BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME • FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage 1891 ..k..l.53Ut U/J.^IM Cornell University Library GR145.H6 C185 Superstitions of the highlands & islands olin 3 1924 029 909 896 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029909896 SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND PUBLISHED BY JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW, ^ntilisheis to the Snibeistts. MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON AND NEW YORK. London, Sifitpkin, Hamilton and Co. Cambridge, - Macmitian and Bo^es. Edinburgh, - Douglas and Foiilis. Superstitions of the Highlands ^ Islands of Scotland Collected entirely from Oral Sources By John Gregorson Campbell Minister of Tiree Glasgow James MacLehose and Sons Publishers to the University 1900 GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT JVIACLEHOSE AND CO. Jr EDITOR'S NOTE. This volume is the result of many years' labour by the late Rev. JOHN Gregorson Campbell, while minister of Tiree during the years 1861 — to 1891. Much of the material was already collected before Mr. J. F. Campbell of Islay published his Popular Tales of the West Highlands in i860, and readers of Lord Archibald Campbell's volumes on Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition are already acquainted with the valuable work contributed to that series by the Rev. J. Gregorson Campbell. It is hoped that this volume on the Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands, full as it is of racy stories, may throw fresh light on an extremely interesting subject. The MS. of a corresponding work by the same author •on Witchcraft and Second-Sight in the West Highlands, is in the editor's hands, and in the event of the present "work meeting with the reception which the editor vi EDITOR'S NOTE. thinks it deserves, the volume on Witchcraft will be published next year. Mrs. Wallace, Hynish, Tiree, the author's sister, has kindly read the proofs. August, 1900. PREFACE. The object aimed at in the following pages is to put before the reader a statement, as complete and accurate as the writer can attain to, of the Superstitions and Antiquities of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. In other words, the writer has endeavoured to gather full materials relating to that subject, and to arrange them in a form that may prove of some scientific value. In pursuit of this object, it has been deemed ad- visable to derive information solely from oral sources. Books have been purposely avoided as authorities, and a rule has been laid down, and strictly adhered to, not to accept any statement in print regarding a Highland belief, unless also found current among the people. In the few books there are, having any refer- ence to Gaelic lore, the statements have been so frequently found at variance with popular beliefs that this rule has been a necessity. There are a ' few viii PREFACE honourable exceptions, but in general what is to be found in print on this subject is not trustworthy. A want of acquaintance with the Gaelic language or with Highland feelings and modes of thought, is usually the cause of error. The writers think in English, and are not careful to eliminate from their statements thoughts derived from English or classical literature, or to keep from confusing with Celtic beliefs ideas derived from foreign sources, and from analogous creeds existing elsewhere. This gives an unconscious tinge to their statements, and (what is more to be regretted) sometimes makes them fill up with extraneous and foreign elements what seems to them gaps or blanks in beliefs they but imperfectly understand. The writer's information has been derived from widely separated districts in the North, West, and Central Highlands, and from the Islands. Naturally, the bulk of the information was obtained in Tiree, where the writer had most opportunity of making inquiries, but information from this or any other source has not been accepted without comparison with the same beliefs in other districts. The writer has not been able personally to visit all parts of the High- lands, but his informants have spent their lives in PREFACE ix districts far apart. The reader will fall into a mis- take who supposes that the whole information is within the belief, or even knowledge, of any one individual, or of any one district. The beliefs of one district do not differ essentially from those of another. In one or two cases several versions of a tale are given to show to some extent the nature of the variations of popular tradition. The writer has thankfully to acknowledge, and he cannot but remember with pleasure, the readiness and courtesy, and in very many cases the great intelligence with which his inquiries have been answered. Some of his informants have shown a quickness and reten- tiveness of memory which he could not but envy, and an appreciation of, and an acquaintance with ancient lore that seemed to him to indicate in those who were strangers to the world of letters powers of mind of a high order. The objection to books and print as authorities has also been extended to written correspondence. No doubt much that is additional and interesting could be obtained through these channels, but if the account given is to serve any purpose higher than that of mere amusement, strict accuracy is of such importance that all these sources of possible error have been X PREFACE avoided ; they cannot be sifted by cross-examination and further inquiry so readily or thoroughly as infor- mation obtained by word of mouth. The whole has thus passed through the writer's own hands directly from what he has found current among the people. Care has been taken that no statement be made con- veying an idea different in the slightest from what has been heard. A popular Gaelic saying can be quoted as applicable to the case : " If it be a lie as told by me, it was a lie as told to me " {Ma's breug bh'uam. e, is breug dhomh e). It is as free to another as it has been to the writer, to draw his inferences from the statements given, and it is thought no genuine tale or oral tradition will be found to contradict the statements made in the following pages. In the translations given of Gaelic, the object aimed at has been to give the corresponding English ex- pression, that is, one conveying the same meaning to the English reader that the Gaelic expression conveys to the Gaelic reader. Accuracy has been looked to on this point rather than grace of diction. Where there is anything striking in the Gaelic idiom the literal meaning is also given. In poetry there is conse- quently a baldness, to which the original is a stranger ; but this, it may be urged, is a fault inherent in all V \ PREFACE xi translations, however carefully executed. The trans- ference of ideas from one language to another weakens the force and beauty of an expression ; what is racy and witty, or musical and expressive in one, becomes tame and insipid in another. This trite observation is made to deprecate unfavourable opinions being formed of the genius and force of the Gaelic language from the translations given. \ CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Fairies PAGE Names Given to Fairies 3 The Size of Fairies 9 Fairy Dwellings 1 1 Fairy Dresses 14 The Defects of Fairies 15 Their Occupations 15 Seasons of Festivity 16 Fairy Raids 18 Circumstances under which Fairies are seen 21 Fairy Food 21 Gifts Bestowed by Fairies 22 The Giving and taking of Loans 24 Eddy Wind 24 Rain and Sunshine, Wind and Rain 26 Fairy Arrows 26 Cattle 27 Horses 30 Dogs 30 Elfin Cats 32 xiii CONTENTS Fairy Theft 32 Stealing Women and Children 36 Changelings 38 Deformities 39 Nurses 40 The Men of Peace 40 The Bean Nighe, or Washing Woman 42 The Song of the Fairy Woman 44 The Glaistig as distinct from the Banshi 44 Elfin Queen 45 Protection against Fairies 46 CHAPTER II Tales Illustrative of Fairy Superstition Luran 52 