THE WITCH IN KENT 179 



don't know as ever I did see one quite so pretty \ 'tis 

 all over curls.' Well, he hadn't been gone out again 

 not ten minutes afore back he comes running. 

 * Mother,' he says, 'give me the knife quick; Dame 

 Becket's got at that lamb ; he's a-lying on his back 

 now a-kickin' his legs up.' Faather, he run out with 

 the knife, and cut that lamb's head off quick^ he did. 

 You blef Dame Becket went off to the doctor with a 

 hem an' all bad throat, and she didn't terrify him no 

 more. You see, sir," adds my informant, by way of 

 explanation, " you see, sir, he killed that afore it was 

 dead." But the force of the instance lies in the fact 

 that it illustrates a prevalent belief that witches have 

 the power of entering into animals, and that by 

 destroying or wounding the thing possessed, you in 

 some measure weaken them. 



Akin to this idea, but distinct from it, is another — 

 namely, that it is a common resource with witches to 

 change themselves into animals. A dog (usually a \ 

 " spannel dog "), an owl, a hare — many are the forms j 

 of metamorphosis, the last perhaps the commonest. 

 You will be told of a hare running in and out 

 among the haymakers as they sit at dinner, and of 

 how they all try to hit it, but in vain ; and *' they 

 know what that means," and know, too, that if 



