3^8 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



In the Library of Zurich, Switzerland, there is a 

 painting belonging to the 14th or 15th century, repre- 

 senting St Antony of Padua and St Sebastian, with a 

 farrier between them shoeing a vicious horse, one foot of 

 which rests in his hand, perhaps in consequence of some 

 magical spell induced by a witch who is present, and 

 whose nose the farrier pinches in an enormous pair of 

 tongs, as a punishment for her witchcraft. 



Travelling from the Anglo-Saxon period to other 

 lands and recent times, we come to Abyssinia, where the 

 trade of blacksmith is hereditary, and considered as more 

 or less disgraceful, from the fact that blacksmiths are, 

 with very rare exceptions, believed to be all sorcerers, and 

 are opprobriously called ' Bouda.' They are supposed to 

 have the power of turning themselves into hycEnas, and 

 sometimes into other animals ; as being, in fact, either 

 tormented by or allied with evil spirits, like the Middle- 

 Age saints. 



' I remember a story of some little girls, who, having 

 been out in the forest to gather sticks, came running 

 back breathless with fright ; and being asked what was the 

 cause, they answered that a blacksmith had met them, 

 and entering into conversation with him, they at length 

 began to joke him about whether, as had been asserted, 

 he could really turn himself into a hycrna. The man, 

 they declared, made no reply, but taking some ashes, 

 which he had with him tied up in the corner of his cloth, 

 sprinkled them over his shoulders, and, to their horror 

 and alarm, they began almost immediately to perceive 

 that the metamorphosis was actually taking place, and 

 that the blacksmith's skin was assuming the hair and 