The Cup of the Macleods of Raasa 57 The Fairies on Finla^s Sandbank 57 Pennygown Fairies 59 Ben Lomond Fairies 60 Callum Clark and his Sore Leg 60 The Young Man in the Fairy Knoll 61 Black Wilham the Piper 65 The Harris Woman and her Baking 66 Lifted by the Fairies 68 Fairies Coming to Houses 73 The Lowland Fairies 76 Fairies Stealing Women and Children 78 Ready Wit Repulses the Fairies 85 Kindness to a Neglected Child 86 The Bridegroom's Burial _ 86 The Crowing of the Black Cock 87 Throwing the Arrow 88 The Woman Stolen from France 90 CONTENTS PAGE Changelings 90 Taking away Cows and Sheep 92 The Dwellings of the Fairies 93 Fairy Assistance 96 The Battle of Trai-Gruinard 100 Duine Sith, Man of Peace 101 Bean Shith, EUe Woman, or Woman of Peace 102 Donald Thrashed by the Fairy Woman 105 lona Banshi 107 Tiree Banshi 108 Macphie's Black Dog 109 The Carlin of the Spotted Hill 122 Donald, Son of Patrick 123 The Wife of Ben-y-Ghloe 125 Fairy Women and Deer 126 O'Cronicert's Fairy Wife 127 The Gruagach Ban 132 Deer Killed and conveyed home at Night 133 Fairies and Goats 134 Fairies and Cows 134 Fairy Cows 135 The Thirsty Ploughman 137 The Fairy Churning 137 Milk Spilt by Dairymaids 138 Fairy Music 138 MacCrimmon 139 Fairy Dogs ('Cu Sith') 141 What happens to Dogs Chasing Fairies 144 Fairies and Horses 146 Fairies and the Handmill 149 Fairies and Oatmeal 150 Fairies and Iron 152 Name of the Deity 153 Fairy Gifts 153 Struck by the Fairy Arrow Spade 154 CONTENTS CHAPTER III Tutelary Beings PAGE (I) The Glaistig 155 At Glenduroi- 162 At Sron-Charmaig 162 At Inverawe House 164 At Dunstaffnage Castle 164 In Tiree 165 At Sleat, Skye 165 In the Island of Coll 166 At DunoUy Castle 166 At Mernaig Castle 166 In Strathglass 167 At Lianachan 168 In Glenorchy 171 M'Millan of Knap stabbing the Glaistig 172 At Craignish 173 On Garlics, Morvern 173 At Ardnadrochit, Mull I7S On Baugh, Tiree 176 On Hianish, Tiree 177 At Strontian 177 In Ulva 178 In lona 179 In Ross, Mull 179 In Corry-na-Henchor 180 Mac-Ian Year 181 At Erray, Mull 183 (II) The Gruagach 184 (III) Brownie 186 Gunna 189 The Old Man of the Barn 190 CONTENTS CHAPTER IV The Urisk, The Blue Men, and The Mermaid PAGE The Urisk 195 The Blue Men 199 The Mermaid 201 CHAPTER V The Water-Horse Farmers and Water-Horses 204 Mac-Fir Arois 205 The Talking Horse at Cru-Loch 207 Island of Coll 208 The Nine Children at Sunart 208 Killing the Raasay Water-Horse 209 The Water-Horse at Loch Cuaich 210 The Water-Horse at Tiree 211 Water-Horse and Women 212 The Water-Horse at Loch Basibol, Tiree 214 The Kelpie 215 The Water-Bull 216 The King Otter 216 Biasd na Srogaig 217 The Big Beast of Lochawe 218 i ' CONTENTS CHAPTER VI Superstitions about Animals PAGE Lamprey — Sea Serpent — Gigelorum — Lavellan — Bernicle Goose — Eels — Whale — Herring — Flounder— Lobster— Serpents— Rats and Mice- Cormorant — Magpie —Beetles — Emmet— Skip Jack 219-228 CHAPTER VII Miscellaneous Superstitions Gisvagun, Eapagun, Upagun 229 The Right-Hand Turn (Deiseal) 229 Rising and Dressing 230 Clothes 231 Houses and Lands 231 Baking 232 Removal Cheese (Mulchag Imrich) 234 Leg Cake (Bonnach Lurgainn) 234 Giving Fire out of the House 234 Thunder 235 Theft 236 Salt 236 Combing the Hair 236 Bird Nests 237 Hen's First Egg 237 Euphemisms 237 Boat Language 239 Fresh Meat 240 Killing those too long alive 240 Funerals 241 The Watch of the Graveyard (Faire Chlaidh) 242 CONTENTS Suicides 242 Murder 243 The Harvest Old Wife (a Chailleach) 243 La u Bhrochain mhor (Big Porridge Day) 244 Fires on Headlands 244 Stances 244 Names 245 Delivery of Cattle and Horses 245 Trades 246 Iron 246 Empty Shells 247 Protection against Evil Spirits 247 Misnaming a Person 248 Gaining Straw (Sop Seile) 248 Propitious Times 248 Unlucky Actions 249 CHAPTER VIII Augury At Outset of a Journey Unlucky to look back 253 255 CHAPTER IX Premonitions and Divination Premonitions (Meamna) 258 Trial (Deuchaiun) 259 Divination (Fiosachd) 262 Shoulder-blade Reading (Slinneaneachd) 263 Palmistry (Dearnadaireachd) 266 Divination by Tea, or Cup-reading (Leughadh Chupaichean) 266 CONTENTS CHAPTER X Dreams and Prophecies PAGE Dreams (Bruardair) 268 Prophecies (Fkisneachd) 269 The Lady of Lawers 274 CHAPTER XI Imprecations, Spells, and the Black Art Imprecation (Guidhe) 277 Spells (Geasan no Geasaibh) 281 The Black Art 285 CHAPTER XII The Devil Card Playing 292 Red Book of Appin 292 Coming for the Dying 295 Making the Devil your Slave 296 Coming Misfortune 298 The Gaick Catastrophe (Mort Ghkthaig) 300 The Bundle of Fern 303 The Pig in the Indigo Pot 303 Among the Tailors 304 Taghairm, or "Giving his Supper to the Devil" 304 Glas Ghairm — Power of Opening Locks 311 CHAPTER I. THE FAIRIES.i In any account of Gaelic superstition and popular belief, the first and most prominent place is to be assigned to the Fairy or Elfin people, or, as they are called both in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the sith people, that is, ' the people of peace,' the ' still folk,' or ' silently-moving ' people. The antiquity of the belief is shown by its being found among all branches of the Celtic and Teutonic families, and in countries which have not, within historical times, had any com- munication with each other. If it be not entirely of Celtic origin, there can be no doubt that among the Celtic races it acquired an importance and iniluence accorded to it nowhere else. Of all the beings, with which fear or fancy peopled the supernatural, the Fairies were the most intimately associated with men's daily life. In the present day, when popular poetical ' The words Elfin and Fairy are, in these pages, used indifferently as equivalents of the Gaelic names, sith (or shi) people, etc. A 2 THE FAIRIES. ideas are extinguished in the universal call for " facts and by " cold material laws," it is hard to understand how firm a hold a belief like this had upon men in a more primitive state of society, and how unwillingly it is surrendered. Throughout the greater part of the Highlands of Scotland the Fairies have become things of the past. A common belief is that they existed once, though they are not now seen. There are others to whom the elves have still a real existence, and who are careful to take precautions against them. The changes, which the Highlands are undergoing, have made the traces of the belief fainter in some districts than in others, and in some there remains but a confused jumbling of all the superstitions. It would be difficult to find a person who knows the whole Fairy creed, but the tales of one district are never contradictory of those of another. They are rather to be taken as supplemental of each other, and it is by comparison and such supplementing that the following statement has been drawn out. It is thought that it will not be found at variance with any genuine Highland Fairy Tale. The Fairies, according to the Scoto-Celtic belief, are a race of beings, the counterparts of mankind in person, occupations, and pleasures, but unsubstantial and un- real, ordinarily invisible, noiseless in their motions, and having their dwellings underground, in hills and green mounds of rock or earth. They are addicted to THEIR NAMES. 