose aid
was very frequently sought when beasts of pasture or horses had
been ' harmed ' through witchcraft. On one occasion a horse had
thus been injured, and a messenger was dispatched to him for a countercharm.
The man made a mixture and poured it into a bottle, warn-
ing the messenger on no account to withdraw the cork from the bottle
on the way. The daughter of Eve who had gone on the errand was
overcome on the way by an irresistible desire to know what the bottle
contained ; she took out the cork and tasted the contents. The
horse was sprinkled with the compound as directed, but without
any effect. Word was then sent to the cure-maker to come. On
arriving he at once stated that the cure given had been tampered
with ; and proceeded to make up a fresh mixture. When this was
done he passed it nine times round his head and applied it to the
horse, pouring a few drops into the ears ; what remained of the
mixture was thrown into the kitchen fire. In a few minutes the horse
;