There was another kind of wish which was believed to obtain fulfilment
during life, that was the expressed wish of the innocent against those
who had wronged them. The belief in the fulfilment of such wishes was
grounded on the theological supposition that God in his justice would in
time punish the wrong-doer. I remember a rather pertinent example of
this: a proof they would have said in former days--a coincidence we
would say in these days. A simple-minded--_half-witted_--young woman was
taken advantage of by a young man resident in the neighbourhood, to the
public scandal of the village. He denied the paternity of the baby, and
made oath to that effect before the kirk-session. As he did so, the
girl, looking at him, wished that the hand he held up might lose its
cunning, as evidence of God's judgment upon the false swearer. In less
than a year from that time a disease came into his right hand, and he
was never afterwards able to use it. Not many years ago, I saw the same
man going through the village selling tea, and, as he passed along the
street, many of the older inhabitants remarked how wonderfully _Poor
Meg's_ wish had been fulfilled.
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