3 visiting the haunts of men, sometimes to give assist- ance, but more frequently to take away the benefit of their goods and labours, and sometimes even their persons. They may be present in any company, though mortals do not see them. Their interference is never productive of good in the end, and may prove destructive. Men cannot therefore be sufficiently on their guard against them. NAMES GIVEN" TO FAIRIES. The names by which these dwellers underground are known are mostly derivative from the word sith (pronounced shee). As a substantive (in which sense it is ordinarily used) sith means ' peace,' and, as an adjective, is applied solely to objects of the super- natural world, particularly to the Fairies and whatever belongs to them. Sound is a natural adjunct of the motions of men, and its entire absence is unearthly, unnatural, not human. The name sith without doubt refers to the ' peace ' or silence of Fairy motion, as contrasted with the stir and noise accompanying the movements and actions of men. The German ' still folk ' is a name of corresponding import. The Fairies come and go with noiseless steps, and their thefts or abductions are done silently and unawares to men. The wayfarer resting beside a stream, on raising his eyes, sees the Fairy woman, unheard in her approach, standing on the opposite bank. Men know the Fairies 4 THE FAIRIES. have visited their houses only by the mysterious dis- appearance of the substance of their goods, or the sudden and unaccountable death of any of the inmates or of the cattle. Sometimes the elves are seen entering the house, gliding silently round the room, and going out again as noiselessly as they entered. When driven away they do not go off with tramp and noise, and sounds of walking such as men make, or melt into thin air, as spirits do, but fly away noiselessly like birds or hunted deer. They seem to glide or float along rather than to walk. Hence the name sUhche and its synonyms are often applied contemptuously to a person who sneaks about or makes his approach without warning. Sometimes indeed the elves make a rustling noise like that of a gust of wind, or a silk gown, or a sword drawn sharply through the air, and their coming and going has been even indicated by frightful and unearthly shrieks, a pattering as of a flock of sheep, or the louder trampling of a troop of horses. Generally, however, their presence is indi- cated at most by the cloud of dust raised by the eddy wind, or by some other curious natural pheno- menon, by the illumination of their dwellings, the sound of their musical instruments, songs, or speech. For the same reason slth is applied not merely to what is Fairy, but to wha,tever is Fairy-like, unearthly, not of this world. Of this laxer use of the term the following may be given as illustrations : THEIR NAMES. 5 Breac shith, ' Elfin pox,' hives, are spots that appear on the skin in certain diseases, as hooping-cough, and indicate a highly malignant stage of the malady. They are not ascribed to the Fairies, but are called skk, because they appear and again disappear as it were 'silently,' without obvious cause, and more mysteriously than other symptoms. Cows, said to have been found on the shores of Loscantire in Harris, Scorrybrec in Skye, and on the Island of Bernera, were called cro sith, ' fairy cows,' simply because they were of no mortal breed, but of a kind believed to live under the sea on meillich, seaweed. Animals in the shape of cats, but in reality witches or demons, were called cait shlth, ' Elfin cats,' and the Water Horse, which has no connection whatever with the elves, is sometimes called each sith, un- earthly horse. The cuckoo is an eun sith, a ' Fairy bird,' because, as is said, its winter dwelling is underground. A banner in the possession of the family of Macleod, of Macleod of Skye, is called 'Macleod's Fairy Banner' {Bratach shlth MhicLeoid), on account of the supernatural powers ascribed to it. When unfurled, victory in war {buaidh chogaidh) attends it, and it relieves its followers from imminent danger.^ Every pregnant woman who sees it is taken in premature labour (a misfortune which happened, it is said, to the English wife of a former * These virtues it is to have only thrice, and it has been already unfiirled twice. Many of the common people wanted it brought out at the time of the potato failure. 6 THE FAIRIES. chief in consequence of her irrepressible curiosity to see the banner), and every cow casts her calf {cha bhi bean no bo nach tilg a laogh). Others, however, say the name is owing to the magic banner having been got from an Elfin sweetheart. A light, seen among the Hebrides, a sort of St. Elmo's light or Will-of-the-wisp, is called teine sith, 'Fairy light,' though no one ever blamed the Fairies as the cause of it. In a semi-satirical song, of much merit for its spirit and ease of diction, composed in Tiree to the owner of a crazy skiff that had gone to the Ross of Mull for peats and staid too long, the bard, in a spirited description of the owner's adventures and seamanship, says : — " Onward past Greenock, Like the deer of the cold high hills, Breasting the rugged ground With the hunter in pursuit ; She sailed with Fairy motion^ Bounding smoothly in her pride, Cleaving the green waves, And passing to windward of the rest." ^ 1 Fairy motion, i.e. not rising and falling on the waves, but gliding smoothly along. - " Seachad air Grianaig, Mar fhiadh nam beann fuara, Direadh ri uchd garbhlaich, 'S an sealgair ga ruagadh, Ise is siubhal, sith aice, Slnteagan uallach, Sgoltadh nan tonn uaine 'S a fuaradh air chach." Long aig Galium MacShlomain. THEIR NAMES. 7 This latitude in the use of the word has led soiiie writers on the subject to confound with the Fairies beings having as little connection with them as with mankind. A similar laxness occurs in the use of the English word Fairy. It is made to include kelpies, mermaids, and other supernatural beings, having no connection with the true Fairy, or Elfin race. The following are the names by which the ' Folk ' are known in Gaelic. It is observable that every one of the names, when applied to mortals, is contemptuous and disparaging. Sithche (pronounced sheeche) is the generic and commonest term. It is a noun of common gender, and its plural is sithchean (sheechun). In Graham's Highlands of Perthshire, a work more than once quoted by Sir Walter Scott, but unreliable as an authority, this word is written shi'ich. Sireach, plur. sirich, also sibhrich, is a provincial term ; an siriche du, ' the black elf,' i.e. the veriest elf Sithbheire (pronounced sheevere), a masculine noun, is mostly applied to changelings, or the elf substituted for children and animals taken by the Fairies. Applied to men it is very contemptuous. Siochaire is still more so. Few expressions of scorn are more commonly applied to men than siochaire grannda, " ugly slink." Duine sith (plur. daoine slth), ' a man of peace, a noiselessly moving person, a fairy, an elf ' ; fem. Bean 8 THE FAIRIES. shlth (gen. mna slth, plur. mnathan sith, gen. plur. with the article nam ban skltk), ' a woman of peace, an Ella woman,' are names that include the whole Fairy race. Bean shith has become naturalized in English under the form Banshi. The term was introduced from Ireland, but there appears no reason to suppose the Irish belief different from that of the Scottish Highlands. Any seeming difference has arisen since the introduction of the Banshi to the literary world, and from the too free exercise of imagination by book-writers on an im- perfectly understood tradition. The leannan slth, ' fairy sweetheart, familiar spirit,' might be of either sex. The use of this word by the translators of the Bible into Gaelic is made a great handle of by the common people, to prove from Scripture that Fairies actually exist. The Hebrew word so translated is rendered ' pythons ' by the Vulgate, and ' consulters of the spirits of the dead ' by modern scholars. Those said to have familiar spirits were probably a class of magicians, who pre- tended to be media of communication with the spirit world, their 'familiar' making himself known by sounds muttered from the ground through the instrumentality, as the Hebrew name denotes, of a skin bottle. Brugkadair, ' a person from a brugh, or fairy dwell- ing,' applied to men, means one who does a stupid or senseless action. Other names are sluagh, ' folk, a multitude ' ; sluagh THEIR NAMES. 