170 LEGEND OF KNOCK-A-THAMPLE. 



to be made a " mitred abbot." A coffin was forthwith pre- 

 pared, and, with " maimed rites/' the murderer was committed 

 to the earth. 



That masses were requisite to purify the scene of slaughtei 

 was indisputable and with the peasants who had nocked 

 from the neighbouring villages, the Monk determined to pass 

 that night in prayer. The blood-stains were removed from the 

 fl oor the corpse had been laid in consecrated earth and the 

 office had commenced at midnight, when suddenly, a rushing 

 noise was heard, as if a mountain-torrent was swollen by the 

 bursting of a thunder-cloud. It passed the herdsman's cabin, 

 while blue lights gleamed through the casement, and thunder 

 pealed above. In a state of desperation, the priest ordered 

 the door to be unclosed, and by the lightning's glare, a herd of 

 red deer was seen tearing up the Pedler's grave ! To look 

 longer in that blue infernal glare was impossible the door 

 was shut, and the remainder of the night passed in penitential 

 prayer. 



With the first light of morning, the Monk and villagers 

 repaired to the Pedler's grave, and the scene it presented 

 showed that the horrors of the preceding night were no 

 illusion. The earth around was blasted with lightning, and 

 the coffin torn from the tomb, and shattered in a thousand 

 splinters. The corpse was blackening on the heath, and the 

 expression of the distorted features was more like that of a 

 demon than a man. Not very distant was the grave of his 

 beautiful victim. The garland which the village girls had 

 placed there was fresh and unfaded ; and late as the season 

 was, the blossom was still upon the bog-myrtle, and the 

 heath-flower was as bright and fragrant as though it were 

 the merry month of June. " These are indeed the works 

 of hell and heaven," ejaculated the gray friar. " Let no hand 

 from this time forth pollute itself by touching yon accursed 

 corpse." 



Nightly the same horrible noises continued. Shriek and 

 groan came from the spot where the unburied murderer was 

 rotting, while by day the hill-fox and the eagle contended who 

 should possess the body. Ere a week passed, the villain's 

 bones were blanching in the winds of heaven, for no human 

 hand attempted to cover them again. 



From that time the place was deserted. The desperate 

 noises, and the frequent appearance of the Pedler's tortured 



