Merseburg Echoes:

English language items

This is the Merseburg Echoes entry for English language Merseburg Spell II-type items. Merseburg Echoes is an ongoing project that compiles and make accessible as many Merseburg Spell II-type items from the historical record as possible.

This entry was created in 2025.

Quick attribution:

  • Mimisbrunnr.info. 2025. “English Language Items”. Merseburg Echoes, Mimisbrunnr.info. URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/merseburg-echoes-english

England, mid-1500s

  1. Location: Whimple, England

  2. Year: Mid-1500s (Published 1892)

  3. Informant:

    “A more serious matter, as shewing the condition of superstitious idiocy and senile simplicity prevalent then (as indeed unhappily now) in the villages came before the Court, when the Bishop took action against Mistress Margaret LittleJohn, of Whimple, on the charge of incantation.

    John Flyte, of Whimple, said, "that betwyxt Mighilmas laste and Cristmas, he was presente in one Margarett Kellande's howse wydowe dwellynge within the parysshe of Whymple, and in the presence of one George Willes, alias Rewe, when sayde Marg. K. dyd use certayne charmyns and palmestrye, viz., that the sayde M. K. havyng a sowe sycke dyd bye certayne Arbes, and wolld have bounde them upon the sowes hedde, and they wold not abyde upon the sowes hed, and then she did charme certyne dryncke and dyd gyve unto the sowe to dryncke in a halle dyshe, and att sondre other tymes she doth use to go abrode to charme cattell and other bests, and further one, John K., decessed, being in his dethe bedd, she, M. Littlejohn, dyd mynister charmyns unto hym when he was syck, and dyd charm hym with words as followeth, ones everye daye.”

  4. Item:

    John Byflye followed nonne;
    joynt to joynt, sinewe to sinewe,
    and bone to bone, and as gryne as grasse,
    an grasse ys yt nowe.

  5. Source: VIC. 1892. Odd Ways in Olden Days Down West: Or, Tales of the Reformation in Devon and Cornwall, p. xi-xii. Hudson. URL: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Odd_Ways_in_Olden_Days_Down_West/jzlCAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

    Also discussed in Folklore, vol. vi, 1895, p. 203. URL: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Folklore/n7y5AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Odd+Ways+in+Olden+Days+Down+West&pg=PA204&printsec=frontcover

  6. Observations: “John Byflye” is a mystery. Potentially the earliest attested English language instance of this spell.

Scotland, 1643

  1. Location: Scotland

  2. Year: 1643 (published 1834)

  3. Informant:

    “Margeret Fisher in Weardie”?

  4. Item:

    Our Lord to hunting red,
    His sooll soot sled;
    Doun he lighted,
    His sool sot righted;
    Blod to blod,
    Shenew to shenew.
    To the other sent in God’s name,
    In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

  5. Source:

    Dalyell, John Graham. 1834. The Darker Superstitions of Scotland, p 23. Waugh and Innes. URL: https://archive.org/details/darkersuperstit00dalygoog

    Citing:

    St Cuthbert’s Kirk Session Register, 9 Nov. 1643. Margeret Fischar in Weardie, vol. 1595-1643. in MS.

  6. Observations:

    Dalyell adds:
    Red—rode; soell  soot—stirrup? sled—slipped; shenew—sinew

    Described by John Graham Dalyell as “employed for the relief in the distemper or bewitched” and says that “such were universally disseminated, insomuch that in places very remote, charms of precisely the same import appear under some modification”, just as we see in this edition.

USA, 1820

  1. Location: Pennsylvania, USA

  2. Year: 1820

  3. Informant:

    Johann Georg Hohman (also known as John George Hohman)

  4. Item:

  5. So der Mensch Würmer ins Leibe hat.
    (Hohman 1853 [1820]: 47)

Petrus und Jesus fuhren aus gen Acker,
sie ackerten drei Furchen,
ackerten auf drei Würmer.
Der eine ist weiß,
der andere ist schwarz,
der dritte ist roth.
Da sind alle Würmer todt,
im Namen † † †.
Sprich diese Worte dreimal.

And in an influential 1863 translation of the text:

149. For worms in the body
(Hohman 1904: 132)

  1. Peter and Jesus went out into the field;
    they ploughed three furrows;
    they ploughed up three worms.
    One is white,
    one is black,
    the third is red.
    The worms are all dead, in the name of † † †
    Say these words thrice.