9 eutrom, ' light folk ' ; and daoine beaga, ' little men,' from the number and small size ascribed to the elves. Daoine Cbire, ' honest folk,' had its origin in a desire to give no unnecessary offence. The ' folk ' might be listening, and were pleased when people spoke well of them, and angry when spoken of slightingly. In this respect they are very jealous. A wise man will not unnecessarily expose himself to their attacks, for, ' Better is a hen's amity than its enmity' {S'fkearr sith ciree na h-ahnhreif). The same feeling made the Irish Celt call them daoine niatha, ' good people,' and the lowland Scot ' gude neighbours.' THE SIZE OF FAIRIES. The difference in size ascribed to the race, though one of the most remarkable features in the superstition, and lying on its surface, has been taken little notice of by writers. At one time the elves are small enough to creep through key-holes, and a single potato is as much as one of them can carry ; at another they re- semble mankind, with whom they form alliances, and to whom they hire themselves as servants ; while some are even said to be above the size of mortals, gigantic hags, in whose lap mortal women are mere infants. In the Highlands the names sithche and daoine sith are given to all these different . sizes alike, little men, elfin youth, elfin dame, and elfin hag, all of whom are not mythical beings of different classes or kinds. 10 THE FAIRIES. but one and the same race, having the same characteristics and dress, living on the same food, staying in the same dwellings, associated in the same actions, and kept away by the same means. The easiest solution of the anomaly is that the fairies had the power of making themselves large or small at ' pleasure. There is no popular tale, however, which represents them as exercising such a power, nor is it conformable to the rest of their characteristics that it should be ascribed to them. The true belief is that the Fairies are a small race, the men ' about four feet or so ' in height, and the women in many cases not taller than a little girl {cnapach caileig). Being called 'little,' the exaggeration, which popular imagina- tion loves, has diminished them till they appear as elves of different kinds. There is hardly a limit to the popular exaggeration of personal peculiarities. Og, King of Bashan, was a big man, and the Rabbis made his head tower to the regions of perpetual snow, while his feet were parched in the deserts of Arabia. Finmac Coul was reputed strong, at least he thrashed the devil, and made him howl. A weaver in Perthshire, known as ' the weaver with the nose ' {figkeadair na erdine), had a big nose, at least he carried his loom in it. Similarly the ' little men ' came down to the ' size of half an ell,' and even the height of a quart bottle. The same peculiarity exists in the Teutonic belief. . THEIR SIZE. II At times the elf is a dwarfish being that enters through key-holes and window-slits; at other times a great tall man. In different localities the Fairies are known as Alfs, Huldra-Folk, Duergar, Trolls, Hill Folk, Little Folk, Still Folk, Pixies, etc. A differ- ence of size, as well as of name, has led to these being described as separate beings, but they have all so much in common with the Celtic Fairies that we must conclude they were originally the same. FAIRY DWELLINGS. The Gaelic, as might be expected, abounds in words denoting the diversified features of the scenery in a mountainous country. To this the English language itself bears witness, having adopted so many Gaelic words of the kind, as strath, glen, corrie, ben, knock, dun, etc. From this copiousness it arises that the round green eminences, which were said to be the residences of the Fairies, are known in Gaelic by several names which have no synonym in English. Sitkein (pron. shi-en) is the name of any place in which the Fairies take up their residence. It is known from the surrounding scenery by the peculiarly green appearance and rounded form. Sometimes in these respects it is very striking, being of so nearly conical a form, and covered with such rich verdure, that a second look is required to satisfy the observers it is not artificial. Its external appearance has 12 THE FAIRIES. led to its being also known by various other names. Tolnian is a small green knoll, or hummock, of earth ; bac, a bank of sand or earth ; cnoc, knock, Scot. ' a knowe,' and its diminutive cnocan, a little knowe ; dim, a rocky mound or heap, such, for in- stance, as the Castle rock of Edinburgh or Dumbarton, though often neither so steep nor so large ; bthan, a green elevation in wet ground ; and itigh, a provincial term of much the same import as tolman. Even lofty hills have been represented as tenanted by Fairies, and the highest point of a hill, having the rounded form, characteristic of Fairy dwellings is called its shY-en {sithein na beinne). Rocks may be tenanted by the elves, but not caves. The dwellings of the race are below the outside or superficies of the earth, and tales representing the contrary may be looked upon with suspicion as modern. There is one genuine popular story in which the Fairy dwelling is in the middle of a green plain, without a:ny elevation to mark its site beyond a horse-skull, the eye-sockets of which were used as the Fairy chimney. These dwellings were tenanted sometimes by a single family only, more frequently by a whole com- munity. The elves were said to change their residences as men do, and, when they saw proper themselves, to remove to distant parts of the country and more THEIR DWELLINGS. ij desirable haunts. To them, on their arrival in their new home, are ascribed the words : " Though good the haven we have left, Better be the haven we have found." ^ The Fairy hillock might be passed by the strangers without suspicion of its being tenanted, and cattle were pastured on it unmolested by the " good people." There is, however, a common story in the Western Isles that a person was tethering his horse or cow for the night on a green tobnan when a head appeared out of the ground, and told him to tether the beast somewhere else, as he let rain into " their " house, and had nearly driven the tether-pin into the ear of one of the inmates. Another, who was in the habit of pouring out dirty water at the door, was told by the Fairies to pour it elsewhere, as he was spoiling their furniture. He shifted the door to the back of the house, and prospered ever after. The Fairies were very grateful to any one who kept the shi-en clean, and swept away cow or horse-droppings falling on it. Finding a farmer careful of the roof of their dwelling, keeping it clean, and not breaking the sward with tether-pin or spade, they showed their thankfulness by driving his horses and cattle to the sheltered side of the mound when the night proved stormy. Many believe the Fairies themselves swept ^ " Ged is math an cala dh' fhag sinn, Gum bu fearr an cala fhuair sinn." 14 THE FAIRIES. the hillock every night, so that in the morning its surface was spotless. Brugh (bru) denotes the Fairy dwelling viewed as it were from the inside — the interiors — but is often used interchangeably with sithein. It is probably the same word as burgh, borough, or bro', and its reference is to the nufnber of inmates in the Fairy dwelling.^ FAIRY DRESSES. The Fairies, both Celtic and Teutonic, are dressed in green. In Skye, however, though Fairy women, as elsewhere, are always dressed in that colour, the men wear clothes of any colour like their human neighbours. They are frequently called daoine beaga ruadh, " little red men," from their clothes having the appearance of being dyed with the lichen called crotal, a common colour of men's clothes, in the North Hebrides. The coats of Fairy women are shaggy, or ruffled {caiteineack), and their caps curiously fitted or wrinkled. The men are said, but not commonly, to have blue bonnets, and in the song to the murdered Elfin lover, the Elf is said to have a hat bearing "' a smell of honied apples." This is perhaps the only Highland instance of a hat, which is a prominent object ' Few villages in the Highlands of Scotland are without a sh'i-en in their neighbourhood, and often a number are found close to each other. Strontian, well known to geologists from the mineral which bears its .name, is Srhi an t-sithein, " the nose of the Fairy hillock." THEIR DRESSES. 