In Competition No. 2395 you were invited to write a rhymed witch’s spell to bring someone or something either good or ill.
William Dalrymple in his excellent book From the Holy Mountain lists some quaint old Nestorian spells: ‘the anathema of the Angel Gabriel against the Evil Eye’, ‘a charm for binding the guns and engines of war’, ‘the charm for a cow which is excited towards her mistress’…. Although I invited benedictions as well as curses, curmudgeons that you are you didn’t offer a single one. Commendations to Basil Ransome-Davies and Noel Petty. The prizewinners, printed below, get £25 each, and Ralph Rochester, whose cantrip struck me as especially potent, is rewarded with £30.
To Lead Travellers Astray
The honey-bee has missed her hive.
The fox has lost his earth.
The blind-mole clambers up above.
The squirrel digs beneath.
The wild-goose circles widdershins.
The
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