WOMAN AS WITCH 23 



Tubingen. Here I will cite a few questions from a con- 

 fession. The supposed witch was asked if she had been 

 at a witch-dance, and replied, " Yes, for she was there 

 initiated as a witch." Who had taken her to it ? " The 

 old shepherd's wife had fetched her, and they had gone 

 with a broom." Did she mean that they had flown 

 through the air on a broom ? " Certainly not ; they 

 had walked to Etterle, and then placed themselves across 

 the broom, and so come on to the dancing green." So 

 they had not gone through the air ? " Certainly not ; 

 that required an ointment, which ought only to be 

 very rarely used." Who were on the dancing green? 

 " Witches and their sweetheart-devils " (Buhlteufeln). 

 Had she a sweetheart-devil ? " Yes ! the Sniveller." Did 

 she not fear this devil ? " No, he was only a sweetheart- 

 devil." Was there a difference between a sweetheart- 

 devil and other devils ? " Why, of course ! The sweet- 

 heart-devil was no real devil, only a witch's sweetheart 

 like the ' Sniveller/ who was old Zimmerpeterle's son." 



Here we have a most remarkable confession, show- 

 ing that the witch-gatherings were real meetings, that 

 the women took with them the symbol of the old hearth 

 or home goddess, the broom (or in some cases the fire- 

 fork, Feuergabel), that the devils were real men of the 

 neighbourhood. Further, that the broom was ridden like 

 a hobby-horse on to the dancing green. This riding of 

 broom or the pitchfork, or even the goat, should be 

 taken in conjunction with the riding of the hobby- 

 horse 1 or wooden goat round the village by the young 



1 This occurs in many places. Note particularly Grossgottern, in Thiiringen, 

 where, at Whitsuntide in the forties of this century, men dressed as women 



