fo. 141 aII. De mirabili certacione inter spiritum et viuentem in tempore regis Ricardi secundi.
Dicitur quod quidam scissor cognomine [blank] Snawball equitando remeauit ad domum suam in ampilforth quadam nocte de Gillyng, et in via audiuit quasi sonitum anates [s]e lauantes [corr. from anas se lauans] in torrente et paulopost aspexit quasi coruum circa faciem suam volantem et descendentem vsque ad terram, alis suis concucientibus solum quasi deberet mori. Qui scissor de equo suo descendit ut caperet coruum et interim vidit sintillas ignis spargentes de lateribus eiusdem corui. Tunc signauit se et prohibuit eum ex parte dei ne inferret illi dampnum aliquod illa vice. Qui euolauit cum eiulatu magno quasi spacium lapidis ✝︎ encardi ✝︎.[1] Tunc iterum ascendit equum suum et paulopost predictus coruus obuiauit illi in volando et percussit eum in latere et prostrauit in terra scissorem equitantem de equo suo. Qui taliter solotenus prostratus iacuit quasi in extasi et exanimis, valde timens. Tandem resurgens et constans in fide pugnauit cum eo cum gladio suo quousque fuerat lass us, et videbatur sibi quasi percuteret t[er]ricidiu[m] more[2] et prohibuit eum et defendit ex parte dei, dicens Absit quod habeas potestatem nocendi mihi in hac vice, sed recedas. Qui rursus euolauit cum eiulatu horribili quasi per spacium sagitte volantis. Tercia vero vice apparuit eidem scissori ferenti crucem gladii sui super pectus suum pre timore et obuiauit ei in figura canis anulati.[3] Quo viso scissor cogitauit secum animatus in fide. Quid de me fiet ? coniurabo eum in nomine trinitatis et per virtutem sanguinis Ihesu Christi de quinque plagis quod loqueretur cum eo et ipsum nullatenus lederet sed staret immobilis et responderet ad interrogata et diceret ei nomen suum et causam pene sue cum remedio competenti. Et fecit ita. Qui coniuratus exalans terribiliter et ingemiscens. Sic et sic feci[4] et excommunicatus sum pro tali facto. Vadas igitur ad talem sacerdotem petens absolucionem pro me. Et oportet me impplere nouies viginti missas pro me celebrandas. et ex duobus vnum eligas. Aut redeas ad me tali nocte solus, referens responsum de hiis que dixi tibi et docebo te quomodo sanaberis, et ne timeas visum ignis materialis[5] in medio tempore. Aut
- ↑ The word is a mystery to me. It seems to begin with e and ends with di. There is a mark of contraction.
- ↑ more I take to be the genitive of mora, a moor or marsh. The other word I do not know nor find, but guess it to mean a turf or peat-stack.
- ↑ A dog with a chain on its neck.
- ↑ Great pains are taken throughout to conceal the name of the ghost. He must have been a man of quality, whose relatives might have objected to stories being told about him.
- ↑ At the end of the story we have 'ne respicias ignem materialem ista nocte ad minus'. In the Danish tales something like this is to be found. Kristensen, Sagn og overtro, 1866, no. 585 : After seeing a phantom funeral the man 'was wise enough to go to the stove and look at the fire before he saw (candle- or lamp-) light. For when people see anything of the kind they are sick if they cannot get at fire before light.' Ibid. no. 371: 'he was very sick when he caught sight of the light.' The same in no. 369. In part ii of the same (1888), no. 690: 'When you see anything supernatural, you should peep over the door before going into the house. You must see the light before the light sees you.' Collection of 1883, no. 193: 'When he came home, he called to his wife to put out the light before he came in, but she did not, and he was so sick they thought he would have died.' These examples are enough to show that there was risk attached to seeing light after a ghostly encounter. Does ignis materialis mean simply a fire of wood here?
