Briggs Katharine Mary - An Encyclopedia of Fairies
Briggs Katharine Mary - An Encyclopedia of Fairies
Briggs Katharine Mary - An Encyclopedia of Fairies
%le noWlebgemtnts
In this dictionary I have quoted largely from earlier works, but I have
obtained help and inspiration from many of my contemporaries. I have
specially to thank the Editor of Folklort for permission to quote from
many of the earlier numbers. I am most grateful for advice on the spelling
and pronunciatiop of the Celtic fairies' names, to Alan Bruford, Robin
Gwyndaf, Sean 0 Suilleabhain and \Valtcr Clarke.
I am also indebted to several folklorists for oral information. Chief
among these are Marie Camp bell, the famous collector of the traditions
of the Appalachian l\.1ountains, Miss Joan Eltenton, who recorded for me
the fairy beliefs which had migrated to Australia, and Susan M. Stevens,
an anthropologist married to a chief of the Passamaquoddy Indians, who
provided unique information about the two kinds of Little People who
bear a remarkable resemblance to the Little People of Europe. Ruth L.
Tongue has made her published works available to me and has from time
to time given me her unpublished material as well. I am much obliged to
her.
onttnts
Acknowledgements
VI
List of Plates
Vlll
Preface
X1
Text of Dictionary
I
Book-list
455
Index of Types and Motifs
463
JList of Iates
BET\VEE ' P GES 114AND 115.
I. Arthur Rackham: 'Butter is made from the roots of old trees' (From
J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Hodder & Stoughton,
London, 1907)
2. Arthur Rackham: 'A band of workmen, who were sawing down a
toadstool, rushed away, leaving their tools behind them' (From ibid.)
3 Henry Fuseli: Cobweb (Illustration to A A1idsummtr Night's Drtam.
Private collection, London)
4 Henry Fuseli: Oberon Squeezes a Flower on Titania's Eyelids
(Illustration to A klidsummer Night's Dreanz. Private collection, Switzer-
land)
5 Richard Dadd: 'Come unto these yellow sands' (Illustration to The
Tetnpest. Private collection, London)
6. John Anster Fitzgerald: The Chase of the \Vhite Mice (Collection of
K. J. Hewett Esq)
7 Richard Dadd: Bacchanalian Scene (Private collection)
8. John Anster Fitzgerald: Fairy Gifts (Illustrated London News,
c. 186s)
9 Richard Doyle: A Fairy Celebration (Private collection, London)
10. Richard Doyle: The Fairy Tree (Private collection, London)
11. J. Simmons: A Fairy (Private collection, London)
12. J. Simmons: A .tv1idsumrner Night's Dream (Private collection,
London)
The word 'fairy' is used in various ways. There are a number of slang
and cant usages of the word, varying from time to time, which are beside
the point for this book. In fairy-lore, with which we are dealing here,
there are two main general usages. The first is the narrow, exact use of
the word to express one species of those supernatural creatures 'of a
middle nature between man and angels' - as they were described in the
seventeenth century - varying in size, in powers, in span of life and in
moral attributes, but sharply differing from other species such as hob-
goblins, monsters, hags, merpeople and so on. The second is the more
general extension of the word to cover that whole area of the supernatural
which is not claimed by angels, devils or ghosts. It is in this second, later
and more generalized sense that I have often used the word in this book.
Exception might be taken to this use. The word 'fairy' itself is a late
one, not used before medieval times and sometimes then with the meaning
of mortal " 'omen who had acquired magical powers, as Malory used it for
Morgan le Fay. The French fai, of which 'fairy' is an extension, came
originally from the Italianfatae, the fairy ladies who visited the household
at births and pronounced on the future of the baby, as the Three Fates
used to do. 'Fairy' originally meant 'fai-erie ', a state of enchantment, and
was transferred from the object to the agent. The fairies themselves are
said to object to the word, and people often think it better to speak of
them euphemistically as 'the Good Neighbours', 'the Good Folk', 'the
Seelie Court', 'Them Ones', or, more distantly, as 'the Strangers'.
Throughout these islands many names are used for the fairies, the
'Daoine Sidh' in Ireland, the 'Sith' in the Highlands, the 'pisgies' in
Cornwall. In the Lowlands of Scotland the Anglo-Saxon 'elves' was long
used for the fairies, and Fairyland was called 'El fame', but these names
had limited and local usage, whereas the name 'fairies', however dis-
trusted by the believers and debased by nineteenth-century prettification,
was recognized everywhere.
At the inception of the book the idea had been to treat the whole area
of fairy beliefs, as Thomas Keightley did in his Fairy Mythology; but to
treat the fairies of the whole of Europe alone, even cursorily, would have
been to produce a book ten times the size of this and founded on years of
further research. I have occasionally mentioned a foreign fairy, for com-
parison or elucidation, but only in passing. A complete work on the subject
remains to be written, though the mammoth Encycloptidie des Mtirchens,
Preface Xll
Aedh (ay). The son of Eochail Lethderg, Prince of Leinster, who was
playing HURLING with his young companions when he was carried into
a BR u GH, or palace, of Fairyland by two sI DH-women who were in love
with him, and held captive there for three years. At the end of this time
Aedh escaped and made his way to St Patrick, and begged him to free
him from the fairy dominion. Patrick took him in disguise to Leinster to
his father's court, and there restored him to humanity and freed him from
the timeless life of the fairies (see TIME IN FAIRYLAND}. This account
from Silva Gadelica (pp. 204- 20) is one of the earliest stories of CAP-
TIVES IN FAIRYLAND.
(Motif: F379 I]
Mane (avanc). There was some doubt about the form taken by the
monster which inhabited a pool called Llyn yr Mane on the River Conwy
in North Wales. It was generally thought to be an enormous beaver
AikenDrum 2
because the word afanc is sometimes used for beaver in local dialects. Llyn
yr Afanc is a kind of whirlpool: anything thrown into it will whirl round
about before it is sucked down. It used to be thought that it was the Afanc
which dragged down animals or people who fell into the Llyn. It was
thought to be either a monstrous beaver or a kjnd of crocodile. According
to a 17th-century tradition told in Rhys's Celtic Folklore (p. 130), the
Afanc, like the Unicorn, was allured by a maiden who persuaded it to lay
its head in her lap and fall asleep. \ hile it slept it was chained and the
chains were attached to two oxen. \ hen they began to draw it, it awoke
and made for the pool, tearing away the tnaidcn's breast which it was
holding in its claw. Several men hauled on the chain, but it was the
oxen's strength that was effectual, as the Afanc itself confessed. The men
were disputing as to which of them had pulled the hardest when the
captive suddenly spoke and said:
'Had it not been for the oxen pulling,
The Afanc had never left the pool.,
[Motif: F420. 1.4]
Aiken Drum. The name 'Aiken Drum' is best known in the Scottish
nursery rhyme:
There cam' a man to oor toun,
To oor toun, to oor toun,
There cam' a man to oor toun
An' his name \vas Aiken Drum.
This is quoted in full by Iona and Peter Opie in The 0 .\ ford Dictionary of
Nursery Rhymes as, 'There was a man lived in the loon'. It is, however,
the name given by \Villiam 1 ichoL on to the Brownie of Blednoch in
Galloway. William -icholson wrote several ballads on folklore themes;
'Aiken Drum' is to be found in the third edition of his Poetical Works
(1878). Aiken Drum in the nursery rhyme wears entirely edible clothes,
a hat of cream cheese, a coat of roast beef, buttons of penny loaves, and so
on, but the Brownie of Blednoch was naked except for a kilt of green
rushes, and like all BR o \V 1E s he Vt'as laid by a gift of clothing:
For a new-made wife, fu' o' rippish freaks,
Fond o' a' things feat for the first five weeks,
Laid a mouldy pair o' her ain man's breeks
By the brose o' Aiken-drum.
Let the learned decide when they convene,
What spell was him and the breeks berneen;
For frae that day forth he was nae mair seen,
And sair missed was Aiken-drum!
[Motif: FJ81.3]
3 Ainsel
Aillen Mac Midhna. A fairy musician of the TUATHA DE DANANN who
came every year at Samhain Eve (All-Hallo\v Eve) out of Sidhe Fin-
nachaid to Tara, the Royal Palace of the High King, playing so mar-
vellously on his ti1npan (a kind of belied tambourine) that all \vho heard
him were lulled asleep, and while they slept he blew three blasts of fire
out of his nostrils and burnt up the Hall of Tara. This happened every
Samhain Eve for twenty-three years, until FINN of the FIANNA Finn
conquered Aillen and killed him (Silva Gadelica, vol. 11, pp. 142- 4). He
conquered him by himself inhaling the fumes of his magic spear, whose
point was so venomous that no one who smelled it could sleep, however
lulling the music.
[Motifs: F262.3.4; F369.1]
Aine (aw-ne). The fairy goddess to whom, with her sister Fenne cor
Finnen), Knock Aine and Knock Pennine on the shores of Lough Gur
are dedicated. They were the daughters of Egogabal, a king of the
TUATHA DE DANANN. Of Aine there is a version ofthe S\VAN MAIDEN
story, very similar to those of the G\VRAGEDD ANN\VN of \Vales. One
day, as Aine \Vas sitting on the shore of Lough Gur combing her hair,
Gerold, the Earl ofDesmond, sa\v her and fell in love with her. He gained
control over her by seizing her cloak, and made her his bride. Their child
was Earl Fitzgerald, and the TABOO imposed upon his father was that he
must never express any surprise at anything his son might do. One night,
ho\vever, showing off his skill to some maidens, he jumped into a bottle
and out again, and his father could not restrain a cry of surprise. Fitz-
gerald at once left the castle and was seen swimming across the lough in
the form of a wild goose towards Garrod Island, under which his en-
chanted castle \Vas said to lie. At the same time, Aine disappeared into
Knock Aine. This story was collected from informants by Evans Wentz
and included in The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries {p. 79). A somewhat
similar story is the more widely knO\Vn LEGEND OF MULLAGHMAST.
(Motifs: CJO; CJ I ; FJ02.2]
Ainsel. This is a variant of the' Nom an' story and is told in Richardson's
Table-Book about the FAR IES of Northumberland. A widow and her
little boy lived in a cottage near Rothley. One night the child was very
lively and \vould not go to bed when his mother did. She warned him
that the faries \Vould come and fetch him if he sat up too late, but he only
laughed and \vent on playing. She had not long blown out the candle
when a lovely little creature jumped down the chimney and began to
frisk about in front of the boy. 'What do they ea' thou?' he said fasci-
nated. 'Ainsel,' she answered. 'And what do they ea' thou?' 'My ainsel,'
he answered, cannily, and they began to play together like two children
of one race. Presently the fire got low and the little boy stirred it up so
vigorously that a cinder blew out and burnt little Ainsel on the foot. She
Allies's list of the fairies 4
set up a yell quite disproportionate to her size, ''Vow! I'm brent!'
'Wha's done it? Wha's done it?'' said a dreadful voice from the chimney,
and the boy made one leap into bed as the old fary mother shot down on
to the floor. '!v1y ainsel! My a inset!' said the little fary. 'Why then,' said
her mother, ''vhat's all this noise for: there's nyon to blame!' And she
kicked Ainscl up the chimney.
[Type 1 137 !\1otif: K6o2.1]
Angus ~1ac Og. The god of youth and beauty, who was one of the
TUATHA DE DANANN supposed to have been the gods of the Ancient
Irish who later became the Irish HEROIC FAIRIES, the DAOINE SIDHE.
In the Irish traditional history, the Tuatha de Danann were defeated and
driven underground by the invading I\lilesians. They retreated to an
underground realm, and their High King, DAGDA, apportioned his
realms and palaces. He took two BRUGHS or palaces for himself and
gave one to LUG, son ofEthne, and one to OGME, but his son Angus was
away and was forgotten. \Vhen he returned and complained, Dagda
ceded to him his own Brug na Boinne for a day and a night, but Angus
was dissatisfied at the decision and claimed the Brug na Boinne for him-
self for ever.
9 Apple-Tree Man
Anu. Eleanor Hull, in Folklore of the British Isles, suggests tentatively
that Anu is the same person as AINE, the mother of Earl Fitzgerald, to
whom fires were lit at Midsummer, and who was the guardian of cattle
and a health-giver. Anu is known to be one of the Deae Matronae of
Ireland and was a goddess of fertility. Two neighbouring hills in Kerry
are called the Paps of Anu. Eleanor Hull regards her as a local goddess,
and rejects the suggestion that she has any connection with BLACK
ANN 1s of the Dane Hills in Leicestershire, though she thinks it possible
that o AN A and Anu are the same.
there was a chest full of finest gold. ''1~is yours, and no one else,' say
the Apple-Tree Man. 'Put'n away zafe and bide quiet about'n.' So he
done that. 'Now yew can go call your dear brother,' say Apple-'free
Man, ''tis midnight.'
Well, youngest brother he do run out in a terrible hurry-push and
sure enough the dunk's a-talking to the ox. 'Yew do know thic gurt
greedy fule that's a-listening to we, so unmannerly, he do want we
should tell \Vhere treasure is.'
'And that's where he never won't get it,' say the ox. 'Cause someone
have a-tooked he already.'
[Motifs: B251.1.2; N471; N541.1]
Arkan Sonncy (erkin sonna), or 'Lucky Piggy'. The nan1c given to the
Fairy Pig of ~lan. \Valtcr Gill in A Jl1anl Scrapbook (p. 444) mentions a
fairy pig seen near 1 iarbyl by a child who told him about it some fifty
years later as an old \VOnlan. It was a beautiful little white pig, and as the
fairy pigs are supposed to bring luck, she called to her uncle to come and
help her to catch it. But he called back to her to leave it alone, and it soon
disappeared. Dora Broome has a tale of a little fairy pig in her Fairy Tales
from the Isle of Man. Her little pig is \vhite, \Vith red ears and eyes like
most Celtic FAIRY AI\ I ~tALS. It can alter its size, but apparently not its
shape.
Aubrey, John (1626- 97). One of the most lovable of antiquarians. Many
old customs and fairy anecdotes would have been lost to the world if he
had not chronicled them. He tells us in his Naturalllistory of Surrey of
the Fairy Kettle of Frcnsham which was regularly lent to anyone who
asked for it outside the Fairy ~1ound of Frensham, a good example of
FAIRY LOANS; it is he who first gives us 'Horse and Hattock' as the
master word in FAIRY LEVITATIO \and gives us an early account of
MEG MULLACH, the female BRO\\'NIE, \Vhose tradition in the Highlands
of Scotland has lasted till this day. One passage, however, indubitably by
Aubrey was quoted by HALLI\VELL-PHILLIPPS in Illustrations of the
Fairy A1ytholo[J' of Shakespeare and has no\v disappeared. It was prob-
ably in the lost volume of Hypomnemata A11tiquaria and a detailed note
on this will be found in K. l\1. Briggs, The Anatomy of Puck (p. 34) in
which the extract is printed:
Banshee. An Irish death spirit, more correctly written BEAN sr, who
wails only for members of the old families. \Vhen several keen together,
it foretells the death of someone very great or holy. The Banshee has
long streaming hair and a grey cloak over a green dress. Her eyes are
fiery red "ith continual weeping. In the Scottish Highlands the Banshee
is called the BEAN-NIGHE or LITTLE-\VASHER-BY-THE-FORD, and she
washes the grave-clothes of those about to die.
In the Memoirs of Lady Fanshame, who lived from 1625--?6, there is a
first-hand account of a banshee that appeared to her when she was
staying \Vith Lady Honor O'Brien:
There we stayed three nights. The first of which I was surprised by
being laid in a chamber, when, about one o'clock I heard a voice that
wakened me. I dre\v the curtain, and in the casement of the window,
I saw, by the light of the moon, a woman leaning into the window,
through the casement, in white, with red hair and pale and ghastly
complexion: she spoke loud, and in a tone I had never heard, tluice,
IS Banshee
'A horse'; and then, with a sigh more like the wind than breath she
vanished, and to me her body looked more like a thick cloud than
substance. I was so much frightened, that my hair stood on end, and
my night clothes fell off. I pulled and pinched your father, who never
woke during the disorder I \Vas in; but at last \Vas much surprised to
see me in this fright, and more so when I related the story and showed
him the window opened. Neither of us slept any more that night, but
he entertained me with telling me ho\v much more these apparitions
were usual in this country than in England; and we concluded the
cause to be the great superstition of the Irish, and the want of that
knowing faith, which should defend them from the power of the Devil,
which he exercises among them very much. About five o'clock the
lady of the house came to see us, saying she had not been in bed all
night, because a cousin O'Brien of her's, whose ancestors had owned
that house, had desired her to stay \Vith him in his chamber, and that
he died at two o'clock, and she said, 'I wish you to have had no
disturbance, for 'tis the custom of the place, that, when any of the
family are dying, the shape of a woman appears in the \vindow every
night till they be dead. This woman was many ages ago got with child
by the owner of this place, who murdered her in his garden and flung
her into the river under the window, but truly I thought not of it when
I lodged you here, it being the best room in the house.' We made little
reply to her speech, but disposed ourselves to be gone suddenly.
Some two hundred years later Lady \VILDE wrote a chapter in her
Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol. I, pp. 259- 63) on the beliefs about the
Banshee. According to her, the Irish Banshee is more beautiful and
poetic than the deformed Banshee of the Scottish Highlands. In the
course of her description she says:
Sometimes the Banshee assumes the form of some sweet singing
virgin of the family who died young, and has been given the mission by
the invisible powers to become the harbinger of coming doom to her
mortal kindred. Or she may be seen at night as a shrouded woman,
crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face; or flying past
in the moonlight, crying bitterly: and the cry of this spirit is mournful
beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some
member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night.
