The Seven Develins
THE heyday of curses, spells, phantoms and their like is long since past, yet we are not far removed from a period when they still exerted a powerful influence on the minds of the people. Even to-day there still survives a firm belief in many ancient superstitions, of which numerous examples are to be found in the pages of legendary history.
MANY centuries ago in an old monastery in the Charnwood Forest, alas a meagre ruin this many a year were seven monks engaged one early February afternoon in tilling the ample tithe lands with which this religious house
had been plentifully endowed by sundry generous patrons.
There was much work to be done which would brook no delay, the days were short and the good monks had perforce to continue their labours
until the late after-noon, while there was yet sufficient light for the purpose.
From Thomas Tusser, the agricultural diarist of the sixteenth century, we glimpse this mediaeval scene : —
“Go plow in the stubble, take timely this season,
For sowing of vetches, of beans, and of peason.
Now sooner ye sow them the sooner they come,
And better for household they fill up a room.
Go harrow the peason ye buried so deep,
Lest cold do compel them for ever to sleep
Thy thistles so many (that clumbersome mede),
Where clay hath the mastrie, come up instead.
Stickplenty of boughs among runcival pease,
To climber thereon, and to branch at their ease;
So doing, more tender and greater they wex,
If Peacock and Turkey leave jobbing their hex.
Now sow, and go harrow, (where redge ye did draw),
The seed, of the bramble, with kernel and haw;
Which covered, overly, sun to shut out,
Go see it be ditched, and fenced about.
When Darkness Fell. These manifold duties the seven monks were tending to with praiseworthy diligence and this day they were working later than was their wont even at this season.
Darkness had well nigh fallen, when they espied immediately to the front a tall sinister figure who beckoned imperiously with such a show of authority that they dare not ignore his command.
As they lined up in front of him they trembled exceedingly and were sore afraid for he had the cloven hoof, and moreover large horns disfigured his head.
At once they knew it was the devil, man’s greatest enemy, who confronted them, for many a tussle they had had with him in the past though it had never been their misfortune to meet him in the flesh.
They had no wish to tarry with this guileful sower of discord, yet dare not leave him for his glance was strangely compelling, and held them with a direful power so that they might almost have been riveted to the ground.
The devil spake to them, and pleaded in such soft and persuasive tones that they paid some heed to his words and lent an ear to his suggestions.
He told them that men were destined to enjoy themselves to the full, and when one of the monks timidly suggested that there could be no greater enjoyment in life than praying and fasting and other religious observances, the devil sadly shook his head..
The Devil!
“You unhappy deluded men,” he said with well simulated sympathy.
“You have ne’er known what it is to live.” Thereupon his view upon he began with insidious skill to narrate in profuse detail the varied illicit pleasures of which they had never partaken and scarce thought.
The seven monks glanced uneasily around lest the Prior others in authority should be listening and as the devil enlarged On his theme with low cunning, he began to weave a spell around these hapless monks, and they were indeed as children in his practised hand.
Having sown his unholy seed he departed chuckling malevolently, as he went on his way seeking further victims.
Verily he had cast a spell over these seven monks, for henceforth though retaining outwardly every semblance of piety in secret they found means of indulging in all manner of sinful pursuits, and inspired now with an infinite cunning they covered their traces so that none suspected they were leading double lives.
But retribution was at hand; one morning following an orgy of unprecedented license, they awakened, alas not on their pallets, but “neath the thatch of a small cottage.”
For their sins the seven monks had been transformed into develins or swifts.
They were sorely distressed and began to talk of the devil with scant courtesy, but scarce had they uttered his name ere he stood in their midst, tall and menacing. Thus, maybe, did originate the old saying—” talk of the devil and lie will forthwith appear.”
He told them all would be well, that although unhappily he himself lacked the power to restore their human form, yet should that be achieved by indirect means.
Where’er you go, he told them, bad fortune will assuredly follow in your train, so that you will be a scourge in the land, and ere long the malign spell which has been cast upon you will perforce be removed.
Bad Luck Followed Them.
It was even as the devil said, wherever the seven
A DELVE in the Echo archives often turns up some surprising and interesting finds and none more so than a series of articles by an author going under the pen name of “Heywood”.
During the 1930s Heywood contributed a number of pieces for the Echo looking at local country houses, churches and also “Local Legends.”
Of course legends are always worth repeating so we have decided to re-run our mystery author’s articles ninety-odd years on.
If anybody can tell is any more about Heywood please contact Echo editor Andy Rush on 01509 635802. E-mail andy.rush@reachplc.com
develins appeared they left behind them ill luck and evil circumstance.
Heavy rain would ruin the crops, live stock would be grievously afflicted with incurable disease, the inhabitants stricken with the plague, until in the Charnwood Forest and the Soar Valley there was such a succession of bad harvests and cattle maladies that the suffering in the land was intense.
What would have been the outcome it is well nigh impossible to conceive, had not a sturdy yeoman, by the veriest piece of good fortune, discovered a means of counteracting the unholy work of the seven develins.
He found to his infinite delight that by crossing his fingers when the develins appeared he could completely nullify the effects of their visitation.
He communicated his astonishing discovery to all the inhabitants of the hundred in which he dwelt, so that ere long prosperity did return and the seven develins flew away to foreign parts and were never seen again in the neighbourhood.
And still in rural districts there are to be met old countrymen who have not yet thrown, off this ancient superstition.
If you, good reader, should see them crossing their fingers, then will you know they are guarding against the evil eye, in which manner they did refer in days of yore to the dread power of the seven develins.