Bottrell, “The prize wrestler and the demon” (1880)
A LITTLE more than a century ago the Rector of Ladock was the Rev. Mr. Wood, who was a most zealous churchman even in the days of misty prejudice, when churchmen in general looked upon nonconformists as scabbed sheep in their fold, and held that no schismatics were to be tolerated. From having unwavering faith in the grace conferred by his ordination, he was endowed with remarkable powers as an exorcist and ghost-layer. The reverend gentleman was also an adept in astrology and other occult sciences, which enabled him to perform wonders. The simple folk of that secluded place, believing that their good parson possessed more knowledge than is attributed to ordinary members of the three learned professions combined, sought his aid in their physical infirmities and social disturbances, as well as for their spiritual wants. These simple, honest people were not much troubled in regard to the latter. In those tranquil times they were comparatively temperate in religious matters. There were many traits in the secular side of Mr. Wood’s character for which he was much liked and respected. If any dispute arose between his parishioners the matter was referred to him; and, such was their confidence in the justice of his award, that they always abided by his decision. If they had difficulties in parish business the parson explained the law on the subject, and the matter was settled.
With the youngsters, too, he was a great favourite. He encouraged them to keep up the old games of wrestling, hurling, and other manly sports. The silver hurling-ball was left in the mrson’s care, and at the Tides, when he gave it to the young men, he would say to them,”Now, my boys, be on your honour with each other, and let it he your pride to behave according to the legend engraved on your hall, in old Cornish, which means, as you know, that ‘FAIR PLAY IS GOOD PLAY!‘ Be sure, too, that One and All observe the ancient laws of your games, which I will explain to ye if there should he any uncertainty.” Mr. Wood mostly gratified the youngsters by being a spectator of their games, and, unless he appeared on the Green, some of them went to request his presence.
He would often say to the men, “A knowledge of the science of wrestling is as necessary as that of boxing to give one a ready means of self-defence. Besides, it is a respectable exercise from its antiquity. Old chroniclers say that the hero Corineus (or Corin) with his Trojan hosts, by their faculty of wrestling subdued the Giants by whom this Western Land was possessed when he and Brutus, with their followers, landed at Totnes.” He told them how Corin threw the Giants’ king, Gogmagog, on Plymouth Hoe, and then cast him headlong into the sea over the cliff ever since called Langomagog, or the Giant’s Leap.
“For which the conquering Brute, on Corineus brave
This horn of land bestowed, and marked it with his name.
Of Corin, Cornwall call’d, to his immortal fame.“
“Soon after this,” Mr. Wood used to say, “the rest of the giants died for grief. The remembrance of Corin’s exploit was also preserved by the figures of the wrestlers being cut out in the turf on Plymouth Hoe. These were renewed as they were worn out. The Cornish should be proud to excel in this exercise, for the remembrance of the great Corineus from whom they are said to derive their pedigree ! So shew yourselves like brave Trojans, my boys—equally ready to fairly fight and then to feast with their opponents, using no curuiing wiles or tricks to betray. They were good hurlers, too, as well as wrestlers. Besides this, our old heroic games, and the chase, which may be classed with them, afford such wholesome excitement as serves to dispel melancholy thoughts, which, if they be brooded over, are apt to render people crazy, especially when they lead such solitary lives as most country-folk must. The wisest of eastern sages has said that there are proper times for joyous diversions as well as for labour. Such old romances, too, as are related aroimd the winter’s hearth, serve the same good purpose in that dreary season.”
It seems that, formerly, in spite of all the subtle disguises that the devil assumed, he was mostly known when ranging abroad; and Mr. Wood was always able to detect and conquer him, if he ventured within his jurisdiction. The parson changed the Evil One into the shape of an animal, and then belaboured the infernal beast lustily with his hunting-whip, until it ran away, howling like Tregagle. When walking, Mr. Wood usually carried a stout ebony stick. On its massive silver head was engraved a pentacle or Solomon’s seal, and on a broad ring or ferrule, just below the knob, were planetary signs and mystical figures. This staff was regarded with curiosity and awe. It was said that, by means of it, ” he ruled the planets, controuled evil spirits, repelled witchcraft, and performed supernatural work generally.”
