About this story：
《The Witches of Pendle》tells us a story about a family of witches at the footer of Pendle Hill.
Basic story line:
Jennet Device was born in 1603. Her family was always very poor, and after her father died, they were poorer.
When she was nine years old, on the eighteenth day of March in the year 1612, her mother and grandmother were ill. They were hunger very much. Jennet’sister, Alizon, wanted to go out to look for bread. Jennet followed her along the river to Colne. Before they arrived at Colne, they met John Law who was a peddler and he had some beautiful things. Alinzon asked the peddler for some money, but the peddler didn’t want to give her money. Alizon was angry and cursed him. Then the peddler was ill and couldn’t move. Jennet called some villagers for help and John Law was carried up the hill to the nearest house.
John Law’s son wanted the judge, Roger Nowell, to question Alizon. So Mr Nowell’s men took Alizon, James, and Elizabeth to his house for some questions. Alizon admitted that she cursed John Law and she also admitted that she cursed a child before. Alizon also told Nowell her grandmother had cursed a child too. Then Alizon was putted into prison.
On the second day of April, Nowell talked to Jennet’s grandmother about the child. Jennet’s grandmother talked how she cursed the child. So she was putted into prison at Lancaster Castle too.
On the tenth day of April, Jennet’s family had some friends because James got a sheep. They ate and drank. They talked about Lancaster Castle. They wanted to go to Lancaster Castle and kill the guards. They were going to bring old Demdike and Alizon home again. Alizon left the room and went to tell Nowell about this. James followed her.
At Nowell’ house, James told Nowell that his mother was a witch and had cursed a man. In surprise, James also told himself was a witch and had killed a man too. On the twenty-seventh day of April, the guards took Elizabeth and James to Lancaster Castle.
On the eighteenth day of August, a trial of the witches of Pendle began at Lancaster Castle.
On the twentieth day of August 1612, the guards took Jennet’s mother, sister and brother out of prison, and hanged them is front of Lancaster Castle. (Jennet’s grandmother has died in prison.)
Jennet was happy for twenty-one years in Nowell’s family. After Mr. Nowell died, she was putted into prison too because people thought she was from a witch’s family and she was a witch too.
Main people in this story
1、Jennet Device
She is the leading character in this story.
2、Alizon（艾丽森）
She is Jennet Device’s sister. She is eighteen years old and she is tall with long, dirty brown hair and a white, hungry face.
3、James（詹姆斯）
He is Jennet Device’s brother. He is thirteen years old, nearly a man, but he is afraid of many things. He is fool.
4、Elizabeth（伊丽莎白）
She is Jennet Device’s mother.
5、Old Demdike （老德母代克）
She is Jennet Device’s grandmother, Elizabeth’s mother. She is a difficult old woman with a fat face and no teeth. She is nearly eighty years old.
6、John Law（约翰•劳）
He is a pedlar. He is a big fat man, about fifty years old. There is not much hair on his head. He walked across the hills and visited all the villages.
7、Roger Nowell
He is the judge for all the villages near Rendle Hill and a rich and important man in Lancashire. He is a tall man with a lot of white hair.
Other people in the story
1、Mr Webster
He is a tall man with brown hair and tired blue eyes. He is from the church at Kild Wick.
2、Edmund Robinson（埃德蒙•鲁滨逊）
He is only ten years old. He told lies about Jennet and about many women.
3、Devil
He is a boy called Tibb.
4、Bromley
He is a judge.