The Bean-Nighe is also sometimes thought of as a ghost, but the ghost
of a woman who died in childbirth. J. G. CAMPB E LL in Superstitions of
the Scottish Highlands (p. 43) says: 'Women dying in childbed were
looked upon as dying prematurely, and it was believed that, unless all the
clothes left by them were washed, they should have to wash them them-
selves till the natural period of their death.' Yet the Bean-Nighe's
washing was supposed to foreshadow the violent death of some member
Baobhan Sith 16
of the clan, \vhose grave-clothes she \vas washing. 1~hc llighland Banshee,
like the other FAIRIES, has some physical DEFECTS. She has only one
nostril, a large protruding front tooth and long hanging breasts. A mortal
who is bold enough to creep up to her as she is washing and lamenting
and suck her long breast can claitn to be her foster-child and gain a wish
from her. Since the word 'banshee' means 'fairy won1an ', the beliefs
about her arc various, and occasionally the GLA 1ST 1G is spoken of as a
banshee, though she has nothing to do with the Bean-Nighc.
(Motif: F254 I]
Baobhan Sith (baavan slzee). 1~his Highland word is the satnc as BAN-
SHEE, and means 'fairy won1an ',but it is generally employed to mean a
kind of succubus, very dangerous and evil. D. A. ~~Iackenzic in ScoJJish
Folk Lore and Folk Lift (p. 236) retells a story from C. ~1. Robertson's
Folk-Lore frotn the ~Vest oj'Ross-shire.
Four young men were on a hunting trip and spent the night in an
empty shicling, a hut built to give shelter for the sheep in the grazing
season. They began to dance, one supplying mouth-music. One of the
dancers wished that they had partners. Almost at once four wotnen came
in. Three danced, the fourth stood by the music-maker. But as he
hummed he saw drops of blood falling fron1 the dancers and he fled out
of the shieling, pursued by his dcn1on partner. lie took refuge among the
horses and she could not get to hin1, probably because of the IRON \Vith
which they were shod. But she circled round him all night, and only
disappeared when the sun rose. He went back into the shieling and found
the bloodless bodies of the dancers lying there. Their partners had sucked
them dry.
[Motifs: E251.3.3; F471.2.1]
Barguest. A kind of BOGY OR BOGEY-BEAST. It has horns, teeth and
claws and fiery eyes. Henderson describes the Barguest as closely allied
to PADFOOT and the HEDLEY KO\V. Like them it can take various forms,
but usually appears as a shaggy BLACK DOG with huge fiery eyes. It is
generalJy regarded as a death portent. \Villiam Henderson in Folk-Lore
of the Northern Counties (pp. 274-5) said that it used to haunt a piece of
wasteland between \Yreghorn and Headingley Hill near Leeds. At the
death of any notable person in the district it would appear, followed by
all the dogs in the district, howling and baying. Henderson reports that
he met an old man who claimed to have seen the procession as a child.
Hone's EverJ'day Book (vol. 111, p. 655) gives a lively report of an en-
counter with a barguest:
You see, sir, as how I'd been a clock dressing at Gurston (Grassing-
ton), and I'd staid rather lat, and maybe getten a lile sup o' spirit; but
I war far from being drunk, and knowed everything that passed. It war
about eleven o'clock when I left, and it war at back end o' t' year, and
17 Bathing fairies
a most admirable neet it war. The moon war verra breet, and I nivver
seed Kylstone Fell plainer in a' my life. Now, you see, sir, I war
passing down t' Millloine, and I heerd summat come past me - brush,
brush, brush, wi' chains rattlin' a' the while, but I seed nothing; and I
thought to myself, now this is a most mortal queer thing. And I then
stuid still and luiked about me; but I seed nothing at aw, nobbut the
two stane wa's on each side o' t'millloine. Then I heard again this
brush, brush, brush, wi' the chains; for you see, sir, when I stood still
it stopped, and then, thowt I, this mun be a Barguest, that sae much
is said about; and I hurried on toward t' wood brig; for they say as
how this Barguest cannot cross a watter; but, Lord, sir, when I gat
o'er t' brig, I heerd this same again: so it mun either have crossed t'
watter or have gone round by the spring heed I And then I became a
valiant man, for I were a bit freekend afore; and, thinks I, I'll turn and
hev a peep at this thing; so I went up Greet Bank towards Linton,
and heerd this brush, brush, brush, wi' the chains aw the way, but I
seed nothing; then it ceased all of a sudden. So I turned back to go
hame; but I'd hardly reached the door when I heerd again this brush,
brush, brush, and the chains going down towards t' Holin House;
and I followed it, and the moon there shone verra breet, and I seed its
tail! Then thowt I, thou owd thing, I can say I'se seen thee now; so
I'll away hame.
When I gat to the door there was a grit thing like a sheep, but it war
larger, ligging across the threshold o' t' door, and it war woolly like;
and I says, 'Git up!' and it wouldn't git up. Then says I, 'Stir thysel I'
and it wouldn't stir itself. And I grew valiant, and I raised t' stick to
baste it wi'; and then it luiked at me, and sich oies, they did glower,
and war as big as saucers and like a cruelled ball. First there war a red
ring, then a blue one, then a white one; and these rings grew less and
less till they cam to a dot I Now I war none feared on it, tho it grin'd at
me fearfully, and I kept on saying, 'Git up', and 'Stir thysel', and the
wife heerd as how I war at t' door, and she came to oppen it; and then
this thing gat up and walked off, for it war mare freeten'd o' t'owd wife
than it war o' me; and I told the wife, and she said as how it war
Barguest; but I never seed it since- and that's a true story.
(Motifs: F234.0.2; F234.1.9; GJ02.J.2; GJOJ.4.1.2.4; GJOJ.4.6]
Barrenness. See HARD DELIVERY OR BARRENNESS.
These small green-clad fairies may well have been ELVES. Their
chirping, bird-like voices and DRESS AND APPEARANCE are true to a
tradition that goes as far back as the 16th century, and it is noticeable that
19 Bean-nighe
they had no wings, but scampered and leapt like squirrels. This is one of
those strangely vivid accounts which can be found from time to time and
which strike one with a shock of authenticity.
[Motif: F265.1]
Beithir (belzir). 1'his is a rather rare I lighland nan1e for one of the large
class of FUATHS. It haunted cav,es and corries. 1"'he word \Vas also used
for 'lightning' and 'the serpent'. It j ~ given by I . 1\. lackenzie in
Scottish Folk Lor~ and Follt Lift (p. 247), but I have been unable to find
it in J. F. CAMPUELL, Kcnnedy, Cannichael or other Gaelic authorities.
[!vlotif: F46o]
Bells. These had a dual use. In the first place they were used by mortals
as a PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES and other evil spirits. The church
bells, the gargoyles and the weathercock - the symbol of sunrise and day -
were popularly supposed to be the three defences against the Devil. The
FAIRIES were also repelled by the sound of church bells. jabez ALLIES's
anecdote of the fairy who \Vas heard lamenting
'Neither sleep, neither lie,
For Inkbro's ting-tang hangs so high'
is the frrst of quite a number that record the fairies' dislike of church bells.
Another protective use of bells was that of the lorris Ien, whose leg-
bells are generally supposed to drive anti-fertility spirits from the neigh-
bourhood.
In the second place, the fairies themselves used bells. ~o account of
the FAIRY RADE is complete without a mention of the jingling bells
ringing from the horses' harness. \Ve hear of it, for instance, in YOUNG
T AMLANE and in the Galloway account of the Fairy Rade. It is never
explained why the fairy bells rang, unless it be from their great love of
music, but it is generally supposed that these fairies, in spite of their
general habit of kidnapping human beings and purloining human food,
21 Bendith Y Mamau
belonged to the SEELIE COURT, and it might be conjectured that these
bells rang to scare away the evil creatures who made up the UNSEELIE
COURT.
Bcn-Varrcy (bedn varra). 'f'hc t1anx na1nc for the ~1ER~IAID, of which
many talcs arc told round the coasts of fan .. he bears the same general
character as mermaids do everywhere, enchanting and alluring men to
their death, but occasionally showing softer traits. ]n Man the Mermaid
shows, on the whole, the softer side of her nature. In Dora Broomc's
Fairy Talesfronzthe Isle of,\1a1l the l\1ermaid ofPurt-le- 1urrey sets her
love on a man and nearly succeeds in alluring him into the sea, but his
boat-mates save him by a counter-chann. I Iere she is a siren, but appar-
ently actuated by true love. In the sarnc book a fishennan who carries a
stranded mermaid back into the sea is rewarded by the information of how
to find a treasure. 1-le finds it, but it is of antique gold and he does not
know how to dispose of it. In the end the strange coins arc thrown into
the sea by a roan1ing sin1plcton; but that is hardly the fault of the Ben-
Varrey. There is also a story of a baby mermaid who coveted a little
human girl's doll and stole it, but was rebuked by her rnother and sent to
give the girl her necklace of pearls to atone for the theft. 1\ pleasant story
in Sophia !vlorrison,s Afanx Fairy 1ales, ' 'fhe 1ermaid of Gob- y-
Ooyl ', tells of the friendly relations of the ay le fan1ily with the local
mermaid. They were a large fishing fan1ily, with a \veil-tended croft to
eke out their living, and everything prospered with thcn1. lt was noticed
that old Sayle had a great liking for apples, and ahvays took a pile of them
in the boat when they were ripe. But the titne came for him to retire, and
then things began to go less \Veil. There wa soon not enough to keep
them all, and one by one the boys went to be sailors, till there \vas only
the youngest, Evan, left to look after his parents and the farm. One day
when Evan had set the lobster creels and was climbing among the rocks
to search for sea-birds' eggs, he heard a sweet voice calling him and \Vhen
he came do\vn he found the Den-Varrey sitting on a shoal of rock. l-Ie was
half afraid, but she spoke pleasantly and asked after his father, and he
told her all their troubles. \Vhcn he got home his father \Vas \veil pleased
to hear \vhat had happened, and told him to take some apples with him
next day. The mermaid \Vas delighted to get her 'sweet land eggs' again,
and everything began to flourish once more. But E van loved the mer-
maid's company so much that he spent all his time in his boat, and people
began to fault him for idleness. Evan \Vas so bothered by this that he
decided to go for a sailor, but before he \Vent he planted a little apple tree
on the cliff above the Ben-\' arrey's Bay, and told her that when the tree
was old enough the sweet land-eggs \vould ripen and drop down into the
sea. So, though he \vent, she still brought good luck on the place; but
the apple-tree was slow in growing and the mermaid gre\v weary of
waiting, and went off to look for Evan Say le. The apples ripened in the
end, but E van and the Ben-Varrey never came back to gather them.
Waiter Gill in A A1an:c Scrapbook (p. 241) recalls a tradition of a
friendly warning by a mermaid near Patrick when the Peel boats were
fishing at the Wart off Spanish Head. A mermaid rose suddenly among
23 Billy Blind
the boats and called out, 'shiaull er thalloo ', that is 'sail to land'. Some of
the boats ran for shelter at once, those that remained lost their tackle and
some lives. From these tales it will be seen that though some of the Ben-
Varrey are regarded as dangerous sirens, the picture of them is on the
whole more favourable than that of most mermaids.
(Motifs: BSJ.o.I; B81.7; B81.13.4; F420.J.I]
Big Ears. The name given in the Highlands to a demon cat said to
appear at the end of the ferocious magical ceremony ofTAGHAIRM. In an
account of the last performance of this rite which appeared in the London
Literary Gazette of 1824, Big Ears, when he finally appeared, perched
upon a stone which was still pointed out in the writer's day. The marks of
his claws were still visible.
(Motifs: B871.1.6; GJ02.J.2]
Black Annis. A cannibal hag \Vith a blue face and iron claws supposed
to live in a cave in the Dane Hills in Leicestershire. There was a great
oak at the mouth of the cave in which she was said to hide to leap out,
catch and devour stray children and lambs. The cave, which was called
'Black Annis' Bower Close', \Vas supposed to have been dug out of the
rock by her own nails. On Easter 1onday it was the custom from early
times to hold a drag hunt from Ann is' Bo,ver to the Mayor of Leicester's
house. The bait dragged was a dead cat drenched in aniseed. Black Annis
was associated with a monstrous cat. This custom died out at the end of
the 18th century. Black Annis and GE TLE A~~IE are supposed to
derive from AN u, or o AN A, a Celtic mother goddess. Donald A. Mackenzie
suggests a connection with the Irish AI ' E, the mother of Earl Fitzgerald.
The Leicester Chronicle of 1842 mentions a tomb in Swithland Church to
Agnes Scott, an anchoress, and suggests that she was the original of
Black Annis. Ruth Tongue in her Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English
Counties reproduces a tale about Black Armis the hag. It was told by an
evacuee from Leicester in December 1941. Her description seems to
show that the tradition of Black Annis \Vas still alive just over thirty
years ago:
Black Armis lived in the Danehills.
She was ever so tall and had a blue face and had long white teeth and
she ate people. She only went out when it was dark.
My mum says, when she ground her teeth people could hear her in
time to bolt their doors and keep well away from the window. That's
why we don't have a lot of big windows in Leicestershire cottages, she
can't only get an arm inside.
25 Blights and illnesses attributed to the fairies
My. mum says that's why we have the fire and chimney in a corner.
The fire used to be on the earth floor once and people slept all round
it until Black Armis grabbed the babies out of the window. There
wasn't any glass in that time.
When Black Annis howled you could hear her five miles away and
then even the poor folk in the huts fastened skins across the window
and put witch-herbs above it to keep her away safe.
A full account of the various traditions about Black Annis is given by
C. J. Billson in County Folk-Lore (vol. I). It has been suggested that she
is MILTON's 'blew meager hag'.
[Motifs: A125.1; G2I 1.1.7; G214.1; G261; G262.0.1]
Black dogs. Stories of black dogs are to be found all over the country.
They are generally dangerous, but sometimes helpful. As a rule, the
black dogs are large and shaggy, about the size of a calf, with fiery eyes.
If anyone speaks to them or strikes at them they have power to blast, like
the MAUTHE oooG, the Black Dog of Peel Castle in the Isle of Man. In
England they are often the form taken by a human ghost. Such a one was
said to be laid at Finstock in Oxfordshire with the help of prayers, a
mother with a new-born child and a pair of clappers which were parted
and put into the two separate ponds in the village. \\'hen the nvo clappers
come together it is said that the Black Dog of Finstock will reappear. In
'The Collingbourne Kingston Black Dog' in Ruth Tongue, Forgotten
Folk-Tales of the English Counties (pp. 48-<)), the animal is an instrument
of justice. Another type of black dog is the CHURCH GRIM. An account
is given in HARTLAND's English Fairy and Folk Tales (pp. 234- 44), but
the fullest treatment is by T. Brown in Folklore (vol. 69, p. 175).
[Motifs: [42J.I.I; f42J.I.I.I; F2J4.I.g; GJ02.J.2]
Blue 1cn of the Minch. The Blue 1en used particularly to haunt the
strait between Long Island and the hiant lslands. 1'hey swam out to
wreck pa sing ships, and could be baulked by captains who were ready at
rhyming and could keep the last \Vord. They were supposed to be fallen
angels.
1'hc sudden storn1s that arose around the hiant Islands were said to
be caused by the Blue 1en, \Vho lived in undcr-\vater caves and were
ruled by a chieftain.
J. G. CA 1PBELL in his Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands (p. 200)
summarize a talc of a Blue 1an who had been captured sleeping on the
surface of the sea.
He \Vas taken on board and, being thought of mortal race, string
twine was coiled round and round him from his feet to his shoulders,
till it scen1ed impossible for him to struggle, or n1ove foot or arm. The
ship had not gone far \\'hen two men (Dlue ten) were observed
con1ing aCt er it on the \Vater . One of them \Vas heard to say, 'Duncan
\vill be one n1an,' to which the other replied 'Farquhar will be two.'
On hearing this, the n1an who had been so securely tied sprang to his
feet, broke his bonds like spider threads, jumped overboard and made
off with the two friends \vho had been coming to his rescue.
In this storv.. the creatures had human names. D. A. tvlackenzie in
Scottish Folk-Lore a11d Folk Lift devotes a chapter to 'The Blue 1en of
the linch '. They are believed in only in the area of the Straits of Shiant,
and he brings forward the theory that the belief originated in the i\1oorish
captives called 'Blue l\len' who \vere marooned in Ireland in the 9th
century by Tor,vegian pirates. The account is \veil documented, the chief
source being The Annals of Ireland by Duald iac Firbis, and it seems
likely that the theory has a solid foundation. If so, this is one more
example of the fairy tradition being founded on memories of an extinct
race.
(l\1otif: F.po.s.2.7.3]
Boggart
Bodach (budagh). The Celtic form of BUGBEAR, or BUG-A-BOO. He
comes down the chimney like a NURSERY BOGIE to fetch naughty
children. The Bodach Glas is a death token, and William Henderson, in
Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties (p. 344), cites it among Highland
beliefs in his account of death tokens:
Such a prophet of death was the Bodach Glas, or Dark Grey Man,
of which Sir W alter Scott makes such effective use in W averley
towards the end of Fergus Maclvor's history. Its appearance foretold
death in the clan of , and I have been informed on the most credible
testimony of its appearance in our own day. The Earl of E , a noble-
man alike beloved and respected in Scotland, and whose death was
truly felt as a national loss, was playing on the day ofhis decease on the
links of St Andrews the national game of golf. Suddenly he stopped in
the middle of a game, saying 'I can play no longer, there is the Bodach
Glas. I have seen it for the third time; something fearful is going to
befall me.' He died that night at M.M , as he was handing a candle-
stick to a lady who was retiring to her room. The clergyman from
whom I received the story endorses it as authentic, and names the
gentleman to whom Lord E spoke.
[Motif: E723.2]
shire (p. I 40), is a common type of trickster tale. Several versions of it are
told about the Devil and one about a boggart:
Once there \Vas a bogie that laid claim to a farmer's field. The farmer
did not think it fair; but after a long argument they decided that,
though the farmer should do the \Vork, they should divide the produce
between them. So the first year in spring the farmer said: 'Which will
you have, tops or bottoms ?'
