Legends of Lancashire 19

Legends of Lancashire 19

There was great propriety in the latter admonition of Jeremiah,

for Gideon’s body seemed a little off the perpendicular; and

accordingly he was assisted in removing himself to a tree, which

the sudden thawing of the snow had revealed, and there he was

stationed, leaning against its trunk, while the same precautions

for their safety were adopted as before. Minute after minute passed

on, and still the enemy came not. The stones lay exactly in the

same position. The doomed tailor could now listen, with a slight

portion of faith and hope, to the consolation which young Mauncel

gave; when a slight rustling was heard in the branches of the tree,

and something of a red colour was perceived. All strained their

eyes, but nothing more of shape, colour, size, or essence, could be

learned.

 

“Ah!” Jeremiah began, “he is fond of trees. How he coiled himself,

as Dr. Mauncel observed, in the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

pointing to the apples, and smacking his own lips! But let him

stay there at present, and hatch a blackbird’s nest, if he be so

inclined. Gideon, you are now safe.”

 

Scarcely had he finished these words, when a fiery cloud was seen

coming from the direction of the sand hills, and soon Satan stood

before his heap of sand, with a large trowel in his hand, ready

to build the wall. But first he looked around, and descrying the

altered station of the party, walked up to the circle, while his

mouth belched forth fire and smoke.

 

“Think not,” he exclaimed in a horrible tone, “think not that you

shall escape, although, by your wiles, I have been detained; and

heavier shall be your punishment, for the trouble you have given

me.”

 

“Do you sweat much?” kindly inquired William Mauncel; “then stand a

little to cool yourself. You have time enough to finish the wall.

Why have you returned so soon? Pray, let us have a friendly chat.”

 

“Gideon Chiselwig,” continued the fiend, without noticing the words

by which he had been interrupted, “I tell thee that thy doom shall

be much more severe. Rejoice at my momentary disappointment, as I

detail it to you, and then think how much more I shall rejoice over

the torments which it shall cause you, as my subject, for ever. I

placed the first load of sand in your brother’s apron, and flew

away with it--(Gideon, you shall have wings too, in a little,)--but

when passing the moss, the cursed string broke,--”

 

“Honesty is the best policy, friend,” cooly remarked Jeremiah.

“You are well served for a rogue. You stole away my apron, and you

have received a just recompense. Learn, Nick, to be more honest

for the future, at least on earth. You may escape the clutch of

a magistrate, as you and his worship seem to be on very intimate

terms, but believe me, that sooner or later, vice will be punished.

You know the proverb, I presume, ‘that those who begin with a pin,

may end with an ox,’ and I cannot exactly say, but that this apron

stealing might have brought you into very serious danger. Let it be

an example, Nicholas.”

 

“Rejoice at present,” was the reply. “Mock me, Gideon, as well as

your brother does, and listen. The strings of the apron broke,--”

 

“Bad thread, bad thread, Gideon,” again interrupted Jeremiah, “I

told you so when it came. It must not be used for the collar of a

coat.”

 

“The strings of the apron broke,” patiently resumed the enemy, “and

all the sand fell into the moss, and there it lies, a large heap

and mountain. But, Gideon, beneath as heavy a mountain of my wrath

you shall lie, for ever and ever:” and he instantly departed to

commence his work.

 

Soon the wall arose a foot or two from the ground, and Gideon’s

fears once more attacked him. A loud laugh was raised, at

intervals, by the infernal builder, and it seemed echoed by

millions and millions of the lost spirits. He skipped upon the

wall, and, revealing his awful proportions, gazed upon Gideon, with

eyes of such fiendish malice and revenge, that even the reckless

Mauncel shuddered, and covered his face to banish the sight. And

now the wall was nearly finished, the earth was shaking all around,

the hissing of serpents was heard, and strange forms were seen

moving beside the enemy.

 

“Claim him! claim him!” shrieked forth innumerable voices. The air

seemed on fire, and dark masses were hastening through it, to the

hellish scene. Deep gulfs were sounding and lashing their fury

beneath the ground; and thunder seemed to bow the very poles of

heaven, and make them totter. A long and wide circle of fiends was

now made, dancing, and all pointing to Gideon with their black paws.

 

“Hell claims him. Which part shall we seize? Yours, noble leader,

is the head. Give me the hand,--how fondly I shall shake it.

Give me the breast,--how fondly I shall lie upon it. Give me

the arm,--how confidently he shall lean upon mine. Let me kiss

him,--how he shall love my sweet lips. Let me wash his feet,--how

gently shall the fire dry them. Let me perfume his body.

Ha--ha--ha!”

