night?' 'Yes,' answered the other,
'I and my Stadler have, alas! but too well heard what caterwauling and
blaspheming has been going on between you; the neighbourhood can have
no peace whilst you live in so unchristian a way.' To this the said
Apollonia answered with grim anger: 'Ah me! if our Lord God will not
deliver me from this violent man, I shall call upon the devil to come
to my help.' Now mark what followed! On the said Saturday evening, when
Geisslbrecht's cows came home from the meadow, and she was about to
milk them, as was her wont, there came two birds like swallows, of
which at that time of year none are to be seen in the country; and they
flew swiftly round about her head. Before she could look up from under
the cow there appeared near her a tall man (but, alas! it was the devil
in human form), who said to her: 'Ah, my dear Appel, how much do I
sympathize with you, that you are in such trouble; your life is so hard
and wretched, and you have such a bad husband, who behaves so ill to
you, and who intends to make away with everything, so that nothing may
remain to you after his death. Do one thing, promise that you will be
mine, and behold I in return, will promise to convey you in this very
hour to a beautiful enjoyable place, where you shall for ever and ever
do nothing but eat, drink, sing, jump, and dance; in short, where you
will spend such days of pleasure as you have never seen all your life
long, for the kingdom of heaven is not such as your priests say; I will
teach you better.'

"These great promises of the embodied Satan induced the wretched woman
thoughtlessly to give him her hand, and say that she would become his;
instantaneously the said Apollonia became possessed by him, and
forthwith he suggested to her that she should hasten with him to the
loft; in the hope that she would there hang herself. Now when the
aforesaid wife of Geisslbrecht sprang up from the cows and hastened to
the house, the before-mentioned neighbours perceived her condition, and
called out to her husband: 'Oh, Ulrich, come! the old shepherdess (her
husband used to be called the shepherd) has lost her senses.' After
that, they ran towards her, and before they could reach her she laid
herself in the pond before the cottage door, with the intention of
drowning herself therein. When she had been taken out, many other
neighbours came to her, and brought the poor possessed woman into the
house again; she desired directly to be