A bishop of Aberdeen cursed a thief with a plague of rats, a...

Original Track ID

SA1980.53.7

Original Tape ID

SA1980.053

Summary

A bishop of Aberdeen cursed a thief with a plague of rats, and the curse rebounded on him.

Stanley Robertson introduces a true story that he heard from a city father of Aberdeen. Long ago, when the bishop lived within the precincts of the church of St Nicholas in Aberdeen, some of his apples were stolen. The bishop picked on one of the young monks and flogged him for it, though the boy protested his innocence. The bishop called upon the rats to devour the person who stole his apples, if it wasn't this boy. This curse was so bad that the real culprit came forward and did penance. Nevertheless a plague of rats came and gnawed the culprit to the bone. A month later the curse fell back upon the bishop and he was also gnawed to death. As Travellers say, "The prayer will go round the world three times and it lands on the preacher."

Item Location

Language

English

Genre

Story Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good