re-claws (_zampe_, claws or paws), and said:

"'Fammi guarire
La mia creatura;
Altrimenti per te saranno
Pene e guai!'

"'Cure my child,
Or there shall be;
Trouble and sorrow
Enough for thee!'

"This happened once, and the next day the mother was sitting out of doors
with her child, when she saw a woman who was her intimate friend at her
window, and asked her if she would not wash for her her child's clothes,
since she herself was ill. But the other replied: 'I cannot, for I have
my hands badly cut.'

"Then the mother in a rage told this to other women whose children had
been bewitched or died.

"Then all together seized the witch, and by beating her, aided with
knives crossed, and whatever injuries they could think of, subdued her
and drenched her under a tower with holy water. And the witch began to
howl, not being able to endure this, and least of all the holy water!

"When all at once there came a mighty wind, which blew down the
witch-tower, and carried away the witch, and killed all the uncanny
animals which dwelt in the ruins. And unbelievers say that this was done
by an earthquake; but this is not true, for the witches were really the
cause (_chagione_) of its overthrow.

"And though many old things are destroyed and rebuilt, there are many
cats still there which are assuredly witches.

"And in the houses thereabout people often perceive and see spirits, and
if any one will go at night in the Piazza San Miniato fra le Torri,
especially where those old things (_chose vecche_) were cleared away, he
will see sparks of fire (_faville di fuocho_) break out, and then flames;
and this signifies that some diabolical creature or animal is still
confined there which needs relief (_che a bisogna di bene_), or that in
that spot lies a treasure which requires to be discovered."

* * * * *

I consider this as very interesting, because I most truthfully guarantee
that this specimen of witch-lore was written in good faith and firm
belief, and is not at all, like most of the tales gleaned or gathered
now-a-days, taken from people who got them from others who perhaps only
half believed in them. She who wrote it has no more doubt that
witch-cats prowl, and that wild-fire hisses forth from evil spirits in
durance pent 'neath the soil of San Miniato, than that the spirit of the
Arno appears as "a small white hand pointing tremulously upwards."

Ther