'Bottoms,' said the bogie.
So the farmer planted wheat; all the bogie got was stubble and roots.
Next year he said he would have tops, and the farmer planted turnips;
so he was no better off than before. He began to think he was getting
the worst of it; so the next year he said: 'You'll plant wheat, and \Ve'll
have a mowing match, and him who wins shall have it for keeps.'
'Agreed,' said the farmer, and they divided the field up into two equal
halves. A little before the corn ripened, however, the farmer went to
the smith and ordered some hundreds of thin iron rods, which he stuck
Bogies 32
all over the bogie's half of the field . The farmer got on like a house on
fire, but the poor bogie kept muttering to himself, 'J)arnation hard
docks, 'nation hard docks!' and his scythe grew so blunt that it would
hardly cut butter. After about an hour he called to the farmer, '\Vhen
do we \Viffie-waffie, mate?' for in a match all the reapers whet their
scythes together.
'\Vaffie?' said the farmer. 'Oh, about noon, n1aybe.'
'Noon!' said the bogie. 'Then I've lost,' and off he went, and
troubled the farmer no more.
[Types: 1030; 1090. Motifs: K42.2; K171.1]
Bogies. On the whole, these are evil GoB 1.. h s, but ac,cording to William
Henderson in Folk-Lore of the JVorthertz Counties, \vho quotes from
HOGG's '\Voolgatherer', the bogies on the cottish Borders, though
formidable, arc virtuous creatures: 'Then the Bogies, they are a better
kind o' spirits; they meddle \vi' nane but the guilty; the murderer, an'
the mansworn, an' the cheaters o' the wido\v an' fatherless, they do for
them.' Hendcrson tells a corroborative story of a poor widow at the village
of Hurst, near Reeth, '"ho had had some candles stolen by a neighbour.
The neighbour sa\\' one night a dark figure in his garden and took out his
gun and fired at it. The next night \Vhile he was \Vorking in an outhouse
the figure appeared in the door\vay and said, 'I m neither bone nor flesh
nor blood, thou canst not harm me. Give back the candles, but I must
take something from thee.' \Vith that he came up to the man and plucked
out an eyelash, and vanished. But the man's eye 'hvinkled' ever after.
33 Boneless
On the other hand, Henderson has another story of a bogie which was
banished by an open bible.
Mrs Balfour uses 'bogies' in her Lincolnshire tales in Folk-Lore (vol.
n) as completely evil creatures. It is a little doubtful if the word is true
Lincolnshire or was imported by her.
Bovet, Richard. Towards the end of the 17th century, before the
rationalism of the 18th century overwhelmed it, a number of books
appeared with a strong bias towards the supernatural, and a more
35 Bovet, Richard
credulous attitude towards FA 1 RI Es than had been found in the Eliza-
bethan period, whose \Vriters were apt to treat belief in the fairies as a
rustic superstition. We have AUBREY's Remaines ofGentilisme in 1686,
Baxter's The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits in 1681, Joseph Glanvil's
Saducismus Triumphatus in 1681, KIRK's The Secret Co11unonwealth in
1691, William Lilly's History of His Own Times in 1681, and Cotton
Mather's The Wonders of the Invisible World in 1693. Among the most
interesting of them is Richard Bovet's Pandae11zoniu1n, or The Devil's
Cloyster, published in 1684. Richard Bovet lived out of the intellectual
ferment of London society. He belonged to a puritanical family in
Taunton, and there is even some rumour of his having suffered under
Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion. That he was not entirely
Brag
out of touch 'vith the thought of his time is shown by his dedication of
his book to Dr Henry More, the author of Philosophical Potms (1647).
He tells us more about fairy-lore than Glanvil or Daxtcr. His two most
important contributions to our knowledge arc his account of the FAIRY
MARKET on Blackdown between Pitminster and Chard, and a report
from a Scottish correspondent of the Fairy Doy of Leith. 11is style is
lucid and plain. The frontispiece of the book is worth studying, for it
covers the 'vhole ground of Bovet's supernatural belief.~. In the back-
ground is an enchanted castle with a DRAGON rising out of it and a
horned porter at the door. A witch is riding a rather smaller dragon in the
sky. In front of the castle is a fairy ring. 'I'o the right of the foreground a
friar protected by a magic circle and a rosary is controlling a rather
bewildered group of I~~ P s, one of whom is scratching his head while the
one behind the friar is clawing at his go,vn in the hope of pulling him out
of the circle and snatching him down to I lcll. Behind him is a witch's
cottage; to the left of the picture a 'vitch, also protected by a circle, is
raising what she fondly imagines is a dead woman, demurely dressed in a
shroud with a top-knot above it, though the cloven hoof just showing
beneath her skirt shows that it is not a corpse that the witch is raising, but
a devil. This is in accordance with the orthodox Puritan belief of the time,
according to which apparent ghosts were really disguised devils.
The general tone and style of the book gives an impression of a pleasant
personality. It is to be hoped that he did not fall into Judge Jeffreys's
hands.
Like the Irish PHOOKA, he often takes the form of a horse. He belongs
to the Northern Counties, which arc rich in H.OBGOBLINS.
In Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, \Villi am Henderson quotes some
tales of the PICK TREE BRAG told by Sir Cuthbert Sharpe in The Bishop-
rick Garland. It kept changing its form. Sometimes it \Yas like a calf, with
a white handkerchief round its neck, sometimes like a dick-ass; it
appeared once as four men holding a white sheet, once as a naked man
without a head. One old lady had a tale about her uncle. He had a suit of
white clothes \vhich always brought him bad luck. The first time he put it
on he met the brag, and once, as he was returning from a christening in
that very suit, he met the brag again. He was a brave man, so he leapt on
its back.
But when he came to the four lonin ends, the Brag joggled him so
sore that he could hardly keep his seat; and at last it threw him into
the middle o' the pond, and ran away, setting up a great nicker and
laugh, for all the world like a Christian.
The DUNNIE and HEDLEY KOW behave in the same kind of way.
[Motif: F234.0.2]
37 Bran and Sceolan
Bran (bran) and Sceolan (shkeolawn). Bran and Sceolan were the two
favourite hounds of FINN Mac Cumhal. They \vere so wise and knowing
that they seemed human in knowledge, and so indeed they \vere. Accord-
ing to the Irish story, this was ho\v they were born. One time Finn's
mother Muirne came to stay \Vith him in Almhuin (Alien) which was the
headquarters where he lived with the FIANNA, and she brought her sister
Tuiren with her. And Iollan Eachtach, an Ulster man and one of the
chiefs of the Fianna there, was with him at the time, and he asked
Tuiren's hand in marriage from Finn, and Finn granted it, but he said
that if Tuiren had any reason to be displeased \Vith her bargain, Iollan
should allo'v her to return freely, and he made Iollan grant sureties for it
and Iollan gave sureties to Caoilte and Goll and Lugaidh Lamha before
he took Tuiren away. Now, \vhether Finn had any inkling of it or not it is
certain that Iollan had already a sweetheart among the sI oH E and she
was Uchtdealb of the Fair Breast, and when she heard that Iollan was
married she was bitterly jealous. She took on the appearance of Finn's
woman messenger and, going to Ulster to Tuiren's house, she said: 'Finn
sends all good \vishes and long life to you, queen, and bids you prepare a
great feast, and if you 'vill come aside with me I will tell you how it must
be.' Tuiren went aside \vith her, and \vhen they got out of sight Ucht-
dealb took out a rod and smote her with it, and at once she turned into a
most beautiful little bitch, and she led her away to the house of Fergus
Fionnliath, the king of the harbour of Gallimh. She chose Fergus because
he hated dogs more than anything in the world, and, still in the shape of
Finn's messenger, she led the little bitch in to Fergus and said to him:
'Finn wishes you to foster and take charge of this little bitch and she is
with young, and do not let her join the chase when her time is near';
and she left the hound with him. Fergus thought it a strange thing that
this charge should have been put on him, for everyone knew what a
hatred he had of dogs, but he had a great regard for Finn, so he did his
best, and the little hound \Vas so swift and so clever that soon he changed
his notions altogether and began to like hounds as much as he had hated
them.
In the meantime it became known that Tuiren had disappeared, and
Finn called Iollan to account for it, and lollan had to say that she was
gone and that he could not find her. At that his sureties pressed him so
hard that he begged for time to search for her. When he could not find
her he went to Uchtdealb and told her in what danger he stood, and she
consented to free Tuiren if he would be her sweetheart for ever. She went
to Fergus's house and freed Tuiren from her shape, and afterwards Finn
married her to Lugaidh Lamha. But the two whelps were already born,
and Finn kept them and they were always with him.
The Highland version is different. In this Bran and Sceolan are
monstrous dogs, won by Finn from a kind of Celtic version of the
monster Grendel in B eowulj, who had been stealing babies from a young
Bran Mac Fcbail
champion's house. There is something monstrous about them- a strange
mixture of colours and great savagery in some versions. In one form,
collected and translated by J. !\1acdougall in 1Vaifs and StraJ1S of Celtic
Tradition (vol. 111), Sccolan is called ''fhe Grey Dog' and is most dan-
gerous, only to be controlled by Bran's gold chain. Any trace of relation-
ship between Finn and the hounds is lost here.
[Motifs: DI41.1; F241.6; FJ02.5.2]
Bran (brarn) the Blessed. There are three Brans mentioned in Celtic
mythological and legendary matter: BR AN, the famous hound of F 1 N N;
BRAN SON OF FEBAL, the Irish hero who \vas allured away to the Isle
of Women, the Western Paradise of MANANNAN SON OF LIR; and Bran
the Blessed, the brother of Mana,vyddan and the son of LL YR, whose
story is told in the MABINOGION. It is clear that the Irish and the Welsh
mythologies are closely connected in these two groups, but Bran the
Blessed represents a much earlier and more mythological strain of belief,
obviously a primitive god. It has been surmised by Professor Rhys that
he \vas a Goidelic or even pre-Goidelic divinity who was grafted on to
later Celtic tradition.
Bran was of monstrous size, so large that no house could contain him,
but he was one of the beneficent GIANTS and had magical treasures which
enriched Britain, and chief among them was the Cauldron of Healing
which came from Ireland and was destined to return to it. Manawyddan
and his brother Bran had a sister Branwen, and Mana\vyddan had two
half-brothers on his mother's side, Nissyen and Evnissyen. One was
gentle and delighted in making peace between those who were at enmity,
but the other was malicious, and if people were at peace he set strife
benveen them. And it was through E vnissyen that two great peoples were
destroyed.
One day Matholwch King of Ireland came to Britain to ask Bran the
Blessed to give him the hand ofBranwen in marriage, so that there might
be a league for ever between Britain and Ireland. This seemed good to
Bran, and he called his Council and everything was agreed between
them, and they moved to Aberffra\v where the \vedding celebrations were
held. When they were all assembled, Evnissyen, who had been away,
arrived at Aberffraw and saw all the magnificent horses of Matholwch
ranged between the encampment and the sea. He asked whose they \Vere,
and when he heard that they belonged to King Matholwch who had just
been married to his sister he was furious at this being done without his
leave. He rushed like a madman on the horses and mutilated them all most
Bran the Blessed
cruelly. When Matholwch heard what had been done to his horses, he
was bitterly wounded and retired to\vards his ships. Bran sent embassies
after and offered one atonement after another, and at length, after liberal
payment of money and of horses, he offered the Cauldron of Healing.
Then Matholwch was pacified and consented to come back, and in the
end he departed with Branwcn and the full toll of horses and gold, and
all seemed at peace. But after he had got home, Matholwch's people and
his foster-brothers grew more and more angry at the thought of the insult
that had been put on him and after Branwen's little son had been born,
Matholwch banished her from his bed and put on her every insult he
could devise, and if any Briton came to Ireland, he \vas not allowed to go
home for fear Bran should hear how savagely she was treated. But
Branwen, confined to tHe chopping-block in the yard, tamed a starling
that she hid there, taught it to talk and instructed it how to go to Bran
and to give him the letter that she fastened under its wing. And after
three years of painful teaching the starling carried the message across the
sea to Bran. Then Bran \Vas more angry than he had ever been, and he
summoned a mighty fleet and a mighty arn1ament, and they set out, Bran
\Vading the sea because no ship would hold him. A few days later King
Mathohvch's swineherds, sitting by the sea-shore, saw a strange spectacle
approaching them across the sea: a n1oving forest with a great headland
towering behind it, at the sun1mit of \vhich \vas a great ridge of rock
dividing t\vo lakes. They hurried to teJl the king, \vho at once uneasily
connected it \Vith Bran. The only person who could explain the phenom-
enon was his \vife, so he sent messengers to Branwen and described
the vision to her. '\Vhat is the meaning of the moving forest?' they asked
her.' ~1y brothers are bringing a great fleet against you. That is the forest,'
she answered. 'And the great headland mo,ing towards us out of the sea?'
'That is my brother Bran \vading the channel; no boat can hold him,' she
ans,vered. 'But the sharp cliff dividing two great lakes?' '1V1y brother is
angry as he looks towards Ireland. The cliff is his nose, the two lakes are
his eyes, large and suffused \Vith anger.'
The whole of Ireland was in a panic at her words, but they had a way
of retreat. If they crossed the river Linon and broke do,vn the great
bridge across it, it would be impassable, for there was a loadstone that
lay in the bed of the river that dre\v all boats do\vn to it. So they crossed
the river and broke down the bridge: but when Bran reached it he
stretched his great length over it, and all the mighty armies crossed the
river in safety.
As Bran raised himself from the ground, ambassadors from Matholwch
approached him. They told him that l\1athohvch had given the kingdom
to Branwen's son G\vern and had put himself at Bran's disposal to atone
for the \vrongs he had done to Bran\ven. At first Bran would not be
appeased, but Matholwch proposed other terms, that he \vould build a
great house, large enough to hold Bran for "'horn no house had yet been
Bread
built, and here the Irish and the British would meet and make a lasting
peace. And to this Bran agreed.
The great meeting-house was built with a door at each end, and all went
well while it was building. But the Irish had not made the agreement in
good faith. On each of the hundred pillars of the house were two brackets,
and on the night of the Peace Meeting there was a leather bag hanging on
each bracket with an armed man inside it. Evnissyen came in early to
look at the hall, and he looked sharply at the leather bags. 'What is in this
bag?' he said. 'Meal, good soul,' said the Irishman who was showing
him round. Evnissyen put up his hand and felt till he found the rounded
shape of a skull. Then he pinched it so sharply that his fingers met
through the splintered bone. He \Vent on to the next. 'And what is
in this?' he asked. And he went on his round till he came to the end of the
two hundred. Then the Irish came in at one door and the British at the
other, and they greeted each other with great cordiality and the peace was
concluded. When all was decided, Gwern, the new little king, was brought
out and went merrily from one of his kinsmen to another, and they all
loved him. When he had gone round them all, E vnissyen called him and
he went to him gladly. Then, before anyone could stop him, Evnissyen
took the child by the ankles and thrust him head-first into the blazing
fire. That was the end of peace. Every man snatched his arms and the
battle went on all night. In the morning Evnissyen saw the dead bodies
of the Irish being put into the cauldron and rising up as well as before,
except that they were dumb, but no Welshmen were put in. And remorse
came on E vnissyen, and he flung himself down among the Irish, and
when he was thrown into the cauldron he gave a great stretch and burst
the cauldron, but his own heart burst at the same time. After that some
small measure of victory came to the Britons, but it was little enough.
Bran was wounded with a poisoned dart on the foot and when he knew
that he was dying he told them to cut off his head and carry it back to
Britain, and bury it under the White Tower in London to guard the land
as long as it was there. And the head would be good company to them
wherever they went. And good company it was. But only eight of all that
great host got back to Britain, and one of them was Branwen, and when
she got home her heart burst with grief to think of the great destruction
which had come through her. As for Ireland, all that were left alive in it
were five pregnant women hiding in a cave. And Ireland was re-peopled
through them, and they founded the Five Kingdoms.
[Motifs: A523; A525; FSJI; FI041.16]
Bread. The prototype of food, and therefore a symbol of life, bread was
one of the commonest PROTECTIONS AGAINST FAIRIES. Before going
out into a fairy-haunted place, it was customary to put a piece of dry
bread into one's pocket.
Brewing of eggshells
Bre\ving of eggshells. Sec CHANGELINGS.
Brigit, or Brid (breed). The Irish goddess Drigit seems to have been so
much beloved that the Early Church could not bring itself to cut her off
from the people and she became St Bridget of Ireland.
Lady Gregory, in Gods aud J"ighting Jl1en, says of her (p. 2):
Brigit ... was a woman of poetry, and poets worshipped her, for her
sway was very great and very noble. And she was a woman of healing
along with that, and a \Voman of stnith 's \Vork, and it was she first made
the \vhistle for calling one to another through the night. And the one
side of her face was ugly, but the other side was very comely. And the
meaning of her name was llrco-saighit, a fiery arrow.
Various sources of the fairy beliefs have been suggested among the
THEORIES OF FAIRY ORIGI ~ , and with good reason. 'fhcy have been
called the dead, or traditions of prin1itivc men or nature spirits, but there
seems little doubt that in 1reland at least son1c of them were descendants
of this ear 1y Pantheon.
