THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT CONCLUSION 219 



the old wives in Scotland muttered ere they went 

 to sleep. A less adroit wizard would have simply 

 repeated the Paternoster, and thus furnished the 

 excuse sought by the demon, who would then 

 have hurled his rider into the sea. Michael, 

 however, contented himself by sternly replying ; 

 ' What is that to thee ? Mount Diabolus, and 

 fly ; ' and, the demon being thus outwitted and 

 compelled, they presently arrived in Paris. Find- 

 ing the French King unwilling to hear his repre- 

 sentations, Scot asked him to delay giving a final 

 refusal till he should have heard the horse stamp 

 three times. At the first hoof-stroke, all the bells 

 in Paris rang. At the second, three towers in the 

 palace fell ; and the horse had raised his foot to 

 stamp once more, when the King cried, ' Hold/ and 

 yielded him to do as his cousin of Scotland desired. 



A more trivial and domestic tale is that which 

 relates how Michael met and overcame the Witch 

 of Falsehope. 1 He was then residing at Oakwood 

 Tower, and, hearing much talk of this woman's 

 craft, he set forth one day to prove her. The witch 

 was cunning, and denied that she had any skill in 

 the black art, but, when Scot absently laid his 

 staff of power upon the table, she caught it to her 

 and used it upon him with such effect that he 

 became a hare ; in which shape he was hotly coursed 

 by his own hounds. Taking refuge in a drain, he 

 had just time to reverse the spell and resume his 

 own form before the hunt reached his hiding-place. 

 Thus Michael returned to Oakwood with a high 

 impression of his neighbour's skill and malice, and 

 fully resolved to have his revenge at the first 



1 Lay of the Last Minstrel, Note Y. 