15 in the Teutonic superstition, being ascribed to the Fairies. THE DEFECTS OF FAIRIES. Generally some personal defect is ascribed to them, by which they become known to be of no mortal race. In Mull and the neighbourhood they are said to have only one nostril, the other being imperforate (an leth choinnlein aca druid-te). The Elfin smith who made Finmac Coul's sword, " the son of Lun that never asked a second stroke " (^Mac an Luin, nach d'fhdg riamh fuigheal bhemit), had but one gloomy eye in his forehead. The Bean shiih was detected by her extra- ordinary voracity (a cow at a meal), a frightful front tooth, the entire want of a nostril, a web foot, praeter- naturally long breasts, etc. She is also said to be unable to suckle her own children, and hence the Fairy desire to steal nursing women. THEIR OCCUPATIONS. The Fairies, as has been already said, are coun- terparts of mankind. There are children and old people among them ; they practise all kinds of trades and handicrafts ; they possess cattle, dogs, arms ; they require food, clothing, sleep ; they are liable to disease, and can be killed. So entire is the resemblance that they have even been betrayed into intoxication. People entering their brughs, have found the inmates engaged i6 THE FAIRIES. in similar occupations to mankind, the women spinning, weaving, grinding meal, baking, cooking, churning, etc., and the men sleeping, dancing, and making merry, or sitting round a fire in the middle of the floor (as a Perthshire informant described it) "like tinkers." Some- times the inmates were absent on foraging expeditions or pleasure excursions. The women sing at their work, a common practice in former times with Highland women, and use distaff, spindle, handmills, and such like primitive implements. The men have smithies, in which they make the Fairy arrows and other weapons. Some Fairy families or communities are poorer than others, and borrow meal and other articles of domestic use from each other and from their neighbours of mankind. FESTIVITIES. There are stated seasons of festivity which are observed with much splendour in the larger dwellings. The brugh is illumined, the tables glitter with gold and silver vessels, and the door is thrown open to all comers. Any of the human race entering on these occasions are hospitably and heartily welcomed ; food and drink are offered them, and their health is pledged. Everything in the dwelling seems magnificent beyond description, and mortals are so enraptured they forget everything but the enjoyment of the moment. Joining in the festivities, they lose all thought as to the passage FESTIVITIES. 17 of time. The food is the most sumptuous, the clothing the most gorgeous ever seen, the music the sweetest ever heard, the dance the sprighthest ever trod. The whole dwelling is lustrous with magic splendour. All this magnificence, however, and enjoyment are nothing but semblance and illusion of the senses. Mankind, with all their cares, and toils, and sorrows, have an infinitely more desirable lot, and the man is greatly to be pitied whom the Elves get power over, so that he exchanges his human lot and labour for their society or pleasures. Wise people recommend that, in the circumstances, a man should not utter a word till he comes out again, nor, on any account, taste Fairy food or drink. If he abstains he is very likely be- fore long dismissed, but if he indulges he straightway loses the will and the power ever to return to the society of men. He becomes insensible to the passage of time, and may stay, without knowing it, for years, and even ages, in the brugh. Many, who thus forgot themselves, are among the Fairies to this day. Should they ever again return to the open air, and their en- chantment be broken, the Fairy grandeur and pleasure prove an empty show, worthless, and fraught with danger. The food becomes disgusting refuse, and the pleasures a shocking waste of time. The Elves are great adepts in music and dancing, and a great part of their time seems to be spent in the 1 8 THE FAIRIES. practice of these accomplishments. The changeling has often been detected by his fondness for them. Though in appearance an ill-conditioned and helpless brat, he has been known, when he thought himself unobserved, to play the pipes with surpassing skill, and dance with superhuman activity. Elfin music is more melodious than human skill and instruments can produce, and there are many songs and tunes which are said to have been originally learned from the Fairies. The only musical instrument of the Elves is the bagpipes, and some of the most celebrated pipers in Scotland are said to have learned their music from them. FAIRY RAIDS. The Gaelic belief recognizes no Fairyland or realm different from the earth's surface on which men live and move. The dwellings are underground, but it is on the natural face of the earth the Fairies find their sustenance, pasture their cattle, and on which they forage and roam. The seasons on which their festivities are held are the last night of every quarter (Ji-uile latha ceann raidhe), particularly the nights before Beltane, the first of summer, and Hallowmas, the first of winter. On these nights, on Fridays, and on the last night of the year, they are given to leaving home, and taking away whomsoever of the human race they find helpless, or unguarded or unwary. They may be encountered FAIRY RAWS. 19 any time, but on these stated occasions men are to be particularly on their guard against them. On Fridays they obtrusively enter houses, and have even the impudence, it is said, to lift the lid off the pot to see what the family have on the fire for dinner. Any Fairy story, told on this day, should be prefixed by saying, ' a blessing attend their departing and travelling ! this day is Friday and they will not hear us ' {Beannachd nan siubhal 'j nan isneachd ! 'se 'n diugh Di-haoine 's cha chluinn tad sinn\ This prevents Fairy ill-will coming upon the narrator for anything he may chance to say. No one should call the day by its proper name of Friday [Di-haoine), but ' the day of yonder town ' {latha bhaW ud thaW). The Fairies do not like to hear the day mentioned, and if anyone is so unlucky as to use the proper name, their wrath is directed elsewhere by the bystander adding ' on the cattle of yonder town ' {air cro a bhaiV ud tkall), or ' on the farm of So-and-so,' mentioning anyone he may have a dislike to. The fear of Fairy wrath also prevented the sharpening of knives on this day. They are said to come always from the west. They are admitted into houses, however well guarded other- wise, by the little hand-made cake, the last of the baking (bonnach beag boise), called the Fallaid bannock, unless there has been a hole put through it with the finger, or a piece is broken off it, or a live coal is 20 THE FAIRIES. put on the top of it ; ^ by the water in which men's feet have been washed ; by the fire, unless it be properly ' raked ' {snidladh), i.e. covered up to keep it alive for the night ; or by the band of the spinning wheel, if left stretched on the wheel. The reason assigned for taking water into the house at night was that the Fairies would suck the sleeper's blood if they found no water in to quench their thirst. The water in which feet were washed, unless thrown out, or a burning peat were put in it, let them in, and was used by them to plash about in {gan loireadh fhtin ann) all night. Unless the band was taken off the spinning wheel, particularly on the Saturday even- ings, they came after the inmates of the house had retired to rest and used the wheel. Sounds of busy work were heard, but in the morning no work was found done, and possibly the wheel was disarranged.