Sometimes, moreover, even the trickster can be tricked. I confess that one of my favorite descriptions in Eire’s latest book is the way the nuns of the Spanish Franciscan convent of Santa Clara used Sor Luisa, or Sister Luisa. They would have her lie beneath the bed of a dying nun to act as a decoy and deflect the demonic assaults to her own body instead of that of the dying sister. Eire comments wryly: “As one might expect, Sor Luisa became something of an expert demonologist as a result of these encounters and also a successful exorcist.”109 Why does that make me laugh?