 

Their leader now raised two stones in his hands, and thundered

forth, with an awful voice--

 

“Friends, these are the two last--and the wall is finished! Wretch,

who art called Gideon Chiselwig--dost thou behold them? the two

last! the two last!” and the whole infernal host raised a laugh of

exultation, and poor Gideon fell to the ground. “Stay one little

moment, Gideon,” the enemy exclaimed, “and you shall be supported

in these loving arms. Stay--”

 

At that very moment a deep silence pervaded the place, and a

loud crowing was raised by a cock, as it announced the devil’s

day break, who must, therefore, depart, without being allowed to

finish the wall. He stamped in fury, and all his infernal agents,

disappointed of their prey, shrieked, and fled away. Jeremiah and

young Mauncel comprehended the cause, and they shouted in joy,

and taunted the fiend, until they beheld him approaching. In his

hands he bore a large stone:--but his eyes glared not upon them,

nor yet on the prostrate Gideon. They were fixed upon some object,

which the branches of the tree seemed to conceal. Jeremiah, as he

regained courage, addressed him,--

 

“So, Nicholas--dost thou see an apple which courts that hungry eye?”

 

There was no answer made, but a motion of the devil’s arm heaved up

the stone, and instantly a cock fell down dead at Jeremiah’s feet,

who, raising it, thus apostrophized it,--

 

“And thou hast saved my brother’s life, by losing thine own! But,

unless thou has contracted thyself to the enemy, he shall not get

thee, provided he does not invite himself along with us to dinner

some day soon. No, Nick, begone. A fortnight ago, that church-yard

clod, the sexton, told me that I was a brawny stripling, for I

could mount my grandmother’s cat with a stepping stone. Oh! the

fiend _is_ gone! Well, poor bird, thou art a martyr, yet I shall

commit thy sacred remains to my stomach, begging your young

reverence’s pardon, in hopes of a safe and certain resurrection.”

 

They succeeded in raising Gideon from the ground, and when he was

sufficiently recovered to listen to his escape, and the death of

his preserver, the sadness of the latter news did not much take

away from the joy of the former; and he was altogether cured of his

mania for supernatural achievements.

 

And here, as the devil left his work unfinished, we leave ours;

with the exception of satisfying a few longings, which the

antiquary, the lover, and the unfortunate husband of a termagant

wife, may feel.

 

The first may yet see the heap of sand which the breaking of the

devil’s apron strings deposited in the moss. It is now called

“Shirley Hill;” and thus observation confirms tradition, for how

could a mountain of sand be native to a moss? He indeed cannot be

gratified with a sight of the apron; for Jeremiah on the following

day, escorted it home, and subsequently, exhibited it so often to

the good folks of Ormskirk, that the strings again broke, one dark

night as he was making his way through a lane; and he had his

suspicions that the hands of some old maid, and not the thread were

culpable.

 

The Devil’s Wall still stands, but the acute Jeremiah had observed

that the infernal builder, could not, with any portion of justice,

have claimed Gideon, because the conditions of the contract, were

not fulfilled, as the wall had only been built with sand. The large

stone, some thirty years ago, could be seen firmly clasped between

the boughs of the tree, where the cock fell--a martyr to his love

of truth.

 

And now, fair reader, what is the question which you wish to ask

the old man? Ah! concerning William and Mary Mauncel! A few weeks

after the adventure, the worthy Doctor joined their hands, and

as much happiness as thy own beautiful and romantic fancy can

imagine in future for thyself, fell to their lot. On the occasion,

Rehoboam and Jeroboam, with all their tribes, did not fail to

appear:--and for their loyalty towards the fortunes of the family,

they received marked attentions from the Reverend head; whose lips,

in an appropriate manner, confessed an attachment, by no means

slight. Jeremiah, in the course of the nuptial evening, stepped in,

to cry over the happiness of the young wedded pair, and, with his

accustomed propriety, wished that the bands of love might never

be broken, like his apron strings; however fortunate the last

circumstance had, most undoubtedly been. Years passed on, and

sweet laughing voices came upon the ear of the old vicar, as he sat

in his study; and rushing in, a band of beautiful grand-children

began, in innocent mischief, to sport at his knees.

 

The unhappy husband is informed, that Gideon and Nelly Chiselwig,

were happy in each other: and that their only weapons of attack and

defence were sweet words, and fond caresses.

 

Some represent the devil as having horns: if so, he must have taken

them from the head of Gideon Chiselwig.

 

 

 

 

THE PROPHETESS AND THE REBEL.

 

 

“Nay, Katharine, let us not return from all this quiet, to the

noise of the town, until, like a young widow who veils her face

from the past, and the relations of her dead husband, to go forth

to other scenes, there once more to unveil it,--twilight wraps up

the beauties of this vale, and then gives gentle and holy echoes to

the streets. The town is pleasant then; but now--a little further

on, and we shall seat us by the Hermit’s Well. On its calm surface

the first and brightest star of night will glimmer beneath our feet. Heed not my laughing sister.”