^ On the last night of the year they are kept out by decorating the house with holly ; and the last handful of corn reaped should be dressed up as a Harvest Maiden {Maigkdean Bkuan), and hung up in the farmer's house to aid in keeping them out till next harvest. ^ Bonnach beag baise, gun ihloigh gun lihearn, Eirich 's big sinne " stigh, i.e. Little cake, without gap or fissure, rise and let us in, is the Elfin call. 2 In the north of Ireland the band was taken off the spinning wheel to prevent the Fairies spoiling the linen. WHEN SEEN. 21 WHEN SEEN. There seems to be no definite rule as to the circum- stances under which the Fairies are to be seen. A person whose eye has been touched with Fairy water earn see them whenever they are present ; the seer, possessed of second sight, often saw them when others did not ; and on nights on which the shi-en is open the chance passer-by sees them rejoicing in their under- ground dwellings. A favourite time for their encounters with men seems to be the dusk and wild stormj' nights of mist and driving rain, when the streams are swollen and ' the roar of the torrent is heard on the hill.' They are also apt to appear when spoken of and when a desire is expressed for their assistance ; when proper precautions are omitted and those whose weakness and helplessness call for watchfulness and care, are neglected ; when their power is contemned and when a sordid and churlish spirit is entertained. Often, without fault or effort, in places the most unexpected, mortals have been startled by their ap- pearance, cries, or music. FOOD. Fairy food consists principally of things intended for human food, of which the Elves take the toradh, i.e. the substance, fruit, or benefit, leaving the semblance or appearance to men themselves. In this manner they 22 THE FAIRIES. take cows, sheep, goats, meal, sowens, the produce of the land, etc. Cattle falling over rocks are particularly liable to being taken by them, and milk spilt in coming from the dairy is theirs by right. They have, of food peculiar to themselves and not acquired from men, the root of silver weed [brisgein), the stalks of heather {cuiseagan an fhraoich), the milk of the red deer hinds and of goats, weeds gathered in the fields, and barleymeal. The brisgein is a root plentifully turned up by the plough in spring, and ranked in olden times as the ' seventh bread.' Its inferior quality and its being found underground, are probably the cause of its being assigned to the Fairies. It is a question whether the stalks of heather are the tops or the stems of the plant. Neither contain much sap or nourishment. The Banshi Fairy, or Elle woman, has been seen by hunters milking the hinds, just as women milk cows. Those who partake of Fairy food are as hungry after their repast as before it. In appearance it is most sumptuous and inviting, but on grace being said turns out to be horse-dung. Some, in their haste to partake of the gorgeous viands, were only disenchanted when ' returning thanks.' GIFTS BESTOWED BY FAIRIES. The Fairies can bestow almost any gift upon their favourites — great skill in music and in work of all kinds GIFTS BESTOWED BY FAIRIES. 23 t — give them cows and even children stolen for the purpose from others, leave them good fortune, keep cattle from wandering into their crops at night, assist them in spring and harvest work, etc. Sometimes their marvellous skill is communicated to mortals, sometimes they come in person to assist. If a smith, wright, or other tradesman catches them working with the tools of his trade (a thing they are addicted to doing) he can compel them to bestow on him the Ceaird Chomuinn, or association craft, that is to come to his assistance whenever he wants them. Work left near their hillocks over night has been found finished in the morning, and they have been forced by men, entering their dwellings for the purpose, to tell the cure for diseases defying human skill. In every instance, however, the benefit of the gift goes ultimately to the Fairies themselves, or (as it is put in the Gaelic expression) ' the fruit of it goes into their own bodies ' (Theid an toradh na?i cuirp fhein). Their gifts have evil influence connected with them, and, however inviting at first, are productive of bad luck in the end. No wise man will desire either their company or their kindness. When they come to a house to assist at any work, the sooner they are got rid of the better. If they are hired as servants their wages at first appear trifling, but will ultimately ruin their employer, It is unfortunate even to encounter any of the race, but to consort with them is disastrous in the extreme. 24 THE FAIRIES. LOANS. 'The giving and taking of loans,' according to the proverb, ' always prevailed in the world ' (Bka toirt is gabhail an iasad dol riamh feadh an t-saogkail), and the custom is one to which the ' good neighbours ' are no strangers. They are universally represented as borrowing meal, from each other and from men. In the latter case when they returned a loan, as they always honestly did, the return was in barleyineal, two measures for one of oatmeal ; and this, on being kept in a place by itself, proved inexhaustible, provided the bottom of the vessel in which it was stored was never made to appear, no question was asked, and no blessing was pronounced over it. It would then neither vanish nor become horse-dung ! When a loan is returned to them, they accept only the fair equivalent of what they have lent, neither less nor more. If more is offered they take offence, and never give an opportunity for the same insult again. We hear also of their borrowing a kettle or cauldron, and, under the power of a rhyme uttered by the lender at the time of giving it, sending it back before morning. EDDY WIND. When ' the folk ' leave home in companies, they travel in eddies of wind. In this climate these eddies EDDY WIND. 25 are among the most curious of natural phenomena. On calm summer days they go past, whirling about straws and dust, and as not another breath of air is moving at the time their cause is sufficiently puzzling. In Gaelic the eddy is known as ' the people's puff of wind ' {piteag sluaigK), and its motion ' travelling on tall grass stems ' {falbh air chuiseagan trebrach). By throwing one's left (or toisgeul) shoe at it, the Fairies are made to drop whatever they may be taking away — men, women, children, or animals. The same result is attained by throwing one's bonnet, saying, ' this is yours, that's mine ' {Is leatsa so, is leamsa sin), or a naked knife, or earth from a mole-hill. In these eddies, people going on a journey at night have been 'lifted,' and spent the night careering through the skies. On returning to the earth, though they came to the house last left, they were too stupefied to recognize either the house or its inmates. Others, through Fairy despite, have wandered about all night on foot, failing to reach their intended destination though quite near it, and perhaps in the morning find- ing themselves on the top of a distant hill, or in some inaccessible place to which they could never have made their way alone. Even in daylight some were carried in the Elfin eddy from one island to another, in great terror lest they should fall into the sea. 26 THE FAIRIES. RAIN AND SUNSHINE, WIND AND RAIN. When there is rain with sunshine, the ' little people,' according to a popular rhyme, are at their meat, " Rain and sun, Little people at their meat." When wind and rain come from opposite directions (which may for an instant be possible in a sudden shift of wind), by throwing some horse-dung against the wind, the Fairies are brought down in a shower ! FAIRY ARROWS, ETC. Natural objects of a curious appearance, or bearing a fanciful resemblance to articles used by men, are also associated with the Fairies. The reedmace plant is called ' the distaff of the Fairy women ' {cuigeal nam ban skitk), the foxglove the ' thimble of the Fairy old women ' {iniaran nan cailleacha sztk), though more commonly ' the thimble of dead old women ' {m. nan cailleacha marbh). A substance, found on the shores of the Hebrides, like a stone, red {ruadli), and half dark {lith dhorcha^, holed, is called ' Elf's blood ' {^fuil siochaire)} The Fairy arrow {Saigkead shitK) owes its name to a similar fancy. It is known also as ' Fairy flint' {spor shhk), and consists of a triangular piece of flint, bear- 1 Similarly, in Dorsetshire fossil belemnites are called colepexies' fingers, and in Northumberland a fungous excrescence, growing about the roots of old trees, is called Fairy butter. So in Ireland, the round towers are ascribed to them. FAIRY ARROWS. 