Tale by Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd--Aikwood Castle--Black Pages in Livery--The Witch Henbane--Imps demanding Work--Michael Scott--Curious Sport--Dreadful Threat--Rats transformed into the form of Men--Inventor of Gunpowder--Witches' Operations--Summoning Evil Spirits to torture a Man--Latin the Language best understood by Satan and his Emissaries--Holy Signs and Charms--Two Captives--Effects of a Friar's Blessing--Magic Lantern--Man blown into the Air--Michael Scott's Sealed and Subscribed Conditions--Imps' Song--Spirits in the forms of Crows--Dreadful Storm--Warlocks' Hymn--Eildon Hill.
Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, whose memory will long be remembered in Scotland, particularly in the Border counties, introduces, in his _Three Perils of Man_, a party of travellers approaching Aikwood Castle, about nine miles from Melrose. The edifice scarcely seemed to be the abode of man. "Is that now to be my residence, Yardbire?" said the beautiful Delany. "Will you go away, and leave Elias and me in that frightsome and desolate-looking mansion?" "Thou art in good hands," said the friar. "But thou art perhaps going into a place of danger, and evil things may await thee. Here, take thou this, and keep it in thy bosom; and, by the blessing of the Holy Virgin, it will shield thee from all malevolent spirits, all enchantments, and all dangers of the wicked one." As he said this, he put into her hand a small gilded copy of the four Evangelists, which she kissed and put into her bosom. All the rest of the company saw the small volume, and took it for a book of the black art. Close to the castle gate there appeared three pages in black livery, although a moment before there was no living creature there. They seemed to have risen out of the ground. All at once the horses and mules on which the travellers rode became restive; at this, the elves set up a shout, and skipped about with the swiftness of lightning. Hearing the noise, the great master asked his only attendant, Gourlay, "What is the meaning of the uproar?" "It is only Prim, Prig, and Pricker making sport," replied the servant.
As soon as the mighty master knew of the friar and his companions being in the castle, he ordered them to be treated as spies. The old witch Henbane, who acted as housekeeper, and the three pages, were called into the presence of the wizard, to receive instructions from him. First the imps threatened Gourlay, and then rushed on Michael himself, as if they would tear him to pieces, and cried out with one voice: