Modern tellers of fairy stories, by condensing several points, have established the tradition that witches flew through the air to Sabbaths on broomsticks. Actually, they went to Sabbaths on hobby-horses, composed of a stick, and dreamed of riding through the night sky with Herodias. In some versions, they transported several people on a pole, and the symbolism of this is made clear enough, since in some cases it was stuck into the hinder part of the devil. The sexual symbolism of riding is discussed 'infra'.