THE SCENE: In the passage below, a witch confesses to her sexual relationship with the devil, about which she seems to have had very little cause for complaint.
THE TEXT: And within days he came to me, in the New Wardis of Inshoch, and there had carnal cowpulatioun with me. He was a very meikle blak roch man. He will lie all heavy upon us, when he has carnal dealings with us, like a malt-fecke. His members are exceedingly great and long; no man’s members are so long and big as they are. He would be amongst us like a weath horse amongst mares. He would lie with us in preference of all the multitude; neither had, we nor he, any kind of shame, but especially he had no shame with him at all. He would lie and have carnal dealing with all, at every time, as he pleased. He would have carnal dealings with us in the shape of a deer or any other shape that he would be in. We would never refuse him. He would come to my house-top in the shape of a crow, or like a deer, or in any other shape, now and then. I would ken [know] his voice, at the first hearing of it, and would go forth to him and have carnal cowpulatioun with him. The youngest and lustiest women will have very great pleasure in their carnal cowpulatioun with him, yea much more than with their own husbands, and they will have an exceeding great desire of it with him, as much as he can have to them, and more, and never think shame of it. He is abler for us that way than any man can be (Alas! That I should compare him to a man!) only he was heavy like a malt-feck; a huge nature, very cold, as ice.
– Confessions of Issobell Gowdie, spouse to John Gilbert, in Lockloy, 17th Century AD
