Mary Schweidler, $b the amber witch. $c The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. by Wilhelm Meinhold
page 130 of 200 (65%)
page 130 of 200 (65%)
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7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about _Rea_, wherefore she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a natural mole, and it was a lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one contradiction into another about it, as stated in the _acta_. 8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched Paasch his little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay, even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a great spite against _Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was "a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.). 9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest _gravamen_, inasmuch as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as _Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not |
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