27 ing the appearance of an arrow head. It probably originally formed part of the rude armoury of the savages of the stone period. Popular imagination, struck by its curious form, and ignorant of its origin, ascribed it to the Fairies. It was said to be frequently shot at the hunter, to whom the Elves have a special aversion, because he kills the hinds, on the milk of which they live. They could not throw it themselves, but compelled some mortal (duine saoghailte) who was being carried about in their company to throw it for them. If the person aimed at was a friend, the thrower managed to miss his aim, and the Fairy arrow proved innocuous. It was found lying beside the object of Fairy wrath, and was kept as a valuable pre- servation in future against similar dangers, and for rubbing to wounds {suathadh ri creuchdun). The man or beast struck by it became paralyzed, and to all appearance died shortly after. In reality they were taken away by the elves, and only their appearance remained. Its point being blunt was an indication that it had done harm. The Fairy spade {caibe sitli) is a smooth, slippery, black stone, in shape 'like the sole of a shoe.' It was put in water, given to sick people and cattle. CATTLE. Everywhere, in the Highlands, the red-deer are associated with the Fairies, and in some districts, as 28 THE FAIRIES. Lochaber and Mull, are said to be their only cattle. This association is sufficiently accounted for by the Fairy-like appearance and habits of the deer. In its native haunts, in remote and misty corries, where solitude has her most undisturbed abode, its beauty and grace of form, combined with its dislike to the presence of man, and even of the animals man has tamed, amply entitle it to the name of sith. Timid and easily startled by every appearance and noise, it is said to be unmoved by the presence of the Fairies. Popular belief also says that no deer is found dead with age, and that its horns, which it sheds every year, are not found, because hid by the Fairies. In their transformations it was peculiar for the Fairy women to assume the shape of the red-deer, and in that guise they were often encountered by the hunter. The elves have a particular dislike to those who kill the hinds, and, on finding them in lonely places, delight in throwing elf-bolts at them. When a dead deer is carried home at night the Fairies lay their weight on the bearer's back, till he feels as if he had a house for a burden. On a penknife, however, being stuck in the deer it becomes very light. There are occasional allusions to the Fairy women having herds of deer. The Carlin Wife of the Spotted Hill {Cailleach Beinne Bhric horb), who, according to a popular rhyme, was ' large and broad and tall,' had a herd which she would not allow to descend to the CA TTLE. 2g beach, and which ' loved the water-cresses by the fountain high in the hills better than the black weeds of the shore.' The old women of Ben-y-Ghloe, in Perthshire, and of Clibrich, in Sutherlandshire,^ seem to have been sith women of the same sort. ' I never,' said an old man (he was upwards of eighty years of age) in the Island of Mull, questioned some years ago on the subject, ' heard of the Fairies having cows, but I always heard that deer were their cattle.' In other parts of the Highlands, as in Skye, though the Fairies are said to keep company with the deer, they have cows like those of men. When one of them appears among a herd of cattle the whole fold of them grows frantic, and follows lowing wildly. The strange animal disappears by entering a rock or knoll, and the others, unless intercepted, follow and are never more seen. The Fairy cow is dun (odhar) and ' hummel,' or hornless. In Skye, however, Fairy cattle are said to be speckled and red {crodh breac ruadJi), and to be able to cross the sea. It is not on every place that they graze. There were not above ten such spots in all Skye. The field of Annat {achadh na h-annaid), in the Braes of Portree, is one. When the cattle came home at night from pasture, the following were the words used by the Fairy woman, standing on Dun Gerra-sheddar {Dim ^ Campbell's West Highland Tales, ii. 46. 30 THE FAIRIES. Gkearra-seadar), near Portree, as she counted her charge : " Crooked one, dun one. Little wing grizzled, Black cow, white cow, Little bull black-head, My milch kine have come home, O dear ! that the herdsman would come ! " HORSES. In the Highland creed the Fairies but rarely have horses. In Perthshire they have been seen on a market day riding about on white horses ; in Tiree two Fairy ladies were met riding on what seemed to be horses, but in reality were ragweeds ; and in Skye the elves have galloped the farm horses at full speed and in dangerous places, sitting with their faces to the tails. When horses neigh at night it is because they are ridden by the Fairies, and pressed too hard. The neigh is one of distress, and if the hearer exclaims aloud, " Your saddle and pillion be upon you " (^Do shrathair 's do phillein ori) the Fairies tumble to the ground. DOGS. The Fairy dog {cu sith) is as large as a two-year- old stirk, a dark green colour, with ears of deep green. It is of a lighter colour towards the feet. DOGS. 31 In some cases it has a long tail rolled up in a coil on its back, but others have the tail flat and plaited like the straw rug of a pack-saddle. Bran, the famous dog that Fin mac Coul had, was of Elfin breed, and from the description given of it by popular tradition, decidedly parti-coloured : " Bran had yellow feet, Its two sides black and belly white ; Green was the back of the hunting hound, Its two pointed ears blood-red." Bran had a venomous shoe {Brbg nifnke), with which it killed whatever living creature it struck, and when at full speed, and ' like its father ' {dol ri athatr), was seen as three dogs, intercepting the deer at three passes. The Fairy hound was kept tied as a watch dog in the brugh, but at times accompanied the women on their expeditions or roamed about alone, making its lairs in clefts of the rocks. Its motion was silent and gliding, and its bark a rude clamour (blaodk). It went in a straight line, and its bay has been last heard, by those who listened for it, far out at sea. Its immense footmarks, as large as the spread of the human hand, have been found next day traced in the mud, in the snow, or on the sands. Others say it makes a noise like a horse galloping, and its bay is like that of another dog, only louder. There is a considerable interval between each bark, and at the third (it only 32 THE FAIRIES. barks thrice) the terror-struck hearer is overtaken and destroyed, unless he has by that time reached a place of safety. Ordinary dogs have a mortal aversion to the Fairies, and give chase whenever the elves are sighted. On coming back, the hair is found to be scraped off their bodies, all except the ears, and they die soon after. CATS. Elfin cats {cait skltk) are explained to be of a wild, not a domesticated, breed, to be as large as dogs, of a black colour, with a white spot on the breast, and to have arched backs and erect bristles {crotach agus miir- lach). Many maintain these wild cats have no connec- tion with the Fairies, but are witches in disguise. FAIRY THEFT. The elves have got a worse name for stealing than they deserve. So far as taking things without the knowledge or consent of the owners is concerned, the accusation is well-founded ; they neither ask nor obtain leave, but there are important respects in which their depredations differ from the pilferings committed among men by jail-birds and other dishonest people. The Fairies do not take their booty away bodily , they only take what is called in Gaelic its toradk, i.e. its substance, .virtue, fruit, or benefit. The outward appearance is left, but the reality is gone. Thus, when FAIRY THEFT. 