iously enough, the poor old woman in question that
night fell and broke her leg. This was considered as conclusive that she
was the witch that had simulated the form of a cat. This notion is very
prevalent on the Continent. It is said that witch-cats have a great
hankering after beer.[376] Witches are adepts in the art of brewing, and
therefore fond of tasting what their neighbors brew. On these occasions
they always masquerade as cats, and what they steal they consume on the
spot. There was a countryman whose beer was all drunk up by night
whenever he brewed, so that at last he resolved for once to sit up all
night and watch. As he was standing by his brewing pan, a number of cats
made their appearance, and calling to them, he said; "Come, puss, puss,
come, warm you a bit." So in a ring they all sat round the fire as if to
warm themselves. After a time, he asked them "if the water was hot."
"Just on the boil," said they; and as he spoke he dipped his
long-handled pail in the wort, and soused the whole company with it.
They all vanished at once, but on the following day his wife had a
terribly scalded face, and then he knew who it was that had always drunk
his beer. This story is widely prevalent, and is current among the
Flemish-speaking natives of Belgium. Again, a North German
tradition[377] tells us of a peasant who had three beautiful large cats.
A neighbor begged to have one of them, and obtained it. To accustom it
to the place, he shut it up in the loft. At night, the cat, popping its
head through the window, said, "What shall I bring to-night?" "Thou
shalt bring mice," answered the man. The cat then set to work, and cast
all it caught on the floor. Next morning the place was so full of dead
mice that it was hardly possible to open the door, and the man was
employed the whole day in throwing them away by bushels. At night the
cat again asked, "What shall I bring to-night?" "Thou shalt bring rye,"
answered the peasant. The cat was now busily employed in shooting down
rye, so that in the morning the door could not be opened. The man then
discovered that the cat was a witch, and carried it back to his
neighbor. A similar tradition occurs in Scandinavian mythology.[378]
Spranger[379] relates that a laborer, on one occasion, was attacked by
three young ladies in the form of cats, and that they were wounded by
him. On the following day they were found bleeding in their beds. In
Vernon,[380] about the year 1566, "the witc