Chapter 6

The extraordinary events that followed

The night the two witches began their work, there was a storm unlike any other. I begged them to know what the cause of the tempest was. Apparently it was necessary for their dark working, of which was the focus. It would take eight days, and, in fact, it ended on schedule. During the time they took me for a ride, asking me for money, keeping me in the city, asking for snacks and meals and fruit syrups…those for the cold drinks they needed in case their entrails were consumed by hellfire. They also needed ribbons in a variety of colors, and when I brought them, they snatched them up and I never saw them again. 

I was, during these eight days, overwhelmingly sad, as if I was caught in a bubble. Day and night there was a constant pounding in my house, and I spent many nights away from my apartments, hoping to find some relief from these torments. 

Of course, I hoped in vain. The witches changed themselves into cats on the fourth day and crawled under my bed to bother me. I scolded them, and made up my mind that I simply could not sleep. 

On other days, they came in the shape of dogs, and I was overwhelmed by the barking and meowing. God, how long those eight days were! I thought the torture would end only if I died, but still they continued. And there was more vexation. Day and night they would not leave me alone, even in the temple of God. If I went to the edge of the river Rhone, they were waiting for me, pulling me along by my clothes, against the river’s current. If I walked up a hill, they waited there to push me down to the plain. I left the country for two weeks, but even then, I couldn’t relax. I returned to Avignon to drive out this housecleaner who was the cause of all my misfortunes, though I half expected her to meet me at the door with a marriage contract. 

She did what she could to keep me from my parents, they had come to visit me and relieve some of the stress that had overwhelmed me.  I tried to return to Carpentras, my homeland, but diabolical powers prevented me. I resigned myself to a future that seemed impossible to prevent.