33 a cow is elf-taken, it appears to its owner only as suddenly smitten by some strange disease {chaidh am beathach ud a ghonadli). In reality the cow is gone, and only its semblance remains, animated it may be by an Elf, who receives all the attentions paid to the sick cow, but gives nothing in return. The seeming cow lies on its side, and cannot be made to rise. It con- sumes the provender laid before it, but does not yield milk or grow fat. In some cases it gives plenty of milk, but milk that yields no butter. If taken up a hill, and rolled down the incline, it disappears altogether. If it dies, its flesh ought not to be eaten^it is not beef, but a stock of alder wood, an aged Elf, or some trashy substitute. Similarly when the toradh of land is taken, there remains the appearance of a • crop, but a crop without benefit to man or beast — the ears are unfilled, the grain is without weight, the fodder without nourish- ment. A still more important point of difference is, that the Fairies only take away what men deserve to lose. When mortals make a secret of icletli), or grumble {ceasad) over, what they have, the Fairies get the bene- fit, and the owner is a poor man, in the midst of his abundance. When (to use an illustration the writer has more than once heard) a farmer speaks disparagingly of his crop, and, though it be heavy, tries to conceal his good fortune, the Fairies take away the benefit of his increase. The advantage goes away mysteriously 34 THE FAIRIES. ' in pins and needles ' {na phrineachan 's na shnddun), ' in alum and madder ' {na aim 's na mkadair), as the saying is, and the farmer gains nothing from his crop. Particularly articles of food, the possession of which men denied with oaths {air a thiomnadh), became Fairy property. The elves are also blamed for lifting with them articles mislaid. These are generally restored as mysteriously and unaccountably as they were taken away. Thus, a woman blamed the elves for taking her thimble. It was placed beside her, and when looked for could not be found. Some time after she was sitting alone on the hillside and found the thimble in her lap. This confirmed her belief in its being the Fairies that took it away. In a like mysterious manner a person's bonnet might be whipped off his head, or the pot for supper be lifted off the fire, and left by invisible hands on the middle of the floor. The accusation of taking milk is unjust. It is brought against the elves only in books, and never in the popular creed. The Fairies take cows, sheep, goats, horses, and it may be the substance or benefit {ioradti) of butter and cheese, but not milk. Many devices were employed to thwart Fairy inroads. A burning ember {eibhleag) was put into ' sowens ' {cabhruich), one of the weakest and most unsubstantial articles of human food and very liable to Fairy attack. It was left there till the dish was FAIRY THEFT. 35 ready for boiling, i.e. about three days after. A sieve should not be allowed out of the house after dark, and no meal unless it be sprinkled with salt. Other- wise, the Fairies may, by means of them, take the substance out of the whole farm produce. For the same reason a hole should be put with the finger in the little cake {bonnach beag' s toll ann), made with the remnant of the meal after a baking, and when given to children, as it usually is, a piece should be broken off it. A nail driven into a cow, killed by falling over a precipice, was supposed by the more superstitious to keep the elves away. One of the most curious thefts ascribed to them was that of querns,^ or handmills {^Bra, Brathuinn). To keep them away these handy and useful imple- ments should be turned deiseal, i.e. with the right hand turn, as sunwise. What is curious in the belief is, that the handmill is said to have been originally ^ The use of some kind of mill, generally a hand mill, is as universal as the growth of grain, and the necessity for reducing the solid grain into the more palatable form of meal no doubt led to its early invention. The Gaelic ineil (or beil), to grind, the English mill, the Latin tnola, and the Greek iivXt], show that it was known to the Aryan tribes at a period long anterior to history. The handmill mentioned in Scripture, worked by two women, seems the same with that still to be found in obscure corners in the West Highlands. An instrument so useful to man in the less advanced stages of his civilization could not fail to be looked upon with much respect and good feeling. In the Hebrides it was rubbed every Saturday evening with a wisp of straw ' for payment ' of its benevolent labours (sop ga shuathadh ris a bhrh ga phigheadh). Meal ground in it is coarser than ordinary meal, and is known as gairbhein. 36 THE FAIRIES. got from the Fairies themselves. Its sounds have often been heard by the belated peasant, as it was being worked inside some grassy knoll, and songs, sung by the Fairy women employed at it, have been learned. STEALING WOMEN AND CHILDREN. Most frequently it was women, not yet risen from childbed, and their babes that the Fairies abducted. On every occasion of a birth, therefore, the utmost anxiety prevailed to guard the mother and child from their attacks. It is said that the Fairy women are unable to suckle their own children, and hence their desire to secure a human wet-nurse. This, however, does not explain why they want the children, nor indeed is it universally a part of the creed. The first care was not to leave a woman alone during her confinement. A house full of women gathered and watched for three days, in some places for eight. Various additional precautions against the Fairies were taken in various localities. A row of iron nails were driven into the front board of the bed ; the smoothing iron or a reaping hook was placed under it and in the window ; an old shoe was put in the fire ; the door posts were sprinkled with maistir, urine kept for washing purposes — a liquid extremely offensive to the Fairies ; the Bible was opened, and the breath blown across it in the face of the woman STEALING WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 37 in childbed ; mystic words of threads were placed about the bed ; and, when leaving at the end of the three days, the midwife left a little cake of oatmeal with a hole in it in the front of the bed. The father's shirt wrapped round the new-born babe was esteemed a preservative, and if the marriage gown was thrown over the wife she could be recovered if, notwithstanding, or from neglect of these precautions, she were taken away. The name of the Deity solemnly pronounced over the child in baptism was an additional protection. If the Fairies were seen, water in which an ember was extinguished, or the burning peats themselves, thrown at them, drove them away. Even quick wit and readiness of reply in the mother has sent them off"^ It is not to be supposed that these precautions were universally known or practised. In that case such a thing as an elf-struck child would be unknown. The gathering of women and the placing of iron about the bed seem to have been common, but the burning of old shoes was confined to the Western Isles. If it existed elsewhere, its memory has been forgotten. That it is an old part of the creed is evident from the dislike of ' Other charms used on the occasion were the taking of the woman to be .delivered several times across the byre-drain [tune), the opening of every lock in the house, and ceremonies by means of " A grey hanli of flax and a cocliscomb, Two things against the commandments." These practices seem to have been l