Brother Mike. We kno\v this as a fairy nan1e from the pathetic cry of a
little frairy (sec FRA 1 R 1ES) captured near Bury St Edtnunds and re-
produced from 'Suffolk otcs and Q!.tcries' in the lpsmich Journal of
1877 It is to be found in County Folk-Lore (vol. u, pp. 34- 5) and forms a
particularly sad exan1ple of a CAPTURI: o FA 1 R Y:
There wus a farn1er, right a long t in1c ago, that wus, an he had a lot
o' wate, a good tidy lot o' wate he had. 1\n he huld all his watc in a
barn, of a hape he did! but that hape that got le scr and lesser, an he
kount sar how that kum no how. But at last he thout he'd go and sec if
he kount see suffun. So off of his bed he got, one moanlight night, an he
hid hiselfhind the oud lanctcw, where he could sec that's barn's doors;
an when the clock struck twelve, if he dint see right a lot of little tiddy
frairies. 0 lork! how they did run - they was little bits o' things, as big
as mice, an they had little blue caoots and yallcr breeches an little red
caps on thar hids with long tassels hangin down behind. An they run
right up to that barn's door. An if that door dint open right wide of that
self. An loppcrty lop! over the throssold they all hulled themselves.
\Vell, when the farmer see they \VUS all in, he kum nigher an nigher, an
he looked inter the barn he did. An he see all they little frairies; they
danced round an round, an then they all ketched up an air o' watc, an
kopt it over their little shoudcrs, they did. But at the last there come
right a dear little frairie that wus soo small that could hardly lift that
air o' wate, and that kep saying as that \valkcd-
'Oh, ho'v I du t\vait,
A carrying o' this air o' wate.'
An when that kum to the throssold, that kount git over no ho,v, an that
farmer he retched out his hand an he caught a houd o' that poooare
thing, an that shruck out, 'Brother ~1ike! Brother Mike!' as loud as
that could. But the farmer he kopt that inter his hat, an he took that
home for his children; he tied that to the kitchen "inder. But that
poooare little thing, that wont ate nothin, an that poyned away and
died.
[Type: ~1L6oro. Motifs: F2J943; F387]
Brown Man of the 1\luirs. A guardian spirit of \Vild beasts that inhabits
the Border Country. Henderson quotes a story of an encounter with him
sent by Mr Surtees, author of The History of Durlla11t, to Sir \Valter
45 Brownie
scoTT. Two young men were out hunting on the moors near Elsdon in
1744, and stopped to eat and rest near a mountain burn. The youngest
went down to the burn to drink, and as he was stooping down he saw the
Brown Man of the Muirs on the opposite bank, a square, stout dwarf
dressed in clothes the colour of withered bracken with a head of frizzled
red hair and great glo\ving eyes like a bull. He fiercely rebuked the lad for
trespassing on his land and killing the creatures that were in his care. For
himself he ate only whortleberries, nuts and apples. 'Come home with
me and see,' he said. The lad \vas just going to jump the burn when his
friend called him and the Bro\vn Man vanished. It was believed that if he
had crossed the running stream he would have been torn to pieces. On the
way home he defiantly shot some more game and it \Vas thought that this
had cost him his life, for soon after he was taken ill, and \Vithin a year he
died.
[Motifs: c614. 1.0.2; F383.2; F419.3 I *; F451.5.2; N101.2]
Bro\vney. The Cornish guardian of the bees. When the bees swarm, the
housewife beats a can and calls 'Browney! Browney! ' and the browney is
supposed to come invisibly to round up the S\varm. It is possible, how-
ever, that 'Bro\vney' is the name of the bees themselves, like 'Burnie,
Burnie Bee' in the Scots folk rhyme.
Brownie. One of the fairy types most easily described and most recog-
nizable. His territory extends over the Lowlands of Scotland and up into
the Highlands and Islands, all over the north and east of England and
into the Midlands. With a natural linguistic variation he becomes the
BWCA of Wales, the Highland BODACH and the Manx FENODOREE. In
the West Country, PIxIEs or PIs G 1E s occasionally perform the offices of
a brownie and show some of the same characteristics, though they are
essentially different. In various parts of the country, friendly LOBS AND
HOBS behave much like brownies.
The Border brownies are the most characteristic. They are generally
described as small men, about three feet in height, very raggedly dressed
in brown clothes, \Vith brown faces and shaggy heads, who come out at
night and do the work that has been left undone by the servants. They
make themselves responsible for the farm or house in which they live;
reap, mow, thresh, herd the sheep, prevent the hens from laying away,
run errands and give good counsel at need. A brownie will often become
personally attached to one member of the family. In return he has a right
to a bowl of cream or best milk and to a specially good bannock or cake.
William Henderson in Folk-Lore of tlze Northern Counties (p. 248)
describes a brownie's portion:
He is allowed his little treats, however, and the chief of these are
knuckled cakes made of meal warm from the mill, toasted over the
embers and spread with honey. The housewife will prepare these, and
Brownie
lay them carefully where he may find them by chance. When a titbit is
given to a child, parents will still say to him, '1'here's a piece wad
please a Brownie. '
A point to notice in this little extract is that the housewife was careful
not to offer the titbit to the brownie, only to leave it in its reach. Any offer
of reward for its services drove the brownie away; it seemed to be an
absolute TABOO. This was accounted for in various ways. In Berwick-
shire it was said that the brownie \Vas the appointed servant of mankind
to ease the weight of Adam's curse and was bound to serve without
payment; another suggestion \Vas that he was of too free a spirit to accept
the bondage of human clothes or wages; soJnctirnes again that he \Vas
bound to serve until he \Vas considered worthy of payment; or again, it
might be the quality of the goods offered that offended him, as in the
story of the Lincolnshire brownie, who, most unusually, was annually
given a linen shirt, until a miserly fanner, succeeding to the farm, left him
out one of coarse sacking, on which he sang:
Bugan. Bugan is a form of the now obsolete BUG and a variant ofBOCAN
and bug-a-boo. It is mentioned in Mrs Wright's Rustic Speech and Folk-
Lore (p. 1 98) as known in the Isle of Man, Cheshire and Shropshire.
that \valk about midnight on great Heaths and desart places, \vhich
saith Lavater draw men out of the way, and lead them all night a by-way,
or quite bar them out of their may; these have several names in several
places; we commonly call them Pucks. In the Desarts of Lop in Asia,
such illusions of \valking spirits arc often perceived, as you may read in
M. Paulus the Venetian his travels; If one lose his company by chance,
these devils \vill call him by his name, and countefeit voyccs of his
companions to seduce him.
Buttery spirits. These spirits are the lay form of the ABBEY LUBBERS
who used to be supposed to haunt rich abbeys, \vhere the monks had
grown self-indulgent and idle. As a rule it was thought that FAIRIES
could feed on any human food that had not been marked by a cross. The
story of the TACKSMAN OF AUCHRIACHAN is an example of this. But,
by an extension of this belief, it \Vas sometimes thought that the fairies
could take any food that \vas ungratefully received or belittled or any-
thing that \vas dishonestly come by, any abuse of gifts, in fact. It was
under these circumstances that the abbey lubbers and buttery spirits
ss Bwbachod
worked. A very vivid account of a buttery spirit is to be found in Hey-
wood's Hierarchic of the Blessed Angels (Book 9).
A pious and holy priest went one day to visit his nephew who was a
cook, or rather, it seemed, a tavern keeper. He was hospitably received,
and as soon as they sat to meat the priest asked his nephew how he was
getting on in the world, for he kne\v he was an ambitious man, anxious
for worldly success. 'Oh Uncle,' said the taverner, 'my state is wretched;
I grow poorer and poorer, though Pm sure I neglect nothing that can be
to my profit. I buy cattle that have died of the murrain, even some that
have been found dead in ditches; I make pies of dogs' carcasses, with a
fine pastry and well spiced; I \Vater my ale, and if anyone complains of
the fare I outface them, and swear I use nothing but the best. I use every
trick I can contrive, and in spite of that I gro\v poorer and poorer.'
'You'll never thrive using these \vicked means,' said his Uncle. 'Let
me see your Buttery.' 'Nothing easier,' said the Cook. 'If I open this
casement you can look straight into it.' The priest crossed himself, and
said, 'Come and look with me.' They looked through, and saw a great,
fat, bloated fellow, gouty with over-eating, guzzling the food set around.
Pies, loaves, joints, all disappeared like smoke. He tapped a cask and
emptied it almost to the dregs in a twinkling. 'How does this scoundrel
come here?' said thetaverner. 'By what right does he devour my goods?'
'This is the Buttery Spirit,' said his Uncle, 'who has power over all ill-got
gains and all dishonestly prepared food. If you wish to prosper you must
leave these wicked ways. Seek God, deal honestly, serve your guests with
good will. Your gains 'vill be small but certain, and you will be happy.'
With that he left his nephew, and did not return for several years. When
he came back he saw a different scene. The tavern \Vas clean and pros-
perous, the food was good, the taverner was in high repute in the town
and on his \vay to becoming a burgess. The priest told him to open the
window again and there they saw the 'vretched Buttery Spirit, lean,
hollow-bellied, tottering on a stick, stretching out in vain for the good
things which were set on the shelves, \vith no strength to lift even an
empty glass, let alone a bottle, in the last extremity and fast withering
away. The taverner had found that honesty is the best policy. George
MACDONALD mentions another spirit, the Cellar Demon, but he seems
to be of a different kind, for his function is to protect the cellar from
depredations, while the Buttery Spirit has no moral intentions and
inadvertently brings it about that ill-gotten gains do not prosper.
[Motif: F47J.6.J]
But one evening, being aweary after driving her goats across Connel,
she fell asleep by the side of the well. The fountain overflowed, its
waters rushed down the mountain side, the roar of the flood as it broke
open an outlet through the Pass of Brander awoke the Cailleach, but
her efforts to stem the torrent were fruitless; it flowed into the plain,
where man and beast were drowned in the flood. Thus was formed
Loch Awe... The Cailleach was filled with such horror over the result
of her neglect of duty that she turned into stone.
Cait Sith 6o
This is one among many legends of the Cailleach Bheur. Indeed, a
whole book rather than a chapter might be written about the Cailleach
Bheur and the crowd of variants that surround her.
[Motifs: AI 135; F436]
Cait Sith (cait slzee). The Highland fairy cat. J. G. CAMPBELI.., in his
Superstitions of the Scouish 1/igh/ands (p. 32), describes it as being as
large as a dog, black, with a white spot on its breast, with an arched back
and erect bristles. This, probably, would be when it was angry. He says
that many Highlanders believed that these cats were transformed witches,
not FA tRIES. An even larger and 1norc ferocious cat, the demonic god of
the cats, appeared in answer to the wicked and ferocious ceremony of
the TAGHAIRM, which consisted in roasting successive cats alive on spits
for four days and nights until u 1G EARS appeared and granted the
wishes of the torturers. The last ceremony of Taghairm was said to have
been performed in Mull and was described in detail in the London
Literary Gazelle ( larch 1824). l''he account is quoted by 1). A. ~tac
kenzie in Scollish }~olk-Lore and J-:'o fk Lift (p. 245). But Dig Ears was a
monstrous demon cat 'vho had only a slight connection with the Cait
Sith.
Captives in Fairyland. From very early times there have been traditions
of mortals carried away into Fairyland, or detained there if they ventured
into a fairy hill and were inveigled into tasting FAIRY FOOD or drink,
and so partaking of the fairy nature. An early example is the story of
l\lALEKIN given in the J\lEDIEVAL CHRONICLE ofRalph ofCoggeshall.
Here we have an example of the most common form of captive, a mortal
CHANGELING, stolen from his mother's side \vhile she "-'as \vorking in
the fields, and apparently belie\ ing that he had a chance of regaining his
freedom every seven years. These little captives, fed from infancy on
fairy food and cosseted by fairy mothers, \vould presumably be accepted
in the end as full FAIRIES. There \vas, however, a more sinister reason
given for their capture; it was said in both Ireland and Scotland that,
once in seven years, the fairies had to pay a tribute to Hell, and that they
preferred to sacrifice mortals rather than their own kind. It \vill be
remembered that in the ballad of THO~IAS THE RHYl\1ER, the Queen of
Elfland had some fears that Thomas might be chosen for the TEIND.
Older children \Vere sometimes thought to be in danger too, par-
ticularly if they strayed on to fairy territory. In J. F. CA MP BELL's
63 Captives in Fairyland
Popular Tales of the West Highlands (vol. II,pp. 57- 60) the smith's only
son, a lad of fourteen, was taken and a 'sibhreach' or changeling left in
his place. By the old ruse of the brewery of eggshells, the smith drove out
the changeling; but his son did not automatically return, so the smith set
out to recover him from the fairy KNOWE, armed with a dirk, a bible and
a cock. He saw his son working at a forge with other human captives in a
far corner of the hill, and rescued him. The boy afterwards became
noted for his skill in smithy work. It \vas perhaps curious that the fairies,
who in this very story were kept at bay by IRON, should deal in wrought-
iron \vork. There seems to be some confusion \Vith the GNoMEs here.
Lady \V ILDE confirms the use of mortals as bond-slave~ in her Ancient
Legends of Ireland (vol. II, p. 213): 'The young men,' she says, 'that they
beguile into their fairy palaces become their bond-slaves, and are set to
hard tasks.' They are also valued for the help of a mortal arm in faction
fights between the fairies, or in HuRL 1NG matches, but these are generally
temporary loans and are well rewarded.
According to Lady Wilde, too, young men are often lured away if they
are gifted with powers of song and music, as Thomas the Rhymer was, or
especially handsome ones are desired as lovers by fairy princesses.
\Vomen, however, are in much more danger of capture by the fairies
than men. Nursing mothers are in great demand to suckle fairy babies
(for the quality of fairy milk seems to be poor), and the time between
child-birth and churching is one of great danger. There are many stories
of precautions successfully taken, or of the attempted rescue of wives
from the power of the fairies. Sometimes the fairies were intercepted as
they \Vere carrying off their victim and never got into Fairyland with her.
'The LAIRD OF BALMACHIE'S WIFE' is an example of this and an
exposure of the fairy method of capture. Sometimes the victim was
successfully rescued, as in SCOTT's story of MARY NELSON. But there
were tragic stories of failure in the attempt. One among many is the tale of
'The Lothian Farmer's Wife' which Douglas tells in Scottish Fairy and
Folk Tales (p. 129), when the husband made an attempt to rescue his
wife from the FAIRY RADE (an attempt which had succeeded with
YOUNG TAMLANE):
The wife of a farmer in Lothian had been carried off by the fairies,
and, during the year of probation, repeatedly appeared on Sunday, in
the midst of her children, combing their hair. On one of these occasions
she was accosted by her husband; when she related to him the unfor-
tunate event which had separated them, instructed him by what means
he might win her, and exhorted him to exert all his courage, since her
temporal and eternal happiness depended on the success of his attempt.
The farmer, who ardently loved his wife, set out on Hallowe'en, and,
in the midst of a plot of furze, waited impatiently for the procession of
the fairies. At the ringing of the fairy bridles, and the wild, unearthly
Captives in Fairyland
sound which accon1panied the cavalcade, his heart failed hin1, and he
suffered the ghostly train to pass by without interruption. \\'hen the
last had rode past, the whole troop vanished, with loud shouts of
laughter and exultation; among which he plainly discovered the voice
of his wife, lamenting that he had lost her for ever.
In another talc,' Kathcrine Fordyce of nst ',there arc several interest-
ing features. 'I'he child nan1ed after Katherinc 1 ordyce is given fairy
1
birth of her first child - at least folks thought she died. A neighbour's
\Vife dreatnt shortly after Kathcrinc's death that she can1c to her and
said 'I have taken the n1ilk of your cow that you could not get, but it
shall be made up to you; you shall have more than that if you will give
me what you \\'ill kno\\' about soon.' 'I he good wife would not promise,
having no idea what Katherinc meant, but shortly aftcr,vards she
understood it \\'as a child of her own to which Katherine referred. 1'he
child came and the mother nan1ed it Katherine Fordyce; and after it
was christened this 1'rowbound Kathcrinc appeared to the mother
again and told her all should prosper in her family while that child
remained in it. he told her also that she was quite comfortable among
the Trows but could not get out unless somebody chanced to sec her
and had presence of mind enough to call on God's name at the moment.
She said her friends had failed to sain her (guard by spells) at the time
of her child's birth, and that was how she fell into the power of the
Trows.
Prosperity came like a high tide upon the good 'vife's household
until the child Katherine married. On the girl's wedding night a fearful
storm came on; 'the like had no' been minded in the time o' anybody
alive., The Broch \vas overflowed by great seas that rolled over the
Skerries as if they had been beach stones. The bride's father lost a
number of his best sheep, for they were lifted by the waves and carried
a\vay and 'some folk did say that old men with long \vhite beards were
seen stretching their pale hands out of the surf and taking hold of the
creatures'. From that day the good wife's fortunes changed for the
worse. A man named John Nisbet saw that same Katherine Fordyce
once. He was \\'alking up a daal near her old home, when it seemed as
if a hole opened in the side of this daal. He looked in and saw Katherine
sitting in a 'queer-shaped armchair and she \Vas nursing a baby.' There
was a bar of iron stretched in front to keep her a prisoner. She was
dressed in a brown poplin gown - which folk knew by John's de-
6s Captives in Fairyland
scription to be her wedding-dress. He thought she said, '0 Johnnie!
what's sent de here?' And he answered, 'And what keeps you here?'
And she said, 'Well; I am well and happy but I can't get out, for I
have eaten their food!' John Nisbet unfortunately did not know or
forgot to say 'Giide be aboot wis,' and Katherine was unable to give
him a hint and in a moment the whole scene disappeared.
The capture of beautiful young women to be brides to fairy kings or
princes was almost as common as that of nursing mothers, and these seem
often to have been the patients for whom fairy midwives were called out.
A very clear example of this is J. Rhys's story of EILIAN OF GARTH
DOR \VEN. Here the fairy's bride went willingly and had always had
something uncanny about her. Her GoLDEN HA 1 R made her particularly
attractive to the fairies. There was no need to rescue her. This is the most
complete MIDWIFE TO THE FAIRIES story that we possess.
Lady Wilde's ETHNA THE BRIDE is a representative of a FAIRY
THEFT of a young bride and of her rescue out of Fairyland. The classic
Irish story of M 1 oH 1 R AND ET A 1 N is the epic version of the tale, and the
medieval KING ORFEO, in which Hades becomes Fairyland, follows
something on the same lines.
The Cornish 'FAIRY D\VELLING ON SELENA MOOR' tells of the
failure to rescue a human captive, but here the girl seems kept as a
nursemaid rather than a bride. Again the eating of fairy food was her
undoing.
One aspect of the fairy captives is of especial interest and that is the
friendly warning they often give to humans who have inadvertently
strayed into Fairyland. In 'The TACKSMAN OF AU CHRIACHAN' it is a
neighbour supposed to have been recently dead who warns him of his
danger, hides him and helps him to escape. Often the mid\vife is advised
by her patient what to do for her safety. As a rule this patient is a captive
bride, and one can presume that it is so in Lady Wilde's story of 'The
DOCTOR AND THE FAIRY PRINCESS'. In the Irish tales there are many
examples of a 'red-haired man' who intervenes to rescue people enticed
into Fairyland, and who is supposed to be a mortal captive there. One
example is perhaps enough, drawn from Lady \Vilde's Ancient Legends
ofIreland (vol. I, pp. 54- 6). It is about a girl who was enticed into a fairy
dance, and, after dancing with the prince, she was led down to a gorgeous
banquet:
She took the golden cup the prince handed to her, and raised it to
her lips to drink. Just then a man passed close to her, and whispered-
'Eat no food, and drink no wine, or you will never reach your home
again.'
So she laid down the cup, and refused to drink. On this they were
angry, and a great noise arose, and a fierce, dark man stood up, and
said-
Captured Fairies 66
'Whoever comes to us must drink with us.'
And he seized her arm, and held the wine to her lips, so that she
almost died of fright. But at that moment a red-haired man came up,
and he took her by the hand and led her out.
'You are safe for this time,' he said. ''fake this herb, and hold it in
your hand till you reach home, and no one can harn1 you.'
And he gave her a branch of the plant called Athair-Luss (the ground
ivy).
This she took, and fled a\vay along the sward in the dark night: but
all the time she heard footsteps behind her in pursuit. At last she
reached home and barred the door, and went to bed, when a great
clamour arose outside, and voices were heard crying to her -
'The power \VC have over you is gone through the magic of the herb;
but wait - \Vhen you dance again to the music on the hill, you will stay
with us for evermore, and none shall hinder.'
However, she kept the magic branch safely, and the fairies never
troubled her more; but it \\'as long and long before the sound of the
fairy music left her ears \Vhich she had danced to that November night
on the hillside with her fairy lover.
Thomas the Rhymer is the one mortal-born inhabitant of Fairyland
who appears again and again as the leader and counsellor of the fairies,
and seems to have no backward looks towards !\1iddle Earth and no
remorse for human mortals. Thomas of Ercildoune actually lived in
Scotland in the late !\1iddle Ages, and the very tree where he met the
Fairy Queen is still pointed out. Robert K 1 R K, the 17th-century author of
The Secret Commonwealth, was another \vho \Vas believed to have been
carried into a fairy hill, the Fairy Knowe at Aberfoyle. He 'vas an un-
willing prisoner and was thought to be held because of his betrayal of
fairy secrets.
It will be seen that various motives 'vere ascribed for captures of
mortals: the acquisition of bond-slaves, amorousness, the enrichment
brought by musical talent, human milk for fairy babies, but perhaps the
chief motive was to inject the dwindling stock with fresh blood and
human vigour.
[Type: ML4077*. Motifs: FJoo; F301.3; FJ2I.I.I.I; FJ21.1.43; F372;
F375; F379.1)
'In a sack
On a back,
Riding up Hoghton Brow.'
Cauld Lad ofHilton 68
As one man they flung down their sacks in a panic and ran for home.
Next morning when they ventured timidly up the hill they found the two
sacks neatly folded, but no sign of the fairies. They had had such a fright
that they gave up their poaching ways and became industrious weavers,
like the rest of the village. This tale is to be found in James Bowker's
Goblin Tales of Lancashire, and one like it about the theft of a pig is given
by C. Latham in 'West Sussex Superstitions', Folk-Lore Record (vol. 1).
SKILLY\VIDDEN and COLI::MAN GRAY tell of little fairies who were
carried into human houses but got back to their own family in the end.
In the sadder tale of BROTHER l\.liKE the little captive never escaped, but
pined away and died. Ruth Tongue has a story of a rather rare water-
spirit, an ASRA 1, who pined and melted away under the heat of the sun
like a stranded jelly-fish when a fisherman caught it and tried to bring it
home to sell.
Most of these fairies, great or small, seem powerless to avenge the
wrong offered to them, though other fairies avenge much more trifling
injuries with BLIGHTS A DILL ESSES, or even death.
[Type: l\.1L6o1o. Motif: F387]
Cauld Lad of Hilton, the. One of the domestic spirits which is half
BRO\"\ N IE,half ghost. It was supposed to be the spirit of a orthumbrian
stable boy killed by one of the past Lords of Hilton in a fit of pas~ion.
He was heard working about the kitchen at nights, but he was a perverse
spirit, for like PUDDLEFOOT or the SILKY ofHaddon Hall, he would toss
about and disarrange whatever had been left tidy, but clean and tidy
whatever had been left dirty or in disorder. He used to be heard singing
sadly at night:
Changelings
'Wae's me, wae's me;
The acorn's not yet
Fallen from the tree,
That's to grow the wood,
That's to make the cradle
That's to rock the bairn,
That's to grow to a man,
That's to lay me.'
He was unnecessarily pessimistic, however, for the servants put their
heads together and laid out a green cloak and hood for him. At midnight
he put them on, and frisked about till cock-crow, singing,
'Here's a cloak and here's a hood,
The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do nae mair good!'
And with the dawn he vanished for ever.
[Motifs: F346; F381.3; F405. I I)
Chessmen of Le,vis. In 183 I a high tide on the coast near Uig in the
Isle ofLe\vis \vashed a\vay a sand-bank and exposed a cave in \vhich there
was a small beehive-shaped building rather like the little domestic
grinding querns to be found in the Highlands. A labourer \vorking near
found it, and, thinking it might contain some treasure, broke into it.
He found a cache of eighty-four caned chessmen ranged together. They
had an uncanny look, and he flung do"n his spade and ran, convinced
that he had come on a sleeping company of fairies. His wife was of sterner
stuff and made him go back and fetch them. The greater part of them are
now in the British 1\Iuseum. Replicas have been made of them, but the
originals, all mustered together, are much more impressive. A tradition
has arisen about them. It is said that the guards who take the guard-dogs
round at night cannot get them to pass the Celtic chessmen. They bristle
and drag back on their haunches. So perhaps the Highlander's super-
stition can be excused.
Churnmilk Peg. The unripe nut thickets in West Yorkshire are guarded
by Churnmilk Peg. According to Mrs Wright, who mentions her among
the cautionary GOBLINS in Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore, she beguiles her
leisure by smoking a pipe. In the North Country generally, MELSH
D 1c K performs the same function.
Clean hearth. The first recipe in old days for encouraging fairy visits
and gaining fairy favours \vas to leave the hearth swept and the fire clear.
This seems some indication of the contention that don1estic fairies were
of the type of the Lares, the ancestral spirits who were the ghosts of
those who had been buried under the hearth according to the primitive
custom in pre-classical tirnes. See also VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE
FAIRIES.
Clear \Vater. A bowl of clear, fair water had to be left in any place \vhere
the fairy ladies \\"ere supposed to resort with their babies to \Vash them
by the fire. Dirty \Vater or empty pails were commonly punished by
pinching or lameness. See also FAULTS CONDEMNED BY THE FAIRIES;
VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE FAIRIES.
himself so objectionable that the owner decides to move, but the Cluri-
caune pops into a cask to move with him, as the BoG G ART did in Lanca-
shire. The Ouricaune described by Crofton Croker wore a red nightcap, a
leather apron, pale-blue long stockings and silver-buckled, high-heeled
shoes. Presumably his coat was red, for solitary fairies were generally
supposed to be distinguished from TROOPING FAIRIES by wearing red
instead of green coats.
Colann Gan Ceann (kulan gone kyown). See COLUINN GUN CHEANN.
In Dorset the Pixy-lore still lingers. The being is called Pexy and
Co/epexy. The fossil belemnites are named Colepexies-fingers; and the
fossil echini, Colepexies-heads. The children, when naughty, are also
threatened with the Pexy, who is supposed to haunt \voods and
copptces.
Colour of fairy clothes. See DRESS AND APPEARANCE OF THE
FAIRIES.
Colt-pixy. This is the Hampshire name for a spirit like the Northern
BRAG or DUNNIE. KEIGHTLEY in Fairy Afytlzo/ogy (p. 305) quotes a
79 Coluinn gun Cheann
Captain Grose as saying: 'In Hampshire they give the name of Colt-
Pixy to a supposed spirit or fairy, which in the shape of a horse wickers,
i.e. neighs, and misleads horses into bogs, etc.' In Somerset, however,
the colt-pixy, again in the form of a colt, is an orchard-guardian who
chases apple-thieves. Ruth Tongue, in County Folk-Lore (vol. VIII), sug-
gests that he is a form taken by LAZY LAWRENCE (p. 1 19). The Dorset
COLEPEXY sounds as if it might be a variant of the same name.
Cramps. These were often the penalty for annoying the FA 1 R 1 ES.
Scolding and ill-temper were specially punished in this way. See also
BLIGHTS AND ILLNESSES ATTRIBUTED TO THE FAIRIES.
Crodh Mara. The Highland fairy cattle or sea cattle are less dangerous
than the EACH UISGE, just as the TARROO USHTEY of Man is less
dangerous than the CABYLL USHTEY. They are 'hummel', or hornless,
and generally dun in colour, though those in Skye are said to be red and
speckled, and are often described as black. The bulls of the water-cattle
sometimes mate with the mortal cattle to the great improvement of the
stock. In one way they are a danger to the farmer, according to J. G.
CAMPBELL in Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands (p. 29). Some-
times one of the fairy cattle joins a mortal herd who follow her every-
where, and she leads them towards a fairy KNOWE which at once opens
for her. If the cowherd does not turn his own cows back, they follow the
fairy cow into the mound and are never seen again. The opposed charac-
ters of the WATER-HORSE AND THE WATER-BULL are well shown in a
story about Islay told by J. F. CAMPBELL in Popular Tales of the West
Highlands (vol. IV, pp. 304- 6). There was a farmer on the north of the
island who had a large herd of cattle and one day a calf was born to one
of the cows \Vith round ears. An old woman who lived on the farm and
whose advice was always taken recognized it as the calf of a water-bull
and told them to keep it separate from the other calves for seven years
and feed it each day with the milk of three cows. As she said, so they did.
Some time after this a servant lass went out to watch the cattle, who were
grazing near the loch. A young man drew near and, after some talk, sat
down beside her and asked her to clean his head. It was an attention often
paid by lasses to their lads. He laid his head on her lap and she began to
part and straighten his locks. As she did so she saw with horror that
there was green seaweed growing amongst his hair, and knew that he
must be the dreaded Each Uisge himself. She did not scream or start,
but went on rhythmically with her task until she had lulled the creature
to sleep. Then she slowly untied her apron, worked her way from under
the head and ran for home. When she was nearly there she heard a
dreadful thunder of hoofs behind her and saw the water-horse hard on
her heels. He would have seized her and carried her into the loch to be
torn to pieces, but the old woman loosed the bull. The bull charged at the
horse and the two went fighting into the loch. Next morning the mangled
Croker, Thomas Crofton 82
body of the bull drifted to the shore, but the water-horse was never seen
again.
See also FAIRY ANIMALS; G\VARTHEG Y LLYN.
(Motifs: 8184.2.2.2; 1'241.2]
Cross. From the earliest days of Christianity the cross was believed to
be a most potent protective symbol against FAIRIES and all evil spirits.
It is even possible that cross-roads had a pre-Christian significance, as
sacred to the god of limits and a place of sacrifice. The cross in all its
fonns was protective- the 'saining' or crossing of one's own body or
that of another, a cross scratched on the ground or formed by four roads
meeting, a cross of wood, stone or metal set up by the roadside, a cross
worn as a trinket round the neck, all these were believed to give sub-
stantial protection against devils, ghosts or FAIRIES. Sometimes this
Cu Sith
protection was reinforced by carrying a cross of a particular material - of
RowAN wood, for instance, for this wood was a protection of itself- or
for trinkets crosses of coral or amber, both of some potency.
An example of the efficacy of 'saining' as a means of rescuing a
CAPTIVE IN FAIRYLAND is to be found in Waiter SCOTT's 'Alice
Brand', a ballad from The Lady of the Lake:
'But wist I of a woman bold,
Who thrice my brows durst sign,
I might regain my mortal mould,
As fair a form as thine.'
Literary though this is, it is the work of a man who knew almost all there
was to be known about the fairy-lore of the Scottish Border.
For the wayside cross, it will be remembered that when Burd Janet
went into Carterhaugh Woods to rescue YOUNG TAMLANE, she took
her stand by Miles Cross, where both she and he could expect some
protection. For the metal cross, mothers, to protect their babies from the
fairies, would hang open scissors over the cradle to make a cross of cold
IRoN, and stick pins into their clothing in the form of a cross.
[l\1otifs: D788; F382. 1]
Cu Sith (coo-shee). This, the FAIRY DOG of the Highlands, was different
from other Celtic fairy hounds in being dark green in colour. It is de-
scribed by J. G. CAMPBELL in Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands
(pp. 30-32). It was the size of a two-year-old stirk (yearling bullock). It
was shaggy, with a long tail coiled up on its back, or plaited in a flat plait.
Its feet were enormous and as broad as a man's; its great footmarks were
often seen in mud or snow, but it glided along silently, moving in a
straight line. It did not bark continuously when hunting, but gave three
tremendous bays which could be heard by ships far out at sea. As a rule
the fairy dogs were kept tied up inside the BR u GH to be loosed on
intruders, but sometimes they went with women looking for human
cattle to milk or to drive into the SI THE IN, and sometimes a cu sith
would be allowed to roam about alone, taking shelter in the clefts of the
rocks. This cu sith would be terribly formidable to mortal men or dogs,
but those loosed in the Brugh in J. F. CAMPBELL's tale of the 'ISLE OF
SANNTRAGH' were driven back by the mortal dogs when they ap-
proached human habitations. BRAN, FINN's elfin dog, was different in
appearance. Other fairy dogs are generally white with red ears, and the
commonest supernatural dogs in England are BLACK DOGS.
[Motif: F241 .6]
Cuachag
Cuachag (cooaclzack). According to ~lackenzie in Scoltish Folk Lore atzd
Folk Life, and also to Professor \V.). vVatson in Flistory oj'Ce/tic Place-
Names in Scotland, the Cuachag was a FUATH. It was a river sprite, which
haunted Glen Cuaich in lnverncss-shirc, which is connected to it by
name. Like all the Fuathan, it is a dangerous spirit.
Cwn Annwn (koon anoon). The Welsh hell hounds, something of the
same kind as the GABRIEL RATCHETS, the WISH HOUNDS and the
SEVEN WHISTLERS. Like these they are death portents, but they do not,
like the DEVIL's DANDY DOGS, do actual destruction. Sikes in British
Goblins {p. 233) describes their howl, which grows softer as they draw
closer. Near at hand they sound like a cry of small beagles, but in the
distance their voice is full of wild lamentation. Sometimes a voice sounds
among the pack like the cry of an enormous bloodhound, deep and
hollow. To hear them is taken as a certain prognostication of death.
[Motif: ESOI.IJ.4]
Cyhyraeth 86
Cyhyraeth (kerllerrigllth). The \Velsh form of the Highland CAOINEAG
(the 'Weeper'). Unlike the G\VRACH Y RHIBYN, it is seldom seen, but is
heard groaning before a death, particularly multiple deaths caused by an
epidemic or disaster. Sikcs in British Goblins (pp. 219 - 22) gives several
oral accounts of the Cyhyracth. Prophet ]ones described the noise it
made as 'a doleful, dreadful noise in the night, before a burying'. Joseph
Coslet of Carmarthenshire was more explicit. He said that the sound was
common in the neighbourhood of the river Towy, 'a doleful, disagreeable
sound heard before the deaths of many, and most apt to be heard before
foul weather. The voice resembles the groaning of sick persons who are
to die; heard at first at a distance, then comes nearer, and the last near at
hand; so that it is a threefold \Varning of death. It begins strong, and
louder than a sick man can make; the second cry is lower, but not less
doleful, but rather more so; the third yet lower, and soft, like the groaning
of a sick man almost spent and dying.' 'fhis reminds one of the three
approaching cries of the C\VN AN \\'N. Like the Irish BANSHEE, the
Cyhyraeth wailed for the death of natives who died away from home. On
the Glamorganshire coast, Cyhyraeth passes along the sea before a
wreck, and here it is accompanied by a kind of corpse-light. Like corpse
candles (sec under\\' 1LL o' THE \V ISP), this foretells the path a corpse is
to take on the \vay to the churchyard. In a story about 't 1ellon's church-
yard a ghost is reported as having been seen, but, as a rule, Cyhyraeth is
an invisible and bodiless voice.