The following stories are still told by the winter’s fireside in Ladock and adjacent parishes. As usual there are various versions, which differ in detail, because our old droll-tellers claimed a free flight for fancy in such portions of their stories as admitted of it.
THE PRIZE WRESTLER AND THE DEMON.
THERE was a famous wrestler of Ladock, called John Trevail, though more generally known among his comrades as ” Cousin Jackey,” from the common practice of thus styling favourites who may be no relation. One Midsummer’s-day Jackey went into a neighbouring parish and threw their champion wrestler. In his pride, he said, as he swaggered round the ring, “I am open to a challenge from any man, and wouldn’t mind having a hitch with the Devil himself, ef he’d venture!”
After the wrestling he passed a few hours with his comrades in the public-house. On his way home, alone, about the ” turn of night,” he came to a common called Le Pens Plat, which is two miles or more from Ladock Churchtown. As he was going on slowly, from being somewhat tired, and not very steady in the head, he was overtaken by a gentleman dressed like a clergyman, who accosted him in gentle tones, saying, “I was at the wrestling to-day, and I think you are the prize wrestler. Am I right?“
“Yes, sir, I won the prize that I now carry,” replied Trevail, who felt very uneasy at meeting there such a strange, black-coated gentleman at that time of night, though a full moon and clear sky made it almost as light as day.
“I am very fond of wrestling myself,” resumed the stranger; “it’s an ancient, manlike exercise, for which we Cornishmen have have always been renowned ; and, as I want to learn more science in my play, I should much like to try a bout with you ; say for your gold-lace hat and five guineas, which I will stake,”
“Not now, sir, for I’m tired,” Jackey replied, ” but I’ll play you after dinner-time if you please, when I’ve had a few hours rest say two or three o’clock, if it will please you.”
“Oh no; it must be at midnight, or soon after, now the nights are short,” said the stranger ; “it would never do for one in my position to be seen here wrestling with you, high by day; it would scandalize my cloth in these particular and gossip-loving times.”
Trevail hesitated, and thought of the wild words he had uttered in the ring. He had then challenged the Devil, and he felt persuaded that he was now face to face with his enemy, in this lonely spot. Thinking it best, however, to be as civil as possible, he agreed to the stranger’s proposal to meet him there at midnight, or soon after ; they shook hands to the bargain, and the gentleman gave him a purse with five guineas in it for his stake, saying at the same time
“You are well known to be an honest fellow, I’ve no fear of your not bringing the money and your prize won to-day ; and if, by any mischance, I shouldn’t come, the money is yours; but – there’s little doubt of my being here sharp upon midnight.”
He then wished Jackey good morrow, and went away over the common by another path leading northward. The poor fellow felt, as he trudged along homeward, that he had sold himself to the Old One. In looking down, when he said good morrow (he couldn’t bear the stranger’s eye) he saw what he believed to be a cloven foot peeping from beneath his long black skirts. Poor fellow ! he felt as bad as gone, unless he could be rescued some way. But he could devise no plan by which to avoid his fate.
Dragging himself along, as best he could, afraid to look behind him, he got to his dwelling about three o’clock bx tRe morning. His wife, on hearing the door opened, came downstairs. Seeing Jackey’s haggard looks she refrained from ” jawing ” him as usual, when he came home late, and the want of her rough talk made him feel worse than ever. Jackey took from his pocket the bag of guineas, and threw it into the tool-chest, among a lot of lumber, saying, “Molly, my dear, doesn’t thee touch that shammy leather bag for the world ! ‘Tes the Devil’s money that’s in am !” Little by little he told her what had happened on the common, and concluded by moaning out,
“Oh Molly, my dear, thee hast often wished that Old Neck would come and take me away bodily, and now et do seem es ef thy prayers are to be answered.”
“No, no, Jackey my son, never think of et,” sobbed she; “whatever I said was only from the lips outwards, and that’s of no effect, my darlin. I can’t afford to lose thee yet for awhile. As the sayan es, ‘Bad as thee art it might be wes (worse) without thee.’ Go the wayst up to bed, my son, et mayn’t come to that for awhile: I’ll this minute put on my cloak and hat, and away to the passen. No good for thee, nor all the world, to say no, for he only can save thee.”
On her way to beg Mr. Wood’s assistance she called up a croney with whom she was on pretty fair terms just then.
