Book contents
Chapter 7
from Question 1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2015
Summary
IN addition, let us cite a few illustrations to show that they take away male members, not, of course, by stripping human bodies of them in reality but by concealing them with the art of conjuring, as was explained above in the question previously mentioned.
In the town of Ravensburg a certain young man was attached to a young woman, and when he wished to set her aside, he lost his male member, clearly though the art of conjuring, with the result that he could not see or feel his body as anything but smooth. 211 Being worried, he then went to a certain cellar to buy some wine, and while he was sitting there for a while, another woman showed up and he revealed to her the reason for his sadness, relating the details and showing that he was so in body. Being clever, she asked whether he considered any woman suspect. When he specified her identity, mentioning her name and relating what had happened, the woman said, “When benevolence does you no good, it would be best to prevail upon her with violence in order to regain your health.” At dusk, the young man watched the path where the sorceress would regularly pass by. After finding her, he pleaded with her to return to him the health of his body, but she claimed that she was innocent and knew nothing. He then attacked her and, tying a handkerchief tight around her throat, he pulled it taut, saying, “Unless you restore my health to me, you will die at my hands.” Then, because she could not shout and her swollen face was now turning black, she said, “Release me and I will make you healthy.” When the young man loosened the knot (noose), the sorceress touched him with her hand between the thighs (hips), saying, “You now have what you want.”
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- Information
- The Hammer of WitchesA Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum, pp. 323 - 330Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009