(Motif: ~130 I. 6. I]
And later in the century \VC have the jovial Bishop Cor bet in 'Fare,vell
Rc\vards and Fairies':
1\t n1orning and at evening both
You n1erry were and glad,
So little care of slec.:pc and sloth
These prcttic ladies had;
'Dando and his Dogs'. The story of a priest, Dando, \vho lived in the
village of St Germans in Cornwall, is an example of the way in which the
Devil's hunt becomes attached to a wicked human being. Dando was a
priest who cared for nothing but sensual pleasures and hunting. Week-
days and Sundays were alike to him, and he thought nothing of leading
the hunt out, however sacred the day. One fine Sunday Dando and his
rout were hunting over the estate of Earth, as it was called, and had had a
fine and prosperous hunt, \Vith many kills. When they paused to bait their
horses, Dando found that no drink was left in the flasks of any of his
attendants. He clamoured for it, and said, 'If none can be found on
Earth, go to Hell for it!' At that a stranger \V ho had joined the hunt
unperceived, rode up and offered him a drink, saying that it was the
choicest brew of the place he had just mentioned. Dando drank it
eagerly, and emptied the \V hole flask. 'If they have drink like this in
Hell, I \vill willingly spend Eternity there.' In the meantime the stranger
\vas quietly collecting all the game. Dando demanded it back again with
furious curses. The stranger said, 'What I have, I hold.' Dando leapt off
his horse and rushed at the stranger, \vho lifted him by the scruff of the
neck as Dando shouted out, 'I'll follow you to Hell for it!' and the
stranger said, 'You shall go with me.' With that he spurred his horse
\Vith a great leap into the middle of the stream, with Dando sitting before
him. A burst of flame came up from the stream; the stranger, the horse
and Dando disappeared. But not for ever: for since that day Dando and
his hounds are from tin1e to time heard in wild chase over the countryside.
This is one of the stories that HUNT tells in Popular Romances of the ~Vest
ofE11gland (pp. zzo-23).
Danes 90
The same kind of origin is given in Scandinavian tradition to ]on, who
succeeds o D 1N as the ghastly huntsman.
(Motifs: GJOJ. 17.2.4; M219. 2.4]
Daoine Sidhe (theena shee). These are the fairy people of Ireland,
generally supposed to be the dwindled gods of the early inhabitants of
Ireland, the TUATHA DA DANANN, \Vho became first the Fenian heroes
and then the FAIRIES. Other names are however given them for safety's
sake, 'the GENTRY', the 'Gooo PEOPLE', the '\Vee Folks', 'the People
of That Town', or other EUPHE~IISTIC NA~1ES. A good account of
these Irish fairies is given by YEATS in the first few pages of his Irish
Fairy and Folk Tales. They are the typical HEROIC FAIRIES, enjoying
the pleasures and occupations of the medieval chivalry. Even in modern
times their small size is not invariable; they are occasionally of human or
more than human stature. Their habitations are generally underground
or underwater, in the green raths or under the loughs or in the sea. These
undenvater fairies are well described by Lady \VILDE in Ancient Legends
of Ireland (vol. I, p. 68). They are supposed to be those of the Fallen
91 Dee,John
Angels, too good for Hell: 'Some fell to earth, and dwelt there, long
before man was created, as the first gods of the earth. Others fell into the
sea.'
Defects of the fairies. Among the many beliefs held about the FA 1 RI ES,
there is one strand which describes them as beautiful in appearance, but
\vith a deformity \vhich they cannot always hide. The candinavian
ellewomen, for instance, have beautiful faces, but if looked at from
behind are seen to be hollow. The evil but beautiful GLAISTIGS of the
Highlands wear trailing green dresses to conceal their goaes hoofs. The
Shetland HE KIES " ere given that name because they limped in their
dancing. ]. G. CA~1PBELL, in his Superstitions of the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland, says: 'Generally some personal defect is ascribed to
them by \vhich they become kno\\'n to be of no mortal race. In l\1ull and
the neighbourhood they are said to have only one nostril, the other being
imperforate.' The physical defects of the BEAN SIDHE as described by
him are such that she could never under any circumstance be called
beautiful: 'The Bean Sith was detected by her extraordinary voracity
93 Denham Tracts, The
(a cow at a meal), a frightful front tooth, the entire want of a nostril, a \veb
foot, preternaturally long breasts, etc.'
According to George MACDONALD, the Aberdeenshire BROWNIES
had a thumb with the rest of the fingers joined together.
It seems likely that these characteristics were given to the fairies by
people who believed them to be fallen angels, or yet more closely related
to the Devil. The Devil's cloven hoof is perhaps one of the most common
articles of folk belief. As Alexander Roberts put it in his Treatise of
Witchcraft, 'Yet he cannot so perfectly represent the fashion of a man's
body but that there is some sensible deformity by \Vhich he bewrayeth
himself.'
[Motif: F254.1]
Grose observes, too, that those born on Christmas Day cannot see
spirits; which is another incontrovertible fact. What a happiness this
must have been seventy or eighty years ago and upwards, to those
chosen few who had the good luck to be born on the eve of this festival,
of all festivals; when the whole earth was so overrun with ghosts,
boggles, bloody-bones, spirits, demons, ignis fatui, brownies, bug-
bears, black dogs, spectres, shellycoats, scarecrows, witches, wizards,
barguests, Robin-Goodfellows, hags, night-bats, scrags, breaknecks,
fantasms, hobgoblins, hobhoulards, boggy-boes, dobbies, hob-
thrusts, fetches, kelpies, warlocks, mock-beggars, mum-pokers,
Departure of the fairies 94
Jemmy-burties, urchins, satyrs, pans, fauns, sirens, tritons, centaurs,
calcars, nymphs, imps, incubusses, spoorns, men-in-the-oak, hell-
wains, fire-drakes, kit-a-can-sticks, 'Torn-turnblers, tnclch-dicks, larrs,
kitty-witches, hobby-lanthorns, Dick-a-1'uesdays, Elf-fires, Gyl-
burnt-tails, knockers, elves, raw-heads, 1eg-with-the-wads, old-
shocks, ouphs, pad-fooits, pixies, pictrees, giants, dwarfs, 'fom-pokers,
tutgots, snapdragons, sprets, spunks, conjurers, thurses, spurns,
tantarrabobs, swaithes, tints, tod-lowries, Jack-in-the-\Vads, morn1os,
changelings, redcaps, yeth-hounds, colt-pixies, 1,om-thumbs, black-
bugs, boggarts, scar-bugs, shag-foals, hodge-pochers, hob-thrushes,
bugs, bull-beggars, bygorns, boils, cadd ics, born en, brags, wraithes,
waffs, flay-boggarts, fiends, gallytrots, in1ps, gytrashes, patches, hob-
and-lanthorns, gringcs, boguests, bonclcsscs, Peg-powlcrs, pucks,
fays, kidnappers, gally-bcggars, hudskins, nickcrs, tnadcaps, trolls,
robinets, friars' lanthorns, silkies, cauld-lads, death-hearses, goblins,
hob-headlcsses, buggabocs, kows, or cowcs, nickics, nacks (necks),
waiths, miffics, buckics, gholcs, sylphs, guests, swarths, freiths, frcits,
gy-carlins (Gyre-carling), pign1ics, chittifaccs, nixies, Jinny-burnt-
tails, dudmen, hell-hounds, dopple-gangers, boggleboes, bogies,
redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowics,
dunnies, wirrikows, alholdes, mannikins, follets, korrcds, lubbcrkins,
cluricauns, kobolds, leprechauns, kors, mares, korreds, puckles,
korigans, sylvans, succubuses, black-men, shadows, banshees, lian-
hanshees, clabbernappcrs, Gabricl-hounds, mawkins, doubles, corpse
lights or candles, scrats, mahounds, trows, gnomes, sprites, fates,
fiends, sybils, nick-nevins, \vhitewomen, fairies, thrummy-caps,
cutties, and nisses, and apparitions of every shape, make, form, fashion;
kind and description, that there was not a village in England that had
not its O\Vn peculiar ghost. ray, every lone tenement, castle, or
mansion-house, which could boast of any antiquity had its bogie, its
spectre, or its knocker. The churches, churchyards, and cross-roads,
\vere all haunted. Every green lane had its boulder-stone on \vhich an
apparition kept watch at night. Every common had its circle of fairies
belonging to it. And there was scarcely a shepherd to be met with who
had not seen a spirit!
'Doctor and the Fairy Princess, The'. Lady WILDE, in her Ancient
Legends of Ireland (vol. II, p. 191), has an unusual version of the MID-
WIFE TO THE FAIRIES story, in which a famous doctor, not a midwife,
delivers the fairy lady. The FAIRY OINTMENT does not occur in this
story, and the doctor is saved from being held CAPTIVE IN FAIRYLAND
by following the advice of his patient, evidently a fellow captive:
~octor and the Fairy Princess, The' 104
Late one night, so the story goes, a great doctor, who lived near
Lough Neagh, was awoke by the sound of a carriage driving up to his
door, followed by a loud ring. Hastily throwing on his clothes, the
doctor ran down, when he saw a little sprite of a page standing at the
carriage door, and a grand gentleman inside.
'Oh, doctor, make haste and come with me,' exclaimed the gentle-
man. 'Lose no time, for a great lady has been taken ill, and she will
have no one to attend her but you. So come along with me at once in
the carriage.'
On this the doctor ran up again to finish his dressing, and to put up
all that might be wanted, and was down again in a moment.
'Now quick,' said the gentleman, 'you are an excellent good fellow.
Sit do\vn here beside me, and do not be alarmed at anything you may
see.'
So on they drove like mad - and when they came to the ferry, the
doctor thought they would wake up the ferryman and take the boat;
but no, in they plunged, carriage and horses, and all, and were at the
other side in no time \Vithout a drop of water touching them.
Now the doctor began to suspect the company he was in; but he
held his peace, and they went on up Shane's Hill, till they stopped at a
long, low, black house, which they entered, and passed along a narrow
dark passage, groping their way, till, all at once, a bright light lit up the
walls, and some attendants having opened a door, the doctor found
himself in a gorgeous chan1ber all hung with silk and gold; and on a
silken couch lay a beautiful lady, who exclaimed with the most friendly
greettng-
'Oh, doctor, I am so glad to see you. How good of you to come.'
"~1any thanks, my lady,' said the doctor, 'I arn at your Iadyship's
service.'
And he stayed with her till a male child was born; but when he
looked round there was no nurse, so he wrapped it in swaddling
clothes and laid it by the mother.
'Now,' said the lady, 'mind what I tell you. They will try to put a
spell on you to keep you here; but take my advice, eat no food and
drink no wine, and you will be safe; and mind, also, that you express
no surprise at anything you see; and take no more than five golden
guineas, though you may be offered fifty or a hundred, as your fee.'
'Thank you, madam,' said the doctor, ' I shall obey you in all things.'
With this the gentleman came into the room, grand and noble as a
prince, and then he took up the child, looked at it and laid it again on
the bed.
Now there was a large fire in the room, and the gentleman took the
fire shovel and drew all the burning coal to the front, leaving a great
space at the back of the grate; then he took up the child again and laid
it in the hollo\v at the back of the fire and drew all the coal over it till
105 Dooinney-Oie
it was covered; but, mindful of the lady's advice, the doctor said
never a word. Then the room suddenly changed to another still more
beautiful, where a grand feast was laid out, of all sorts of meats and
fair fruits and bright red wine in cups of sparkling crystal.
'Now, doctor,' said the gentleman, 'sit down with us and take what
best pleases you.'
'Sir,' said the doctor,' I have made a vow neither to eat nor drink till
I reach my home again. So please let me return without further delay.'
'Certainly,' said the gentleman, 'but first let: me pay you for your
trouble,' and he laid down a bag of gold on the table and poured out a
quantity of bright pieces.
'I shall only take what is my right and no more,' said the doctor,
and he dre\v over five golden guineas, and placed them in his purse.
'And now, may I have the carriage to convey me back, for it is growing
late?'
On this the gentleman laughed. 'You have been learning secrets
from my lady,' he said. 'Ho\vever, you have behaved right well, and
you shall be brought back safely.'
So the carriage came, and the doctor took his cane, and \vas carried
back as the first time through the water - horses, carriage, and all - and
so on till he reached his home all right just before daybreak. But when
he opened his purse to take out the golden guineas, there he saw a
splendid diamond ring along with them in the purse worth a king's
ransom, and when he examined it he found the two letters of his own
name carved inside. So he knew it was meant for him, a present from
the fairy prince himself.
All this happened a hundred years ago, but the ring still remains in
the doctor'~ family, handed down from father to son, and it is remarked,
that whoever wears it as the owner for the time has good luck and
honour and wealth all the days of his life.
'And by the light that shines, this story is true,' added the narrator
of the tale, using the strong form of asseveration by which the Irish-
speaking peasants emphasize the truth of their words.
Don. The Welsh goddess Don was the equivalent of the Irish goddess
DANA, and it seems likely that she was an immigrant from Ireland, for
the Children of Don correspond closely in character and functions to the
Children of Dana. Govannan the smith was the British equivalent of the
Irish Gobniu, Ludd or Nudd of Nuada, for both had silver hands and
GWYDION was a many-skilled god like LUG. The Children of Don were
in frequent conflict with the Children of LL YR, who were the British
equivalents of the Irish Children of Lir.
Then, said the tale, he had eaten the horse, all except its head. At
last the people of the place came to More Hall in a body, and with
tears implored the knight to free them from the fearful monster, which
was devouring all their food, and making them go in terror of their
lives. They offered him all their remaining goods if he would do them
this service. But the knight said he wanted nothing except one black-
haired maid of sixteen, to anoint him for the battle at night, and array
him in his armour in the morning. When this was promised, he went
to Sheffield, and found a smith who made him a suit of armour set all
over with iron spikes, each five or six inches in length.
Then he hid in a well, where the dragon used to drink, and as it
stooped to the water, the knight put up his head with a shout and
struck it a great blow full in the face. But the dragon was upon him,
hardly checked by the blow, and for two days and a night they fought
without either inflicting a wound upon the other. At last, as the
dragon flung himself at More with the intention of tossing him high
into the air, More succeeded in planting a kick in the middle of its
back. This was the vital spot: the iron spike drove into the monster's
flesh so far, that it spun round and round in agony groaning and
roaring fearfully, but in a few minutes all was over, it collapsed into a
helpless heap, and died.
The Serpent of Handale in Yorkshire seems to have been half-way
between a serpent and a dragon, for it had fiery breath and a venomous
sting. It was a devourer of maidens, and a young man called Scaw killed
it to rescue an earl's daughter.
The dragon who haunted \Vinlatter Rock in Derbyshire was said to
be the Devil himself, taking that form, and was driven off by a monk who
planted himself on the rock with his arms outstretched in the shape of a
CROSS. So great was his concentration that his feet sank deep into the
rock and left the impression of t\VO holes there. In the second part of the
tale, a concerted effort of the neighbouring villagers drove off the dragon.
He sought refuge down Blue John l\1ine and the Derbyshire springs have
tasted sulphurous and \varm ever since.
wearing a red cap and a long blue coat \Vith bright buttons, white hair
and bushy whiskers. Face very wrinkled. Very bright, very kind eyes,
carrying a small but very bright lantern.
In Jenkinson's Guide to the Isle of Man, 1876 (p. 75) he reports being
told by a farmer's wife that her mother always maintained that she had
actually seen the fairies, and described them as young girls with 'scaly,
fish-like hands and blue dresses'. The little mouse-sized fairies in the
Suffolk story of BROTHER ~1 IKE wore blue coats, yellow breeches and
little red caps. The fairies described by a friend to Waiter Gill as seen in
Glen Aldyn were greyish all over, something the colour of a fungus, a
foot to eighteen inches high. The earth-bound TRO\V in Shetland was
also grey. A sombre note is struck too in Hugh Miller's account in Tire
Old Red Sandstone of the DEPARTURE OF THE FAIRIES: the horses
'shaggy diminutive things, speckled dun and grey, the riders stunted,
misgrown, ugly creatures, attired in antique jerkins of plaid, long grey
cloaks, and little red caps, from '"hich their ''"ild, uncombed locks shot
out over their cheeks and foreheads'. This confirms KIRK's much earlier
statement that the fairies wore the costume of their country, as tartan in
the Highlands.
John Beaumont's fairies, \vhose visits to him he describes in A Treatise
of Spirits (1705), were dressed in a most unusual fashion:
They had both black, loose Net,vork Gowns, tied with a black sash
about their Middles, and within the Network appear'd a Gown of a
Golden Colour, " ith somewhat of a Light striking through it; their
Heads were not dressed with Topknots, but they had white Linnen
Caps on, with lace about three Fingers breadth, and over it they had a
Black loose Network Hood.
A rather engaging dress on little people of three feet high, but not at all
the kind of costume one would expect to see on a fairy.
There were other eccentric costumes. The GuN N A, a Highland fairy
boy who had been banished from the court, wore fox skins; the kind,
solitary GHILLIE DHU dressed in leaves and green moss; the sinister
Northumbrian DUERGAR wore a coat made of lambskin, trousers and
shoes of moleskins and a hat of green moss decorated with a pheasant's
feather. The BROWN MAN OF THE MUIRS wore clothes of withered
Ill Duergar
bracken. In the more literary descriptions of fairies from the 16th century
onwards, they are said to wear clothes made of flowers, of gossamer
spangled with dew and of silvery gauze, but these clothes are not so often
found in the traditional accounts, though we can quote the foxglove caps
of the Shefro. Beyond these there are a number of fairies of all kinds
who were naked. The ASRAI, the water-spirits, were beautiful, slender
and naked, only covered by their long hair. Many of the nymph-like
fairies danced naked in their rounds, as the witches were said to do, a
fashion imitated by the modern witches. Many of the HoBGoBLINs
were naked. BROWNIES generally wore ragged clothes, but other hob-
goblins were often hairy and naked. The FENODEREE is one of these hairy
monsters. There is LOB-LIE-BY-THE-FIRE, HOB, OR HOBTHRUST, the
BOGAN, and the URISG who was like a satyr in shape. The Shetland
BROONIE 'King of the Trows' was presumably naked, since he was laid
by a gift of clothing. One naked little hobgoblin, however, was not
shaggy, if we may trust his own pathetic description of himself:
'Little pixie, fair and slim,
Not a rag to cover him.'
It is no \vonder that that lament called forth the gift of clothing that laid
him, but he did not go weeping away like the GROGACH of Man, but ran
away merrily, as Mrs Bray tells us, chanting:
'Pixy fine, Pixy gay !
