Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it – and I’ll be whipped if I must be. But they’re speaking of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. As talk of witchcraft swirls around Salem, Abigail defends the girls’ behavior in the woods to her uncle Reverend Parris. She denies that they were involved in witchcraft, but admits that they danced. She accepts that she will be punished for dancing, a practice frowned on by the intolerant Salem Puritans. Abigail assures Parris that his daughter Betty, who is in a comatose state, is not bewitched.