of thy nose and eares, to the end that my cousin Lucius may be delighted
with the pleasantnes of the tale. To whom he answered, Madam in the
office of your bounty shall prevaile herein, but the insolencie of some
is not to be supported. This hee spake very angerly: But Byrrhena was
earnest upon him, and assured him hee should have no wrong at any mans
hand. Whereby he was inforced to declare the same, and so lapping up the
end of the Table cloath and carpet together, hee leaned with his elbow
thereon, and held out three forefingers of his right hand in manner of
an orator, and sayd, When I was a young man I went unto a certaine city
called Milet, to see the games and triumphs there named Olympia, and
being desirous to come into this famous province, after that I had
travelled over all Thessaly, I fortuned in an evil hour to come to the
City Larissa, where while I went up and down to view the streets to
seeke some reliefe for my poore estate (for I had spent all my money)
I espied an old man standing on a stone in the middest of the market
place, crying with a loud voice and saying, that if any man would watch
a dead corps that night hee should be reasonably rewarded for this
paines. Which when I heard, I sayd to one who passed by, What is here
to doe? Do dead men use to run away in this Countrey? Then answered he,
Hold your peace, for you are but a Babe and a stranger here, and not
without cause you are ignorant how you are in Thessaly, where the women
Witches bite off by morsels the flesh and faces of dead men, and thereby
work their sorceries and inchantments. Then quoth I, In good fellowship
tell me the order of this custody and how it is. Marry (quoth he) first
you must watch all the night, with your eyes bent continually upon the
Corps, never looking off, nor moving aside. For these Witches do turn
themselves into sundry kindes of beasts, whereby they deceive the eyes
of all men, sometimes they are transformed into birds, sometimes into
Dogs and Mice, and sometimes into flies. Moreover they will charme the
keepers of the corps asleepe, neither can it be declared what meanes and