st words were uttered quickly, and with a sort of scream, and
were supposed to be highly agreeable to Satan, who loved to be called a
king. If he did not appear immediately, it was necessary to repeat a
further exorcism. The one in greatest repute was as follows, and was to be
read backwards, with the exception of the last two words:

"Anion, Lalle, Sabolos, Sado, Pater, Aziel
Adonai Sado Vagoth Agra, Jod,
Baphra! Komm! Komm!"

When the witch wanted to get rid of the devil, who was sometimes in the
habit of prolonging his visits to an unconscionable length, she had only
to repeat the following, also backwards, when he generally disappeared,
leaving behind him a suffocating smell:

"Zellianelle Heotti Bonus Vagotha
Plisos sother osech unicus Beelzebub
Dax! Komm! Komm!"

This nonsensical jargon soon became known to all the idle and foolish boys
of Germany. Many an unhappy urchin, who in a youthful frolic had repeated
it, paid for his folly the penalty of his life. Three, whose ages varied
from ten to fifteen, were burned alive at Wuerzburg for no other offence.
Of course every other boy in the city became still more convinced of the
power of the charm. One boy confessed that he would willingly have sold
himself to the devil, if he could have raised him, for a good dinner and
cakes every day of his life, and a pony to ride upon. This luxurious
youngster, instead of being horsewhipped for his folly, was hanged and
burned.

The small district of Lindheim was, if possible, even more notorious than
Wuerzburg for the number of its witch-burnings. In the year 1633 a famous
witch, named Pomp Anna, who could cause her foes to fall sick by merely
looking at them, was discovered and burned, along with three of her
companions. Every year in this parish, consisting at most of a thousand
persons, the average number of executions was five. Between the years 1660
and 1664, the number consumed was thirty. If the executions all over
Germany had been in this frightful proportion, hardly a family could have
escaped losing one of its members.

In 1627, a ballad entitled the _Druten Zeitung_, or the _Witches'
Gazette_, was very popular in Germany. It detailed, according to the
title-page of a copy printed at Smalcald in 1627, "An account of the
remarkable events which took place in Franconia, Bamberg, and Wuerzburg,
with those wretches who from avarice or ambition have sold themselves to
the devil, and how they ha