” Arrea ! soas ; what’s the matter?” exclaimed the gossip, looking from her chamber-window. ” Have anybody cried out that you’re in such ‘stroath’ (hurry) at this untimely hour.”
“Come along to the passen’s,” replied Molly. “I’m so ‘flambustered‘ (worried) I can hardly speak. Somethan dreadful have happened to our Jackey ; and you mustn’t drop a word to anybody, for your life, of what I’ll tell ‘e on the road.” The reverend gentleman, being an early riser, was standing at his door, looking out in the grey of the morning, when he saw the two women, in much agitation, coming towards him. Ere he had time to speak, Jackey’s wife, with her apron to her eyes, sobbed out, ” Oh, your reverence, I be a poor woman ruined and undone, that I be ; for our dear Jackey have ben and sold hisself to the Old One, and will be carried away bodily the Very next night ef you don’t save am ! That a will.”
After some questions Mr. Wood got an inkling of the case, and said to Molly,
“Make haste home, my good woman, and tell Jackey, from me, to cheer up ; I’ll see him presently and tell him how to act, and I’m pretty sure the Devil will meet his match, with my assistance.”
Shortly after sunrise Mr. Wood entered the wrestler’s dwelling, and found him stretched on the chimney-stool, sound asleep. When Jackey knew the wise step his wife had taken—the only one indeed of any use under the circumstances—he became tranquil, and, worn out as he was with great exertion of body and mind, he soon forgot his troubles. Mr. Wood roused him and said,
“Why, Jackey, is there any truth in what your wife has just told me, or did you fall asleep on the common and have an ugly dream ? The chamois-bag that Molly spoke of may contain nothing more than wart-stones that bad luck cast in your way ; but tell me what happened from first to last, and let’s see the bag.”
Trevail related his adventures, and concluded by saying,
” Tes all like an ugly dream, sure enow, your reverence, and I wish it were nothing else, but the Old One’s money es there in my tool-chest, and I remember every word that passed ; besides I should know him again among ten thousand,—such fiery eyes I never beheld in any other head, to say nothan of the glimpse I had of his cloven foot.”
Then Jackey brought the bag, holding it at arm’s length with a pincers, as he might a toad. Urged on, he opened it and turned out five pieces of glittering gold. The parson, having examined them, said.
“The sight of these spade guineas, with what you have told me, leave no doubt that you bargained to wrestle with the Devil; for he it is; you could get this gold no other way ; I’m certain you wouldn’t use unfair means to obtain it. The money seems good enough, whatever mint it might have been coined in. Yet take courage, you must be as good as your word, and to-night meet the Old One, as you call him. Don’t fail to be at the appointed place by midnight, and take with you the stakes, as agreed on.”
Jackey looked very dejected on hearing this ; intimated that he didn’t like to go alone, and that he had trusted to have Mr. Wood’s company.
” You must keep your word with the Devil,” continued the parson, “or he may come and fetch you when least expected. I shall not go with you, yet depend on it I’ll be near at hand to protect you against unfair play.”
Whilst saying this Mr. Wood took from his pocket-book a slip of parchment, on which certain mystic signs and words were traced or written.
“Secure this in the left-hand side of your waistcoat,” said he, in giving it to Jackey ; ” don’t change your waistcoat, and be “sure to wear it in the encounter ; above all, mind ye—show no fear, but behave with him precisely as you would with any ordinary wrestler, and don’t spare him, or be fooled by his devices.” Jackey’s wife now came in. She had been ” courseying” (gossiping) on the road, to ease her mind. Mr. Wood left the dwelling; and Trevail, now in pretty good heart, went with him some distance.
On parting the parson cautioned him to keep the matter private.
“That I will be sure to do,” replied Jackey ; “I havn’t told a living soul but my wife, and she can keep a secret first-rate—for a woman. There’s no fear now of my showing a white feather, thanks to your reverence.”
At the appointed time our prize-wrestler went boldly to Le Pens Plat Common and waited near the spot agreed on. At midnight the gentleman in black arrived by the same path he took in the morning. They looked hard at each other for some minutes without speaking, till Trevail said, ” I’m come in good time you see, and there are the prizes on that rock. You know the rules of the game, I suppose, that one must lay hold above the waist; whichever makes three falls in five bouts wins the prize; it belongs to you, as the challenger, to take the first hitch.”
