One such
will suffice as an illustration. A married woman, _enciente_ for the
first time, having had words with her husband about something she denied
having either said or done, wished that, if her statement were untrue,
she might never give birth to the child. She was taken at her word, for
she lived many years in delicate health, but the child was never born.
The villagers who remembered her said that at times she _swelled_ as if
she was about to be confined, and at other times was as _jimp_ as a
young girl.
Akin to belief in the potency of such wishes as were uttered as tests of
truthfulness was doubtless the generally accredited, though of course
seldom witnessed, form of compact with the devil. When a person agreed
to serve the devil, his Satanic Majesty caused the mortals who sought
his service and favour to place one hand under their thigh and the other
over their head, and wish that the devil would take all that lay between
their hands if they were unfaithful to their vow. The form of oath by
expression of a wish was common to both Jews and Gentiles.
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