Pixy now \vill run away.'
Some fairies wore clothes indistinguishable from those of mortals, fine
and fashionable like those of Cherry's Master in the tale CHERRY OF
ZEN NOR, or homely and old-fashioned; or sometimes archaic, like the
costume of the market people seen at the FAIRY MARKET at Blackdown:
Those that had occasion to travel that way, have frequently seen them
there, appearing like Men and Women of a stature generally near the
smaller size of Men; their habits used to be of red, blew or green,
according to the old way of Country Garb, \Vith high crown'd hats.
The descriptions I have given of fairy clothing and appearance have
not dealt with those skilled in SHAPE-SHIFTING, who can change their
size and appearance at will, nor do they make allowance for the power of
GLAMouR possessed by most of the fairies, which can only be pene-
trated by the use of the FAIRY OINTMENT, or a FOUR-LEAFED CLOVER.
Highlands the s 1.. AGH or 1-lost makes up the most numerous part of the
Unscelic Court.l)ucrgars arc the Black D\V RFS of the North of England,
always full of malice and the enemies of mankind. They are mostly
soLITARY FAIRIES. A representative story about a duergar is told in
I. Grice's Folk-Tales of the 1\1orth Country. It is set in the imonside
Hills of Torthun1berland. A stranger, making his way to Rothbury, lost
hin1sclf on the hills and was overtaken by darkness. lfe knew no land-
marks to guide him and the ground was very treacherous, so he decided
that the only thing to do was to shelter for the night under a rock and wait
till morning. But as he came up to the rock he saw a faint light at a little
distance, and when he had fumbled his way towards it he found that the
light can1e from a small smouldering fire in idc a rough stone hut, such as
the shepherds build for shelter. 'I'hcre \\'ere two grey stones on each side
of the fire, to the right of which wa a pile of kindling and to the left two
great logs. 1'here was no one there. '!'he traveller went in with a thankful
heart, for he n1ight \veil have died of expo ure on the hillside, revived the
fire with sonte of the kindling and sat down on the right-hand stone. He
was hardly seated when the door burst open and a strange figure came
into the roon1. He was a dwarf, no higher than the traveller's knee, but
broad and strong. His coat was n1adc of lamb kin, his trousers and shoes
of n1olcskins, his hat of green n1oss, decorated with a pheasant's feather.
He scowled at the traveller, but said not a \Vord, stun1pcd past hin1 and
perched hin1sclf on the other stone. The traveller did not dare to speak
first, for he gues ed that this was a ducrgar, and bitterly hostile to men.
So they sat staring at each other acro~s the fire, which began to die down.
It grew bitterly cold, and at last the traveller could bear it no longer, and
put son1c more kindling on the fire. 'fhc dwarf looked at him with anger
and disdain, leaned back and picked up one of the two great logs. It was
twice as long .... as he was and thicker than his hod .v but he broke it across
his knee as if it had been n1atchwood and wagged his head at the traveller
as n1uch as to say, '\Vhy can't you do the like?' The fire blazed up for a
time, but soon it began to die down. The kindling was all spent. And the
dwarf looked at the traveller as if to challenge him to put on the last log.
The traveller thought there was some catch in it, and did nothing. The
fire faded out and thev sat on in cold darkness. Then in the far distance a
cock crew and a faint light showed in the sky. At the sound the dwarf
vanished, and the hut and fire with him. The traveller was still sitting on
his stone, but it was the topmost peak of a steep crag. If he had moved to
the left to pick up the log in answer to the duergar,s silent challenge, he
'vould have fallen into the deep ravine and there would have been nothing
left of him but broken bones.
[~lotif: F45 1.5.2]
'Dun Cow of Mac Brandy's Thicket, The'. There "'as a man called
Mackenzie who was one of the tenants ofOonich in Lochaber, and after a
time it happened that every night his cattle-fold was broken down and
the cattle grazed through his cornfield. He was sure that it was neither
the neighbours nor the cattle who were responsible, and concluded that it
must be the FAIRIES, so he fetched his brother, the one-eyed ferryman -
who had the second sight - to watch \Vith him. Late in the night they
heard a sound as of stakes being pulled up, and the one-eyed ferryman,
moving quietly towards the far side of the fold, saw a dun, polled cow
throwing the stakes aside and butting the cattle to their feet. She then
drove them through the broken fence into the cornfield. The One-Eyed
Ferryman followed her silently, and saw her go up to the Fairy Knoll of
Derry Mac Brandy. The knoll opened before her and she went in. The
ferryman hastened after her in time to stick his dirk into the turf at the
door, so that it would not shut. The light streamed out of the knoll and
he saw everything. In the centre of the knoll sat a circle of big old grey
Dunnie I 14
men round a fire on which a cauldron was burning. By this time the
farmer had come up, but could sec nothing until he put his foot on his
brother's foot and then the whole scene was clear to him, and he was very
much alarmed, and wanted to go away. But the Ferryman called out in a
loud voice: 'If your dun cow ever troubles Oonich fold again, I will take
everything out of the knoll, and throw it out on Rudha na h-Oitirc.' With
that he pu lied out the dirk and the door shut itself. They went down home,
and the dun polled cow never troubled them again.
This tale is to be found in MacDougall and Calder's Folk Tales and
Fairy Lore (pp. 280- 83). It is an unusual example of a mischievous fairy
cow. Fairy bulls, like those of the CRODH ~I A RA, n1ay occasionally be
formidable, but the cows arc generally gentle and fortunate to a herd.
1.2 .
.J. Si m mons : \ l\ lidsummc:r ~izht
- 's I)rc.Hn
115 Each Uisge
Dunters. These Border spirits, also called POWRIES, like the more
sinister REDCAPS inhabit old peel-towers and Border keeps. They make
a constant noise, like beating flax or grinding barley in a hollow stone
quern. William Henderson mentions them in Folk-Lore of the Northern
Counties (pp. 255-6) and says that if the sound gets louder it is an omen
of death or misfortune. He mentions that the foundation of these towers,
supposed to have been built by the Picts, were according to tradition
sprinkled with blood as a foundation sacrifice. The suggestion is that
dunters and red caps were the spirits of the original foundation sacrifices,
whether human or animal.
D\varfs. Germany is the great home of dwarfs, and the Isle of Riigen
has dwarfs both black and whit e. The Swiss mountains are also the homes
of dwarfs, but though there are many stunted and grotesque figures in
English fairy-lore, it is doubtful if they were ever explicitly called
'dwarfs'. The best candidates for the name would be the pygmy king
and his follo\vers who accosted KING HERLA in Waiter Mapes's story in
his De Nugis Curialium; but he is described as more like a satyr; the
SPRIGGANS of Cornwall are small and grotesque and travel in troops
like some of the German dwarfs, but they are never so called. There are
more SOLITARY FAIRIES of the dwarfish kind, such as the 'wee, wee
man' of one of the Child ballads (No. 38), who is stunted and grotesque
and of great strength. His description is anticipated in a 14th-century
poem quoted in the Appendix to No. 38. The nearest approach to a
black dwarf is the North Country DUERGAR, and the BROWN MAN OF
THE MUIRS is like him. Dwarfs are often mentioned as attendants on
ladies in Arthurian legends, but these ladies hover so much between a
fairy and a mortal estate that their attendants are equally nebulous. On
the whole it is best, as K1RK would say, to 'leave it to conjecture as we
founct it'.
[Motif: F451]
Elf-bull, the. Jamieson's Northern Antiquities gives the story of the most
famous of the CRODH MARA, the cow bred by the visit of a water-bull
and of the farmer too mean for gratitude:
The elf-bull is small, compared with earthly bulls, of a mouse-
colour; 1nosted [crop-eared], with short corky horns; short in the legs;
long, round, and slamp [supple] in the body, like a wild animal; with
short, sleek, and glittering hair, like an otter; and supernaturally
active and strong. They most frequently appear near the banks of
rivers; eat much green corn in the night-time; and are only to be got
rid of by, etc., etc. (certain spells which I lzave forgot).
A certain farmer who lived by the banks of a river, had a cow that
was never known to admit an earthly bull; but every year, in a certain
day in the month of May, she regularly quitted her pasture, walked
slowly along the banks of the river, till she came opposite to a small
holm covered with bushes; then entered the river, and waded or
swam to the holm, where she continued for a certain time, after which
she again returned to her pasture. This went on for several years, and
every year, after the usual time of gestation, she had a calf. They were
all alike, mouse-coloured, roosted, with corky horns, round and long-
bodied, grew to a good size, and were remarkably docile, strong, and
useful, and all ridgels. At last, one forenoon, about Martinmas, when
Elf-shot 118
the corn \vas all 'under thack and raip', as the farmer sat with his
family by the ing/eside, they began to talk about killing their Yule-Mart.
'Hawkic,' said the gudcman, 'is fat and sleek; she has had an easy life,
and a good goe of it all her days, and has been a good cow to us; for she
has filled the plough and all the stalls in the byre with the finest steers
in this country side; and now I think we may afford to pick her old
bones, and so she shall be the Mart.'
The words were scarcely uttered, when Hawkie, who was in the byre
beyond the hallan, with her whole bairn-time, tycd by their thrammels to
their stalls, walked out through the side of the byre with as much case
as if it had been made of brown paper; turned round on the midding-
head; ]owed once upon each of her calves; then set out, they following
her in order, each according to his age, along the banks of the river;
entered it; reached the holm; disappeared among the bushes; and
neither she nor they \\ere ever after seen or heard of. The farmer and
his sons, \vho had with wonder and terror viewed this phenomenon
from a distance, returned with heavy hearts to their house, and had
little thought of 1arts or merriment for that year.
[T} pc: i\tL6o6o]
words, \vhich the bishop often repeated to me, were very conformable
to the Greek idiom. When they asked for water, they said, Udor udorum,
which signifies 'Bring water;' for Udor, in their language, as well as
in the Greek, signifies water. When they \vant salt, they say,
H algeitt udorum, 'Bring salt.' Salt is called a' A., in Greek, and Halen in
British; for that language, from the length of time which the Britons
(then called Trojans, and afterwards Britons from Brito, their leader)
remained in Greece after the destruction of Troy, became, in many
instances, similar to the Greek.
(Motif: F370]
a scamper, and all was quiet. The Ellyllon never came back to work at
Pugh's Farm, but he had got into the way of prosperity and his ill-
fortune did not return. A very similar story is told about the Somerset
pixies. It is one of many stories about the INFRINGEMENT OF FAIRY
PRIVACY.
[Motif: F2oo-399]
123 Etain
Endimion (Lyly). See DIMINUTIVE FAIRIES.
Etain (aideen). Etain of the TUATHA DE DANANN was the heroine of the
great fairy love story, MIDHIR and Etain. It has inspired much poetry
and drama, and is perhaps best known to English people through Fiona
Macleod's fairy play, The Immortal Hour. The original story is well told
by Lady Gregory in Gods and Fightitzg Men. Etain was the second wife of
Midhir, the king of the Fairy Hill of Bri Leith. His first wife Fuamach
was bitterly jealous, and with the help of the Druid Bresal Etarlaim, she
finally contrived to turn Etain into a small fly and blew her away \Vith a
bitter blast into the mortal land of Ireland, where she was blown about in
great misery for seven long years. But as for Fuamach, when her evil
doings were known, ANGUS MAC OG, son of DAGDA, smote her head
from her hod y.
After seven years of wretchedness, Etain was blown into the hall \Vhere
Etar, of lnver Cechmaine, was feasting, and she fell do,vn from the roof
into the golden cup ofEtar's wife, who swallowed her \Vith the wine, and
after nine months she was born as Etar's daughter, and was again named
Etain, and she grew into the most beautiful woman in the length and
breadth of Ireland. When she was grown Eochaid saw her and courted
her, and took her back with him to Teamhair (Tara). But all this time
Midhir knew where she was, and had once appeared to her though she
did not remember him. At the \Vedding feast Eochaid's younger brother
Ailell was suddenly smitten with a desperate love and longing for Etain.
He suppressed it, but he pined and a deadly sickness fell on him. The
king's doctor said it \vas love-longing, but he denied it. Eochaid became
very anxious about him. The time came when Eochaid had to ride on his
circuit over the whole of Ireland receiving homage from the tributory
kings, and he committed Ailell to the care of Etain while he was away.
Etain did all she could for Ailell, and she tried all she could to persuade
him to tell her what it was that \Vas bringing him down to the gates of
death. At last she made out that it was unsatisfied love for her that ailed
him. Then she was very sad, but she continued to do all that she could
for him, but he only grew worse, until in the end it seemed to her that the
only way was for her to yield to his longing, and she appointed to meet
him very early next morning at a dun outside the town. Ailell was filled
with rapture, and all night he lay sleepless, but at dawn a deep sleep fell
on him and he did not go. But Etain rose early and went out to the dun.
And at the time when she had appointed to meet Ailell she saw a man
'
Eta in 124
that looked like him walking up to her with pain and weakness, but when
he came close she saw that it was not Ailell. 1'hey looked at each other in
silence, and the man went away. Etain waited a little and then went back
and found Ailell newly awakened and full of anger at himself. He told her
how it had been, and she appointed to meet him next morning, but the
san1c thing happened. And on the third morning she spoke to the strange
man. 'You arc not the man I have appointed to meet,' she said. 'And I
have not con1e out for wantonness but to heal a man who is laid under
sickness for n1y sake.'
'You would be better to come with me, for I was your first husband
in the days that were long ago.' 'And what is your name?' she said.' It is
easy to tell that. I am l\.1idhir of Bri Leith.' 'And how was it that I was
taken frorn you?' 'Fuamach, my first 'vifc, put a spell upon you and blew
you out of the Land of TIR NAN OG. Will you come back with me,
Etain?' But she said, 'I will not leave Eochaid, the High King, and go
away with a stranger.' He said: 'It was I put the yearning upon Ailell,
and it 'vas I that put a spell on him that he could not come to you and
your honour 'vas saved.' She went back to Ailell and found that the
yearning had left him and that he was healed. She told him all that had
happened, and they were both rejoiced that they were saved from doing a
treachery to Eochaid. Soon after Eochaid came back, and they told
him all that had happened, and he gave great praise to Etain for her
kindness to Ailell.
lvlidhir appeared once again to Etain in the likeness of the stranger
she had seen when she was a girl. No one saw him or heard the song he
sang praising the beauties of Tir 1an Og and begging her to come with
him. She refused to leave Eochaid. 'If he renders you to me, will you
come?' he said. 'If he does that I will come,' she answered, and he left
her. Soon after this a stranger appeared to Eochaid and challenged him
to three games of CHESS. They played for stakes, but, according to
custom, the stakes were named by the winner after the game was won.
Twice Eochaid won, and he set high stakes, the first a great tribute of
horses and the second three tasks which it took all Midhir's fairy hosts to
accomplish. The third time Midhir won and he asked for Eochaid's wife.
Eochaid refused, and Midhir modified the demand for the right to put
his arms round her and kiss her. Eochaid granted that and set the time of
granting at the end of a month. At the end of that time Midhir appeared.
Eochaid had drawn all his forces round him and secured the doors as
soon as Midhir entered so that he should not carry her away. Midhir
drew his sword \Vith his left hand, put his right arm round her and kissed
her. Then they rose together through the roof and the warriors rushing
out saw two white swans flying over the Palace of Tara linked with a
golden chain.
That was not the end of the story, for Eochaid could not rest without
Etain, and after years of searching he tracked her to Bri Leith, and made
125 Ethna the Bride
war on the whole realm of fairy, and made great havoc there until at
length Etain was restored to him. But the wrath of the Tuatha de Danaan
rested on Eochaid and all his descendants because of the great harm they
had wreaked upon the land ofTir Nan Og.
I have gone into this tale at some length as an example of the subtle
and poetic treatment of the HEROIC FAIRY themes in the Irish legends.
The challenge to games of chess occurs in many Celtic legends and fairy
tales. The theme of metempsychosis or reincarnation occurs often in the
early legends.
[Motifs: F68; F392 (variant)]
Ethna the Bride. Finvarra, or FIN BHEARA, the Irish fairy king who
was also king of the dead, though he had a beautiful queen of his own,
was amorous of mortal women, and any woman who was renowned for
her beauty stood in special danger from him. Lady WILDE in her Ancient
Legends of Ireland tells of one Ethna the Bride who was said to be the
most beautiful woman then in Ireland and who was stolen by Finvarra.
Ethna was newly married, and the young lord her husband was so proud
of her beauty that he held festivities day after day. His castle was near the
fairy hill which covered Finvarra's palace, but they had been long friends,
and from time to time he set out offerings of wine to the fairy king, so he
had no fear of him. Nevertheless one evening, as Ethna was floating
through the dance, shining like moonlight in her silver dress, her hand
slipped from her partner's and she fell to the ground in a swoon. Nothing
would revive her, and they carried her to bed where she lay motionless.
In the morning she seemed to revive, but would speak of nothing but a
beautiful country which she had visited, and to which she longed to
return. At night she sank deep again into sleep. Her old nurse was set
to guard her, but in the silence of the night she too fell asleep, and when
she woke at sunrise Ethna had gone. The whole castle was roused, and
they searched high and low, but no sight, sound nor trace of her '\\'as to
be found. It was clear that the FAIRIES had some part in her disappear-
ance, and the young lord rode off at top speed to Knock-Ma under which
his friend Finvarra lived, to seek his counsel as to how to find her. When
he reached the Rath he dismounted, and had begun to climb its slope
when he heard voices above him in the air. 'Finvarra is happy now,' said
one, 'when he has carried Ethna the Bride into his palace. Her husband
will never see her again.' 'Yet he could win her back,' said another, 'if
he could dig a deep hole down into the heart of the Rath and let the light
of day into it; but he will never win his way down, for Finvarra is more
powerful than any mortal man.' 'Yet I will conquer him,' thought the
young lord; and he sent for workmen far and wide and they dug down
into the hill, a deep, wide trench, so that when darkness fell they thought
that their task was more than half done, and that they would reach Fin-
varra's palace by the next day. So they went to rest in high hopes. But
Ethna the Bride
next morning the trench was gone, and the grass grew over the hill as if
it had never been disturbed. Then most men despaired, but the young
lord had a brave heart, and he added more diggers to the many who were
working, and that day they got even deeper than the day before, but the
next morning all trace of their labour had disappeared. And the third
morning it was the same again. Then the young lord was ready to die for
grief, \Vhen he heard a voice in the air above him saying 'Sprinkle the
earth with salt and your \vork \vill be safe.' Hope sprang up again in his
heart, and he sent round and gathered salt from all his people, and that
night they covered all the piles of earth \Vith salt before they left them.
