Illustrated Tales Stories credit to ‘Essex Folk Tales’ by Jan Williams 1
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Elizabeth was twelve years old and her grandmother taught her to become a witch To help her with her magic, Elizabeth was given a spotted white cat, suitably called Satan. He was looked after well in a comfortable basket and fed with milk and bread. He was grateful and asked his mistress in a hallow voice...
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Like many folk of her time,she believed riches could be made from wool, and so Satan gave her twenty-eight sheep. But whether she was a bad shepherdess or whether Satan was whimsical with his gifts, the sheep vanished.
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‘Andrew Byes’ The cat advised she lay with Andrew first. It turned out to be bad advice. She got pregnant and Andrew refused to marry her. This decided her. It was easy enough to loose the child with the help of devilish magic. Satan gave his instructions and the child was aborted with the use of herbs. Not long after that, Andrew Byles’ business failed and he died of grief. It was best for Elizabeth to find another husband for herself.
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She found Mr. Francis and the couple had a daughter. Fifteen years on, however, Elizabeth was still not happy. It was what was known as an ‘unquiet’ marriage. There was a great deal of swearing and cursing in that house. Her daughter died and her husband became lame. His lameness, it seemed, was caused by Satan changing himself into a toad and leaping into the man’s shoes.
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The cat had done its work and Elizabeth was growing weary of him. She gave the cat to her sister Agnes Waterson in exchange for a cake. Agnes, always quarrelsome, now found herself falling out with neighbours.
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Satan was able to help her keep power over them – drown a cow, kill three pigs and three geese, let brewing and butter making be ruined and let her husband die.
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Satan, meanwhile, was living well on scraps of chicken, but even he had his problems. Agnes could not afford to keep the cat’s basket lined with soft wool, she had him changed into a toad that lived in a pot.
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But Satan had even more tricks in his new guise. Agnes’s daughter was hungry and begged for bread and cheese from her neighbour. Her request was refused.
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Satan now transformed himself into a more hideous form. According to the hysterical girl, the creature that appeared to her was like a black dog with an apes face, a short tail, a chain and a silver whistle about his neck, a pair of horns in his head, carrying in his mouth, the key of the milk house door. He terrified her, demanding butter and bringing into the house all sorts of things from the outside world, including a knife.
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As you can imagine, all of this was more than the neighbours could stand and they gave their evidence in court. The three women were found to be witches and were finally hanged in 1566.
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And what of Satan? Oh you wont see him on the streets of Hatfield Peverel today. He can still visit us in our nightmares, though, in one of his many shape-shifting disguises. Beware! He is at his most dangerous when he comes lolloping through our nightmares as a large white spotted cat.
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