L AYOUT

saw him coming from the orchard. When he entered the house and noticed me, he behaved as if he had known me for years. "Hey, friend Loizo," I said, "are you aware of your situation?" He explained that he had craved the girl for many years and that he had never experienced sexual relations with a woman before. The only sexual relations he had were with animals like donkeys, shegoats, and even with chickens which died after the act. Now that she had become his he wanted her and was not about to let her go. I tried to explain to him that he was not alive like the rest of us. He could not understand. "What are you talking about, mister?" he protested. "Here I am talking to your I fuck, and you are telling me I am not alive?"

'Exorcism could not work on him because he was not afraid of the Cross. He was, let us say, an immoral believer. He accepted Jesus. Therefore, it was necessary to persuade him with logical arguments that he had to leave. Fortunately I succeeded. "I am leaving," he promised me, "and I will not return. But I do not want to die." "Should you continue bothering this girl you will remain in this narcotized state like a vampire," I warned him. He turned around and walked away. The dogs in the yard felt him and began barking. When the priest and the doctor asked me about what happened, I avoided telling them the truth because I assumed they were not likely to believe me anyway. I mentioned that the girl was under the influence of illusions and that through psychoanalysis I helped her overcome her problem. At night the doctor gave a lecture to the villagers, sitting in the coffeehouse, on psychoanalysis. He spoke about Freud, the unconscious, and so on. I was in a corner listening and laughing to myself.' And Daskalos roared with laughter as he recollected the incident with the doctor.

'I left the following day.' As if he anticipated what I was about to ask, Daskalos continued. 'I never found out whether it was the dead shepherd who deflowered the girl or whether he made her break the hymen with her fingers.

'People get possessed by elementals which they themselves create as a result of their weaknesses. Only in rare cases do I encounter possession by beings who reside in the etheric world. For example many young men in Cyprus end up in the asylum after creating powerful elementals from obsessive masturbation over the image of a woman. Such an elemental sucks from the

etheric of the individual in order to prolong its life within the etheric counterpart of the gross material world. This may lead to insanity. The "sucking of blood" of the so-called vampires is in reality etheric matter. The same situation occurs more rarely when human entities behave as if they were vampires. One should not be hostile and narrow-minded with these beings. Even in cases of demonic elementals, one should also be tolerant. Demons also know how to love.'

I pointed out that I found Daskalos' last remark incompre- hensible and I asked for clarification. In his customary manner he proceeded to answer my query by narrating another yarn.

'After the civil war in Lebanon, when many refugees came to Cyprus, there emerged an epidemic of black sorcery. Among the refugees there were several powerful sorcerers who made their living by offering their services. These black magicians posed a formidable challenge to us. My concern was that they were training local people in the secrets of their craft.

'One such sorcerer was asked to kill a young couple for the price of three hundred pounds. He knew how to carry out invocations of satanic powers and succeeded in trapping a demon inside a bottle. He used rubber from a tire to carve the image of the demon. He then managed to place the bottle with this demon-elemental under the mattress of the newlywed couple. On their wedding night both of them began to bleed from their ears and noses. They began to lose their strength. They came to see me but I was in Paphos that day with Theophanis. They left and returned the following day. Still I had not come back. Meanwhile I cut short my visit to Paphos because I felt somebody needing me desperately. I was back on the fifth day and found both of them sitting at my doorstep waiting. They held handkerchieves in front of their mouths to hide the bleeding. I knew what happened right away. They were both exhausted and showed me the bottle with the demon which they discovered under their bed. I immediately cut off the connection between the demon and this young couple and they both breathed with relief. The bleeding stopped and they could now lead a normal life.

'I deliberately kept the demon inside the bottle and waited for Iacovos and Theophanis to arrive so that we might discuss the matter and decide what to do. When they arrived I showed