Still the stranger made no reply, and kept his gleaming eyes on the wrestler, who, feeling uncomfortable under his persistent stare, looked towards the rock, where the prizes lay, and said, “Then, if you won’t wrestle, take your money, and no harm done.”
That instant Trevail felt himself seized, all unawares, by his waistband and lifted clear off the ground. It seemed to the man as if the Old One rose with him many yards above the earth ; and its “fare-well to all the world with me now,” thought Cousin Jackey to himself.
During a desperate struggle in the air, however, the man got his right arm over his opponent’s shoulder, and grabbing him on the back with a good holdfast, took a crook with his legs. In the encounter the wrestler’s breast, or rather his waistcoat, touched the Evil One, who on the instant lost his hold, fell flat on his back, as if knocked down, and writhed on the ground like a wounded snake.
The wrestler pitched to his feet as he came down, never the worse, but his temper was now raised to such a point that he was ready to fight or wrestle with any man or devil. The other rose up with fury in his countenance, and exclaimed, ” You have some concealed weapon about ye that has wounded me ; cast off that waistcoat.”
“No, by golls,” replied Jackey, ” that I wont, to please ye; feel my jacket if you like ; there’s no blade in am’ not even a pin’s point, but ‘tes you that show the queer tricks ; catch me off my guard again ef you can.”
Saying this he clenched the Old One like a vice; but they had a hard struggle for more than five minutes, pushing and dragging each other to and fro at arm’s length. The Old One seemed afraid to close in. Jackey felt all out of sorts with the blasting gleams of the other’s evil eyes, and couldn’t get a crook with his legs. At last, making a desperate plunge, he freed himself from the Devil’s grasp ; took him with the ” flying-mare,” and threw him on his back with such a “qualk ” as made him belch brimstone fumes.
The devil quickly sprung up, looking very furious, and said, ” I’m deceived in you, for your play is very rough, and I desire you to request Parson Wood to go home. I am confused and powerless whilst he is looking on.””I don’t see Mr. Wood, nor anybody else but you,” returned Jackey.
“Your sight mayn’t be so good as mine,” replied the other. ” I can only just see his eyes glaring on me from between the bushes on yonder hedge, and I hear him mumbling something too. ‘ If I’m foiled again it will be all owing to your confounding parson. I hope to serve him out for this some day.”
“Never mind our passion, he can wrestle very well himself,” said Jackey in a cheerful tone, “and do like to see good play; so come on, at it agen.” Saying this he grasped his opponent in a “Cornish hug,” with more vigour than ever, laid him on his back as flat as a flounder, and said, “There, you have had three fair falls ; but if they don’t satisfy ‘e, I’ve more science to teach ‘e yet.” The wrestler kept a sharp eye on the prostrate one, intending to give him another thumping qualk the instant he rose, unless he asked for quarter. During the half minute or so that he watched the demon crameing on the ground like a serpent, the sky became overcast, and the moon obscured with gathering clouds, which seemed bursting with thunder. Looking closely, in the dim light, at the gentleman in black, Jackey was frightened to see that, in a twinkling, his feet and legs had become like those of a huge bird ; his skirts changed to a pair of wings ; and his form was still changing to that of a dragon, when he flew away, just skimming the ground at first, and leaving in his wake a train of lurid flame; then soared aloft and entered the pitch black clouds, which, on the instant, became all ablaze with lightning, and thunders roared, echoing all around from hill to hill. As the black cloud ascended, with a whirling motion, it appeared like an immense wheel revolving in the air, flashing lightning and shooting thunder-bolts from all ai-ound its border.
The demon’s sudden change and flight, with the noxious vapours spread around, so confused and stupefied Jackey, that for a minute or so he lost sight of all above and below. Whilst still like one in a trance, gazing on the sky, now clear overhead, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and heard Parson- Wood say, in cheery tones, ” Well done, my boy ; I was proud to see thy courage and good play. See, there’s the devil’s battery,” continued he, pointing to a small black cloud so far away as to be almost lost to view ; and casting a glance round he noticed, on a rock, Jackey’s gold-lace hat and the bag of money.
“Come, my son, rouse thee,” said he, ” take up thy prizes and let’s be off homeward.”
