THE WITCH IN KENT 185 



and put the bottle in the fire. And all the time that 

 that was a-burning this 'ere old Mother White she kept 

 on a-running round the house screaming and trying to 

 get in. At last she did find a crack somewhere, and 

 ^ came in like a little spannel dog, and set her fore feet 

 up on the hearth, and then that wasn't no good." 

 " Cunning men " are sometimes very useful. Should 

 you lose anything, and fancy it is stolen, the cunning 

 man will make an image of the article appear on the 

 face of the thief. 



Belief in the mysterious shows itself in many startling 

 stories. One woman, when a girl at school, picks up 

 a bag of feathers which she finds in a wood. As she 

 carries it away it gets heavier and heavier, until she can 

 no longer mount the hill. So she turns, and, with 

 exceeding difficulty, begins to carry it back. And now 

 the bag gets lighter and lighter, until at last she restores 

 it to its original position with its gravity unchanged. 

 As she tells the story now, many big, strong boys were 

 unable to Hft the bag from the ground ; but, this 

 deducted, we may remember that she was a child then, 

 and conscience is a potent witch. Another' woman, 

 affer letting in, as she supposes, her drunken master 

 on a dark night, turns round, to find, not her master, 

 but a big black dog. She gives it a kick, and, to 



