Cervantes' fondness for the subject of sorcery is manifest not only in the well known Coloquio de los perros but also in many other areas of his work, among which Persiles y Sigismunda particularly stands out. In the concluding chapters of that novel the heroine is bewitched by means of a malignant spell cast by a Jewess who resides in Rome. The episode is a sort of tour de force which culminates a series of difficulties the lovers Periandro and Auristela have had to undergo. We shall point out an interesting parallel with a similar situation in La española inglesa, as well as some classical antecedents from the Greek narrative of adventures.