The wrestler took up his hat, but looked askaunt on the bag of guineas, as if unwilling to touch it. “Take the money,” urged Mr. Wood. “It’s fairly won; but some old sayings are passing in thy mind such as ‘A guinea of the devil’s money is sure to go, and take ten more with it.’ ‘ What’s gained over the fiend’s back will slip away under his belly;’ and other old saws of the like meaning, which don’t refer to such money as that ; but to unfair gains gotten by those thieves in heart who are too greedy to be honest. Yet even such often hold fast the cash for themselves and theirs, when the devil cries quits by taking them all at last.”
Trevail took up the bag, and, as he pocketed it, a flash of light drew their attention to the fiend’s retreat, now so high that it appeared a mere dot in the clear sky. They saw a streak of fire leave it, and, descending like a shooting star, fall in a neighbouring parish.
“Mark that, Jackey !” exclaimed Mr. Wood, “for it’s no other than your wrestling devil, or one of his company, who has come down amongst St. Endor witches ; and it strikes me that we havn’t seen the last of him yet.”
” There’s a hut on a moor just where he dropped,” said Jackey, ” in which a number of hags meet every now and then ; and when they have agreed on the mischief they are to work, about midnight they fly away on their brooms or ragwort stalks. In the small hours of morning they are often seen beating homewards in the shape of hares. Many old hags over that way get what they like for the asking. If any one of them hap to be refused she’ll shake her bony finger at the one who denies her, and say, ‘You will wish you glad,’ and sure enow, from the fear of some ill wish falling on them or theirs, the old witch is pretty sure to get all she looked for.”
On their way home Jackey thanked the parson most heartily for his protection, and told him that in the first bout he thought all was over for him in this world, when the Old One rose with him off the earth ” ever so high.”
“You are mistaken in that, my son,” replied Mr. Wood, ” it was only your fright on being seized unawares and suddenly lifted off the ground that made ye think so ; for, to give the devil his due, he never tried to fly away with you. I saw it all, and precautions had been taken to guard against foul play on his part, if any tricks were attempted, as you will understand by-and-bye, when I tell you of my night’s work.”
Jackey didn’t contradict the reverend gentleman, but he was of the same opinion still ; and whenever he told the story in after years, always asserted that on his first hitch he was taken up “towers high,” and still getting higher, until he came to close quarters with the Old One.
” I have had a busy time of it,” continued Mr. Wood. ” Long before midnight I was on the ground—which I knew from your description to be the place of your encounter,—and summoned thither many powerful spirits, who attended with pleasure to see such a wrestling. They hadn’t, of late, beheld the like, though, in days of yore, contests between men and demons were not unfrequent.
The one you have conquered is a devil of high rank. He came attended by a great number of lower degree ; and precautions were taken to place around ye a ring of my true and valiant spirits, who made your opponent’s attendant fiends remain in an outer circle.
“Besides, there were crowds of vagrant spirits wandering to and fro, on the earth and in the air, as is their custom from midnight to cock-crowing ; all of them stopped to witness your contest.
They were all visible to me, though by you unseen ; and well for ye it was so, because a sight of such beings would be sure to shock ye or any other unprepared mortal. Many in the crowd were very ghastly in appearance. Your demon’s retainers were in their usual form, which suits them for air or earth.
“Many bets were made between the spectators in both circles and overhead ; and a great many of the demon’s backers are bound to serve the winners for ages. They don’t much mind that, however. Time hangs heavy on their hands ; and of all spirits, fallen ones are the most restless, as it goes against their grain to,do mortals a good turn. For the sake of some change in their wearisome existence they lise tempests, serve the evil behests of witches, and perform other acts of deviltry, such as we often hear of ; yet they are a melancholy set that one might pity.”
The wrestler expressed his wonder at what the parson related; yet, from what he had heard of devils’ doings, wasn’t much surprised.
Over a while Mr. Wood resumed, “I am somewhat chagrined though all has gone well on the whole ; for I was watching to see thee give three fair falls, intending then to rush on the devil and shame him, if possible, with a lusty thrashing with my huntingwhip, it’s fastened round my waist ; but, as bad luck would have it, in getting hastily over the hedge my skirts caught in brambles, and I dropped my ebony staff. That instant, whilst it lay on the earth, the demon took a form which used to be common amongst the infernal brood. At his signal the attendant fiends formed a thunder-cloud to receive their chief. The guardian spirits, well pleased, only quitted their charge when my hand was laid on your shoulder ; all the rest you saw.”
