Devil in Scotland

SCOTTISH LIFE AND LITERATURE
finest devils of mediaeval Art, those carved in the tym¬
pana of the doorways of French cathedrals like Bourges,
are deformed to contrast with the severe pure beauty of
the Angels of light. Their faces are distorted images of
lust and ferocity. They have evil additional faces be¬
neath their tails and upon their bellies. The Church had
so long insisted upon representations of Hell and its
demons, and the imagers had for so long loved to ex¬
pend their talent for the grotesque in corbels and capitals,
choir-stalls and other carved work, that it is no wonder
that the idea of the Devil had penetrated the minds of
all, and, even in Protestant lands like Scotland, long sur¬
vived the Reformation and the end of the Gothic tradition.
Perhaps the most persistent tradition in Scotland of
the Devil’s appearance was that of a black man. Usually
he is described merely as black, sometimes as huge and
hairy and grim, and occasionally as clad in black clothes.
And if his colour was not enough to apprise a man that
he had seen the Accuser of the Brethren, the cloven feet
were there as a sign of his dignity. The Devil at North
Berwick and at Auldearn was a fearful black fellow, and
as a black man he once interrupted a field-meeting of
Covenanters beside a river. He made as if to cross the
river in the full gaze of the assembly, and then in mid¬
stream cunningly simulated drowning and shouted for
help. Whereupon the Covenanters threw him ropes and
heaved together to pull him to safety. But the black man
steadily prevailed, and soon he would have dragged
them all into the river and drowned them, had not the
pastor seen through his wicked stratagem and cried, Tt
is the Devil. Quit the rope and let him go’; and so they
quit the rope and were saved.
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