When folk tauld him that Janet was sib to the deil, it was a' superstition by his way of it; and' when they cast up the Bible to him, an' the witch of Endor, he wad threep it doun their thrapples that thir days were a' gane by, and the deil was mercifully restrained.

It was a big room, as big as the minister's ain, an' plenished wi' grand, auld, solid gear, for he had naething else. "Witch, beldam, devil!" When some of the local women attempt to dunk Janet in the river to prove that she is a witch, the preacher rescues her and has her abjure the devil before them. V. 8, "The devil as a roaring lion," on the Sunday after every 17th of August, and he was accustomed to surpass himself upon that text both by the appalling nature of the matter and the terror of his bearing in the pulpit. [5], In 1712, a newly graduated preacher arrives in a small town, and hires Janet, an old crone, as his housekeeper—a woman whom many of the townspeople believe to be in league with the devil.

Lang or that, she had had a wean to a dragoon; she hadnae come forrit for maybe thretty year; and bairns had seen her mumblin' to hersel' up on Key's Loan in the gloamin', whilk was an unco time an' place for a God-fearin' woman. The trees are unco thick, an' the water lies deep an' black under the manse; and there was Janet washing' the cla'es wi' her coats kilted. Sae doun he sat, and thocht of a' that had come an' gane since he was in Ba'weary, an' his hame, an' the days when he was a bairn an' ran daffin' on the braes; and that black man aye ran in his heid like the owercome of a sang. He was of a great stature, an' black as hell, and his een were singular to see. [7], "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894)", "Kinnaird Cottage, Kinnaird, Pitlochry, PH16 5JL", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thrawn_Janet&oldid=946096638, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 18 March 2020, at 01:36. He wrote the story in the summer of 1881 while he stayed at the rented Kinnaird Cottage in Kinnaird, a hamlet near Pitlochry, with his parents and wife. It is a dark tale of satanic possession. It had been het afore, as I hae said, but that nicht it was hetter than ever. Mr. Soulis wasna weel pleased that this fearsome gangrel suld mak' sae free wi' Ba'weary manse; an' he ran the harder, an' wet shoon, ower the burn, an' up the walk; but the deil a black man was there to see. "Thrawn Janet" is a short story, written in Scots, by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Then he wad sit half the day and half the nicht forby, which was scant decent-- writin', nae less; and first they were feard he wad read his sermons; and syne it proved he was writin' a book himsel', which was surely no fittin' for ane of his years an' sma' experience.

Aye the mair he thocht, the mair he thocht o' the black man. "Save us a'! Get started by clicking the "Add" button.

The Reverend Murdoch Soulis was long minister of the moorland parish of Balweary, in the vale of Dule. In spite of the iron composure of his features, his eye was wild, scared, and uncertain; and when he dwelt, in private admonitions, on the future of the impenitent, it seemed as if his eye pierced through the storms of time to the terrors of eternity. In spite of the iron composure of his features, his eye was wild, … . "Weel," says he, "Janet, if there was nae black man, I have spoken with the Accuser of the Brethren.". He lay an' he tummled; the gude, caller bed that he got into brunt his very banes; whiles he slept, and whiles he waukened; whiles he heard the time o' nicht, and whiles a tike yowlin' up the muir, as if somebody was deid; whiles he thocht he heard bogles claverin' in his lug, an' whiles he saw spunkies in the room. "Hoots!" [1][2][3][4], The story was later included in Stevenson's 1887 collection The Merry Men, and Other Tales and Fables. Oldstyle Tales Press publishes annotated and illustrated editions of classic horror, classic weird fiction, classic ghost stories, and gothic novels. Wi' a' that he had upon his mind, it was gey and unlikely Mr. Soulis wad get muckle sleep.

He kenned the foot ower-weel, for it was Janet's; and at ilka step that cam' a wee thing nearer, the cauld got deeper in his vitals. A primary source is a work that is being studied, or that provides first-hand or direct evidence on a topic. And it was this strip of causeway that enjoyed among the young parishioners of Balweary so infamous a reputation. He is pursued by the dead woman's body, until he invokes the power of God. The house was two stories high, with two large rooms on each. We aye thocht it but to thun'er on the morn; but the morn cam', an' the morn's morning, and it was aye the same uncanny weather; sair on folks and bestial. It opened not directly on the garden, but on a causewayed path, or passage, giving on the road on the one hand, and closed on the other by the tall willows and elders that bordered on the stream. It was a great howff, o' Mr. Soulis's onyway; there he would sit an' consider his sermons' and inded it's a bieldy bit. It was first published in the … ", "A black man?"

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