” I have often heard,” said Jackey, “of a dragon that burned Helston, was that a devil to…?”
“Very likely, or something as bad,” replied Mr. Wood. “The tradition handed down simply says that, in old times, before there was a bar formed at the Loe, and when the tide flowed past the site of St. John’s Mill, a dragon often came from over sea and burnt the ancient town. Yet the dragon which visited Helston might only have been a northern pirate’s ship known by that name.
” I was going to tell you that I owe this wrestling devil a grudge. Who, indeed, in my place wouldn’t be vexed with the beast for taking the disguise he so impudently assumed. Decked as he was in a three cocked beaver and black garments, he might easily pass himself off for a clergyman, without a close scrutiny.”
” I thought sure he was,” said Jackey, ” he wore a white neckcloth too ; and one could hardly make out if he had a cloven foo’t or no.”
From walking slowly home it was broad day when they arrived at the parsonage. Mr. Wood gave the wrestler a substantial breakfast of cold beef, bread, and ale. After a hearty meal, Jackey said, “I should be glad to serve yovir rererence at any hour by day or by night, for I owe you more than life.”
“Not so, my son,” the parson replied, ” for I have only done my duty in guarding from the wolf a wild and thoughtless one of my flock.”
The money, however, did the wrestler but little if any good, and it was the cause of quarrels between him and his wife, and of both with their neighbours. Jackey soon learnt how it was rumoured all around that he had sold himself to the Old One to have his wishes gratified for a few years, with the usual consequences to follow. Now he had told nobody but his wife—of course, Mr. Wood’s prudence was not to be suspected,—and she had only spoken of her trouble to her crony, who went with her to the parson. Accordingly, dame Trevail accused her gossip of having spread many falsehoods round the parish, and abused her for the breach of confidence.
The crony retorted by saying, ” Pool that thee art, however oust (canst) thee expect me, or anybody else, to keep thy secrets, when thee cusn’t keep them thyself? And what do I care ; I han’t had any share of thy dirty money ; by golls ! I wedn’t touchen weth a peer of tongs ; I han’t got a spoon long enow to sup weth thy old gentleman. ‘All the neighbours do say that of late, since thee hast had thy new rig out, from top to toe, thee art become so huffish and toit (uncivil in reply) that they can’t venture to say ‘ What cheer,’ or give thee the ‘ time o’ day’; and that poor Cousin Jackey han’t got a minute’s peace in his own house with thy constant ballarggan (abuse) and naggan that will fret am to death before long. Then thee mayst wring thy hands and cry ‘ bad as Jackey was, a es wes (worse) to live without am.’ Well, soase ! my bedgownd and towser (large coarse apron to come all round and tie behind) es good enow for me or any other honest workan woman.
They say that thee wert decked out like a lady in church a Sunday, with thy new covertail (kirtle) gownd, who but thee forsooth ! A clean bedgownd, check-apron, and quilted-pettiooat do more become thee. ‘Tes no wender people do gibe thee for thy pride ; and ‘tes as good as an old ‘ merable ‘ play to hear what they do say about thee. Now, go thee wast along home, and think over what I’ve told thee.” For many years after this Jackey continued to be the champion wrestler of his neighbourhood; and the story of his midnight adventure took the form of a droll just like the above.
Shortly after Mr. Wood gave the wrestler his ghostly aid, the reverend gentleman had much fiendish annoyance on that account, as will be seen in the sequel to this story.
One may remark that many old folks often compare a droll subject to an old miracle )jlay, though they have but a misty idea of what it was. The other day an elderly man of Newlyn, in speaking of old droll-tellers meeting together and spinning their yams, said, “It is as good as an old miracle-play to hear them.” On my asking what an old miracle play was, he replied that he couldn’t say exactly, but from what he had heard, he thought it was much the same as an old guise-dance. He wasn’t much out, as ” St. George and the Dragon ” was the guise-dance he had in view.
Bottrell, William (1880). Stories and Folk-lore of West Cornwall. With illustrations by Joseph Blight. 3rd series. Penzance. “Legends of Laddock”, pp. 1-12. Available via archive.org.