30 



The Devil and Popular Legends. 



The Evil one plays a very prominent part in all local legendary 

 lore, but the Devil of the popular story is not however the Devil 

 of the Bible. He often seems on more or less familiar terms 

 with mankind, and the popular names for him, — ' Owd Nick,' 

 ' Owd Scrat,' and ' 'Th 'Owd Lad,' — indicate a very different 

 feeling towards him to that inspired by the Devil of the Scrip- 

 tures. Moreover, he generally gets the worst of a bargain, and 

 instead of making men his dupes, he is usually found to have 

 been taken in himself. In many places he is said to have made 

 the Roman roads ; Stonehenge is sometimes attributed to him ; 

 and there are many bridges in difficult positions which he is 

 supposed to have built. The reason why the Devil appears so 

 much in our legends is that he has taken the place of the 

 heroes, giants, and gods of the older mythology. When our 

 pagan forefathers adopted Christianity they often did so in a 

 very superficial manner. And this is not to be wondered at, 

 for besides the difficulty of explaining the mysteries of Christian 

 doctrine through the medium of half educated interpreters, or 

 in languages with which the missionaries were but imperfectly 

 acquainted, the work of conversion was frequently accomplished 

 by the sword. When a heathen people embraced the new faith, 

 they did not by any means cease to believe in the old one ; and 

 their Christian teachers instead of telling them their former 

 gods were myths to be disbelieved, taught them they were 

 demons to be shunned and feared. Thus the old gods were 

 dethroned and degraded into devils. As an instance, in many 

 places the exploits of Odin or Hackelberg are now attributed to 

 the Devil ; and he is often said to have thrown the erratic blocks, 

 that are found scattered about the country, in this reminding us 

 of Thor's labours. 



Eaising the Devil at Clitheroe Grammar School. 



According to a story related to the writer by an old lady, the 

 scholars of Clitheroe Grammar School once raised the Devil. It 

 was many years ago, when the school stood in the Churchyard, 

 and the Revd. Mr. Wilson was its head master. Mr. Wilson, who 

 then lived not far from the school, on the opposite side of the road, 

 was one day taking a nap after his mid-day meal, when he was 

 awakened by the sudden rising of a tremendous storm. The 

 wind howled, the lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, and the 

 rain came down in sheets. Suspecting there was something 

 wrong (for the Devil usually appears during a confusion of the 

 elements,) he hurried across to the school and found that the lads 

 had raised the Devil, in the orthodox way, by saying the Lord's 

 prayer backwards. There was his Satanic Majesty seated in the 



