A witch in the church

Here is the story of the witch in the church.

The witch in the church

A couple from Artekale had a sick child. As the illness that afflicted him surprised the doctors, unable to cure despite their science, it was thought that this affection could only be the result of a begizko (eye pain, power to hurt through the eyes) due to any witch.

A neighbor who had some knowledge of healing and after seeing the little one, recommended to parents:
Put a chicken, crossed by thirty three pins in the shape of a cross, to cook in a pot. Thus, the person who will have cast a spell on him will let himself be seen around here. They did so. After having formed a cross with thirty-three pins which they fixed on the yellow leg of the chicken, they threw it in the pot full of water and put it to boil.

To prevent steam from escaping, they fixed the lid with kneaded mud, being careful that there were no cracks. Less than half an hour later, the mother of the priest of Abadiano introduced herself. She was an old woman, wrinkled and seemingly humble and harmless. When the door of the house was opened for her, she shouted with obvious nervousness:
- Take that pot off the fire!

The people of the house could not believe that this old woman was a witch who had cast a spell on the little one. Who would have believed it ? nothing less than the priest's mother! Recovering quickly from the first impression, the parents of the little one, who had been warned by the healer, answered the old woman with coolness:
- We will take the chicken out of the pot, but first you have to promise us that you will never hurt our family members again.

The old woman promised very impatiently. The chicken was taken out of the pot and the old woman returned to her house, reassured. That same night, the little one showed signs of improvement and found himself completely healed the following morning. News of the curse and subsequent recovery of the little victim spread like wildfire among the villagers of Durango. The news spread quickly, in addition, the name of the witch, mother of the priest of Abadiano, think so !. A few hours later, the priest heard this news and had the greatest disgust of his life.

A few days passed, during which, deeply distressed, the witch's son began to observe her discreetly. Not doing anything extraordinary, nothing out of the ordinary, being courageous in addition, in appearance at least, our parish priest did not believe these comments. Could it be the result of a misunderstanding? Could this be the result of several dismal coincidences?

One day, in order to test if his mother was really a witch, after having celebrated mass, the priest left the missal open on the altar. He then left the church and went about his usual business all morning. Also, arriving home at noon, he found lunch prepared for two, as usual, but his mother was not present. The latter being very late, the parish priest sent the housekeeper to the church to see if her mother was there.

She therefore walked towards the church and on entering the nave discovered with astonishment that the old woman was still standing near the door. She was petrified and had a terrified expression, her gaze fixed on the missal open on the altar. Without daring to approach her, the maid called her:
- Madam, your son asks you to come home quickly!

Without looking away from the missal, the old woman cried in an extremely high-sounding voice:
- Tell him instead to come here and remove from there what he left open!

The servant did not have to be told twice and ran to the priest's house. Seeing her arrive so pale, the priest understood everything immediately. The servant explained to him what was happening and without wasting time, walked towards the church. His mother was still in the middle of the central nave, near the door, rigid and terrified, gazing with bulging eyes at the open missal.

Without stopping to talk with her, her son went up to the altar and closed the book liturgical. Back home, the beleaguered mother has all that nervousness, of getting into bed. Without being intimidated by all these facts, the priest decided to correct his mother promptly. It is said that with much effort and conjuration, the old woman gave up witchcraft.