    5. Source:

    Hohman, John George. 1904 [1863]. “The Long Hidden Friend”, p. 132. Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. XVII, April-June, 1904, no. LXV.

    Hohman, Johann Georg. 1853 [1820]. Der Lang Verborgene Freund, p. 47. Harrisburg: Scheffer & Beck.

    6. Observations:

    A German example of a variant referred to as "against serpents of the Merseburg type” (Compare page 446 here: https://www.isof.se/download/18.317326fe1795688972721627/1622038079331/Svenska%20landsmål%20och%20Svenskt%20folkliv_1939_3_h230.pdf ). German immigrant John George Hohman’s mysterious 1820 Der Lang Verborgene Freunde (‘The Long Hidden Friend’) became extremely influential in regions of the United States from 1820 onward. Compare the following two item to MZ II and the Nine Plants Spell, an Old English healing spell wherein the god Wōden is called upon to lead an army of nine plants to destroy wyrms who spew venom of nine colors.

Scotland, 1841

  1. Location: Sandsting and Aithsting, Shetland, Scotland

  2. Year: 1841

  3. Informant:

    Not provided, “customary”

  4. Item:

    Wresting Thread—When a person has received a sprain, it is customary to apply to an individual practiced in casting the 'wresting thread.' This is a thread spun from black wool, on which are cast nine knots, and tied round a sprained leg or arm. During the time the operator is putting the thread round the affected limb, he says, but in such a tone of voice as not to be heard by the bystanders, nor even by the person operated upon,

    "The Lord rade,
    And the foal slade;
    He lighted,
    And he righted,
    Set joint to joint,
    Bone to bone,
    And sinew to sinew.
    Heal in the Holy Ghost's Name!"

  5. Source:

    Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy. 1841. The New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. XV, p. 141. William Blackwood and Sons.

    URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=83sLAAAAYAAJ&pg=141#v=onepage&q=wresting&f=false

    Discussed by Lady Wilde (1887: 88-89): https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ancient_Legends_Mystic_Charms_and_Supers/bdxZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=sprain

  6. Observations:

    John Graham Dalyell adds:
    Red—rode; soell  soot—stirrup? sled—slipped; shenew—sinew

    Described by Dalyell as “employed for the relief in the distemper or bewitched” and says that “such were universally disseminated, insomuch that in places very remote, charms of precisely the same import appear under some modification”, just as we see in this edition.

England, 1895

  1. Location: Shropshire, England

  2. Year: 1895

  3. Informant:

    “Charms from a small manuscript book belonging to a black-smith-farrier at Clun, in Shropshire, named Powell, communicated by the Rev. W. E. T. Morgan, B.A., Vicar of Llanigon, Radnor-shire. The charms are given verbatim et literatim, with a few omissions supplied, and the explanation of the less obvious ortho-graphical blunders. They are in a handwriting of the early part of the present century, and have probably been copied from some still earlier manuscript.”

  4. Item:

    “Forr a Sprain or Bruse.—Our Sauiour Jesus Crist roate on a marbel Stone Senow to Senow Joint to Joint Bone to Bone he Roat thes wordes everey one In the Name of the Father Sone and Holey Gost Amen Swet Jesus Amen Swet Jesus Amen.

    Going round the aflicted place each time with your hand and the Lordes praier each time and marck it thus + 3 times or if verry bad 9 times."

  5. Source:

    Unattributed. 1895. “Miscellanea”. Folk-lore, 1895, p. 202-203. URL: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Folklore/oZ7mqN3nbmQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=forr%20a%20sprain&printsec=frontcover

  6. Observations: Note the emphasis on three and three thrice, nine

England, 1908

  1. Location: Devonshire, England

  2. Year: 1908

  3. Informant:

    Mariann Voedan

  4. Item:

    For a Sprain. — Recite : "As Christ was riding over Crolly Bridge, His horse slid and sprained his leg. He alighted and spake the words : Bone to bone, and sinew to sinew ! and blessed it and it became well, and so shall . . . become well. In the Name, etc." Repeat thrice.

  5. Source:

    Baring-Gould, Sabine. 1908. Devonshire Characters and Strange Events, p. 77. John Lane. URL: https://archive.org/details/devonshirecharac00bariuoft/page/n7/mode/2up?q=sprain

  6. Observations: None