~cxt morning their work had been untouched, and they set to work with
a good heart, and before the day was over they \Vere so near to Fairyland
that \vhen they put their cars to the clay they could hear fairy music,
and voices speaking. And one voice said: 'Finvarra is sad now, for he
knows that if one human spade cuts into his palace wall it will crumble
into dust.' Another answered: 'But if the king sends Ethna back to her
lord, we shall all be saved.' Then the voice of Finvarra rang out: 'Lay
down your spades, men of earth, and at sunset Ethna shall return to her
lord.' At that the lord told his men to stop digging, and at sunset he rode
up to the mouth of the Glen, and Ethna came walking up the deep cleft,
shining like silver, and he snatched her up to his horse's back and rode
with her to his castle; but Finvarra had played him false, for \vhen he
carried her in she Jay in his arms without speech or movement, and when
they laid her on the bed she lay there like a \vaxen image and nothing
"ould rouse her, so that they began to fear that she had eaten FA 1 R Y
FOOD and that her soul had remained in Fairyland. One night as the
lord was riding sadly home he heard the friendly voices in the air. And
one said: 'It is a year and a day since Ethna came home to her lord, and
still she lies motionless, for Finvarra has her soul with him still in his
palace under Knock-~Ia.' And the other answered: 'Yet her husband
could win her back to mortal life if he undid the girdle round her waist
and took out the fairy pin with which it is fastened. If he burned the
girdle and sprinkled the ashes outside her door, and buried the pin in the
earth, then her human soul \Vould come back to her.' The young lord
turned his horse, and rode back like lightning. \Vith great difficulty he
untangled the girdle and disengaged the fairy pin. He burnt the girdle
and scattered the ashes outside the door. Still she never moved. Then he
took the pin and buried it under a fairy thorn where no one would disturb
it. \Vhen he came back, Ethna sat up in bed and stretched out her arms
to him. She knew and remembered everything, except that the year she
had spent in Fairyland was like the dream of a single night. Finvarra
never troubled them again, and they lived out their mortal lives in great
happiness. They have long gone, but the deep cleft is still left in Knock-
Ma, and is still called the Fairy Glen.
127 Ewing, Juliana Horatia
Though Finvarra behaved with such treachery it is clear that there were
more scrupulous spirits among his people.
Since Finvarra rules over the dead his story is very near to KING
ORFEO, the medieval version of Orpheus and Eurydice in which Pluto is
called the King of the Fairies.
[Motifs: F322; F322.2; F375]
Euphemistic names for the fairies. Just as the Furies were called
'The Eumenides', the 'Kindly Ones', so were the FAIRIES called
laudatory names by the country people. As K 1RK says, 'These Siths, or
Fairies, they call Sleagh Maith, or the Good People, it would seem, to
prevent the Dint of their ill Attempts, (for the Irish use to bless all they
fear Harme of;).' E. B. Simpson in Folk Lore in Lowland Scotland (p. 93)
gives a list of some of these euphemisms.
The invisible and alert fairies for the same reason were always
mentioned with a honeyed tongue. The wily, knowing not where they
might be lurking, were careful to call them 'the GOOD NEIGHBOURS',
'the honest folk', 'the little folk', 'the GENTRY', 'the hill folk', and
'the forgetful people', the 'men of peace'.
The folk-rhyme given by Chambers, quoted under ELVES, contains
the fairies' own caution on the subject.
[Motif: C433]
out of the front of his face ... ' Further on he slightly amplifies the
description:
Ugly was the make of the Fachin; there was one hand out of the
ridge of his chest, and one tuft out of the top of his head, it were easier
to take a mountain from the root than to bend that tuft.
Douglas HYDE came across a fachan, though unnamed, in an Irish
manuscript and gives a vivid description of the creature in the Preface to
Beside the Fire (p. xxi):
And he [Iollann] was not long at this, until he saw the devilish mis-
formed element, and the fierce and horrible spectre, and the gloomy
disgusting enemy, and the morose unlovely churl; and this is how he
was: he held a very thick iron flail-club in his skinny hand, and
twenty chains out of it, and fifty apples on each chain of them, and a
Faerie Queene, The IJO
venomous spell on each great apple of them, and a girdle of the skins of
deer and roebuck around the thing that was his body, and one eye in
the forehead of his black-faced countenance, and one bare, hard, very
hairy hand coming out of his chest, and one veiny, thick-soled leg
supporting him and a close, firm, dark blue mantle of twisted hard-
thick feathers, protecting his body, and surely he was more like unto
devil than to man.
Fairies. The word 'fairies' is late in origin; the earlier noun is FA YS,
which now has an archaic and rather affected sound. This is thought to
be a broken-down form of Fatae. The classical three Fates were later
multiplied into supernatural ladies who directed the destiny of men and
attended childbirths. 'Fay-erie' was first a state of enchantment or
GLAMOUR, and was only later used for the fays who wielded those powers
of illusion. The term 'fairy' now covers a large area, the Anglo-Saxon
and Scandinavian ELVES, the DAOINE SIDHE of the Highlands, the
TUATHA DE DANANN of Ireland, the TYLWYTH TEG of Wales, the
SEELIE COURT and the UNSEELIE COURT, the WEE FOLK and GOOD
NEIGHBOURS and many others. The TROOPING FAIRIES and the
SOLITARY FAIRIES are included in it, the fairies of human or more than
human size, the three-foot fairies and the tiny fairies; the domestic
fairies and those that are wild and alien to man; the subterranean fairies
and the water fairies that haunt lochs, streams or the sea. The super-
natural HAGS, MONSTERS and BOGIES might be considered to belong
to a different category, and there are, of course, FAIRY ANIMALS to be
considered.
Fairies of medieval romances IJ2
Fairy animals. The very numerous fairy animals, of which there are
many traditions in the British Isles, may be divided into t\vo main classes.
There are wild ones, that exist for their own purposes and in their own
right, and the domesticated ones bred and used by the FAIRIES. It is
sometimes difficult to distinguish between these t\vo types, because the
fairies occasionally allow their creatures to roam freely, as, for instance,
the cu SITH of the Highlands, which is generally kept as a watch dog in
the BRUGHS, but is at times free to roam at its pleasure, and the CRODH
~tAR A, which sometimes visit human herds. But the distinction is gener-
ally clear.
The two kinds of fairy creatures occur very early in our traditions and
are mentioned in the "'IEDIEV AL CHRONICLES. Examples are the
GRANT, a medieval BOGEY-BEAST mentioned by GERVASE OF TIL-
BURY, and the small dogs and horses to be found in GIRALDUS CAM-
BRENSIS' story ofELIDOR.
Examples of the free FAIRY HORSES are the dangerous EACH UISGE
of the Highlands, the hardly less dangerous KELPIES, the CABYLL
USHTEY of the Isle of Man, and such BOGIES as the BRAG, the TRASH
and the SHOCK. All these have some power of SHAPE-SHIFTING. The
horses used by the fairies occur everywhere in the HEROIC FAIRY
legends, wherever there is the FAIRY RADE in which they are to be
found. They have been taken over by the Devil where he haunts with the
135 Fairy brides
YETH HOUNDS or the DEVIL'S DANDY DOGS, and even with the CWN
ANNWN, which once explicitly belonged to GWYN AP NUDD. The
fairy horses of the TUATHA DE DANANN are the most explicitly re-
membered.
The BLACK DOGS are the most common of the wild dogs in England,
but there are many bogey-beast dogs, the BARGUEST, the GALL Y-TROT,
the MAUTHE DOOG of Man, and the Shock. The domestic FAIRY DOGS
most vividly remembered are BRAN AND SCEOLAN, the hunting dogs
of FINN, and in the Cu Sith; but traditions of the HOUNDS OF THE
HILLS still linger in Somerset.
The fairy cattle were less fierce than the wild fairy horses. Occasionally
these were independent, like the DUN cow OF KIRKHAM, and they were
beneficent, not dangerous. The ELF-BULL was a lucky visitor to any herd,
and so were the GW AR THEG Y LL YN of Wales. There were, however,
ferocious ghost bulls like the GREAT BULL OF BAGBURY.
Of miscellaneous creatures, the most famous were the seal people, the
SELKIES and ROANE. Cats were almost fairies in themselves, but there
was a fairy cat in the Highlands, the CAIT SITH, and a demon-god cat,
BIG EARS, which appeared after horrible invocations.
AFANC was a river monster of Wales, something like a giant beaver,
and the BOOBRIE was a monstrous water-bird.
Goats and deer may be said to have been fairies in their own proper
shape, and many birds, particularly the eagle, the raven, the owl and the
wren, had strong fairy associations. Certain trout and salmon were fairy
creatures, and even insects had their part: the GOOSEBERRY WIFE
appeared as a gigantic hairy caterpillar. In fact the whole of these islands
is rich in fairy zoology.
Fairy brides. From early classical times, the legends of the visits of
goddesses and nymphs to human mortals and their loving intercourse
with them have touched humanity with tragedy and splendour; for the
ends of all these intercourses between immortality and mortality have
Fairy brides
been tragic. The fairy traditions carry on the talc, particularly in Celtic
countries. There have been many stories of weddings between creatures
of more than human beauty and stature and hun1an men, often ones
with outstanding qualities of leadership. \VILD EDRIC, the champion of
resistance against the Normans on the \ elsh Borders, is one that im-
mediately comes to mind. \Valter Map, in his 12th-century collection of
strange happenings, De Nugis Curialium, as \V ell as '\Vild Edric' gives
us 'The Fairy \Vife of Brecknock I ere', whose beginning is very like
G\VRAGLDD AN ' \VN, 'The Fairy of Fan y Fach'. It is to be found in
De Nugis Curialium (p. 91):
Welshmen tell us of another thing, not a miracle but a marvel. They
say that Gwestin of Gwestiniog waited and watched near Brecknock
~lerc (Llangorse Lake), which is some two miles around, and saw, on
three brilliant moonlight nights, bands of dancing \VOn1en in his fields
of oats, and that he followed these until they sank in the water of the
pond; and that, on the fourth night, he detained one of the maidens.
The ravisher's version of the incident was that on each of the nights
after they had sunk, he had heard them murmuring under the water
and saying, 'Had he done thus and so, he would have caught one of
us'; and he said that he had thus been taught by their lips how to
capture this maiden, who yielded and married him. Her first words
to her husband were: 'I shall willingly serve thee with full obedience
and devotion until that day \Vhen in your eagerness to hasten to the
shouting (c/amorts) beyond Llyfni you will strike me with your bridle-
rein.' 1\ow Llyfni is a river near the pond. And this thing came to pass.
Mter the birth of many children, she was struck by him with his
bridle-rein and, on his return from his ride, he found her fleeing with
all her offspring. Pursuing, he snatched away with great difficulty one
of his sons, Triunein ragelauc (Trinio Faglog) by name.
Here \VC see at least a token capture, though, as in the story of 'The
Fairy of Fan y Fach ', there is some murmured instruction as to the
method of wooing to be followed. There is also the TABOO imposed, for-
bidding an accidental blow with a bridle, as in a later version of the story.
Possibly the element of cold IRON is involved here.
A more goddess-like fairy is Tryamour in the metrical romance of
SIR LAUNFAL, which is nearer to the legend of OSSIAN, for here the
hero is fetched a\vay into Fairyland, though in this tale the departure into
Fairyland makes the happy ending after the violation of taboo has been
punished and forgiven. It is possible that this may be a literary element
in the tale. The SEAL MAIDENS play a large part in the fairy bride tales.
They are always unwillingly captured by the theft of their sealskins, and
escape as soon as they can get them back. The SWAN MAIDENS are also
captured by impounding their feathers, but they part with them more
137 Fairy crafts
willingly, and seem generally to be swans by enchantment rather than by
birth.
A more sinister supernatural wife, though not truly native to Britain,
is MELUSINE, the beautiful water-spirit who becomes a serpent at the
touch of water. Waiter Map gives a version of the Melusine story, set in
Normandy, the tale ofHenno CumDentibus who married a beautiful and
modest-seeming girl who turned into a DRAGON when sprinkled with
HOLY wATER. But these Melusines \vere thought of as devils rather than
fairies.
[Motifs: CJI; CJI.I.2; CJI.2; CJI.S; CJI.8; C984; FJoo; F302.2;
F302.4.2. I)
Fairy crafts. The FAIRIES have a great reputation for various skills.
They are seen and heard working on their own account, they teach skills
to mortals and they do work for them. A vivid account of their activities
is given by J. G. CA~1PBELL in Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands
of Scotland (p. IS):
The Fairies, as has been already said, are counterparts 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 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'. Sometimes 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.
Their skill in spinning and weaving is famous, as is shown in such
tales as HABETROT and TOM TIT TOT, but there is some qualification to
this. In the Isle of Man the looms and spinning-wheels are guarded from
the LIL' FELLAS at night because they are likely to spoil the webs. This
opinion is illustrated in a passage from Sophia Morrison's Manx Fairy
Tales about a fairy visit to a Manx house, a memorat taken down from
James Moore:
I'm not much of a believer in most of the stories some ones is telling,
but after all a body can't help believing a thing they happen to see for
themselves.
I remember one winter's night- we were living in a house at the
Fairy crafts 138
time that was pulled down for the building of the Big Wheel. It was a
thatched house with two rooms, and a wall about six foot high dividing
them, and from that it was open to the scrabs, or turfs, that were laid
across the rafters. My Mother was sitting at the fire busy spinning,
and n1y 1~ at her was sitting in the big chair at the end of the table taking
a chapter for us out of the Ivlanx Bible. Ivly brother was busy winding a
spool and I was working with a bunch of ling, trying to n1akc two or
three pegs.
'There's a terrible glisthcr on to-night,' my Mother said, looking at
the fire. 'An' the rain cotnin' pcltin' down the chimlcy.'
'Yes,' said n1y Father, shutting the Bible; 'an' we better get to bed
middlin' soon and let the Lil' Ones in to a bit of shelter.'
So we all got ready and went to bed.
Some time in the night n1y brother wakened me with a: 'Shish!
Listen boy, and look at the big light tha's in the kitchen!' 'fhen he
rubbed his eyes a bit and whispered: ~\V hat's l\1othcr do in' now at all?'
'Listen!' I said, 'An you'll hear 1 lot her in bed; it's not her at all;
it must be the Little Ones that's agate of the wheel!'
And both of us got frightened, and down with our heads under the
clothes and fell asleep. In the n1orning \\hen we got up we told them
\V hat \\ e had seen, first thing.
'Aw, like enough, like enough,' my Father said, looking at the wheel.
'It seen1s your mother forgot to take the band off last night, a thing
people should be careful about, for it's givin' l "hcmsclves power over
the\\ heel, an' though their meanin's well enough, the spinnin' they're
doin' is no thin' to brag about. l "he weaver is alwa) s shoutin' about
their work, an' the bad joinin' they're makin' in the rolls.,
I remen1ber it as \\ell as yesterday- the big light that was at them,
and the whirring that was going on. And let anybody say what they
like, that's a thing I've seen and heard for myself.
A story given by \V. W. Gill in A A-Ianx Scrapbook (p. 291) is of
spinning ostensibly done by spiders, but he thinks almost certainly by
the fairies:
A story, of 'vhich the following is the gist, has a limited currency in
the district; it reached me from an elderly' sheep-farmer of the neigh-
bouring hills. The Rabyhouse \vas inhabited by an old woman named
K and her servant-girl. One morning when there was a great deal of
spinning on hand the girl ran off and left her, and she was at her wits'
end to get it done. Finally, in despair she went down to the river and
asked it, or asked the spiders- accounts differ on this point- to help
her; and it, or they, promised to do so. Not only did they spin her wool
for her, but after the work was finished they wove her, all out of their
own silk thread, a shawl of miraculous delicacy and beauty. It was pre-
served in the family for several generations, but has now disappeared,
139 Fairy crafts
like the two Fairy Cups, the Mylecharaine Cross, and other Insular
treasures.
Gill confirms this story by one from the Isle of Mull in which the
fairies came at a spoken wish and performed the acts of spinning and
weaving by a simple invocation. They then clustered round the table
expecting to be fed, but as the woman had nothing to give them, she had
at last to clear the house by the simple stratagem of raising an alarm of
fire in their fairy hill.
This story raises the question of whether the fairy spinning was an
actual performance or a piece of GLAMOUR which deceived human
senses. It will be remembered that in the Cornish version of TOM TIT
TOT, 'Duffy and the Devil', all TERRYTOP's spinning disappeared when
he was routed, and the Squire had to \valk home naked. This perhaps is
not a fair parallel, for Terrytop is explicitly described as a devil, not a
fairy.
Of the other crafts in which fairies are distinguished, the most curious
and contradictory is smithy work, when we consider the fairies' fear of
cold IRON. GNOMES were, from of old, reputed metal-workers, and many
famous swords and breastplates were \vrought by them, but in the tale of
'The ISLE OF SANNTRAIGH' the fairies, who \vere governed by the dirk
stuck into the hillside, taught their captives unusual skill in metal-work,
from which the rescued boy afterwards profited. As is common in folk-
lore, there is no explanation of this anomaly. A notable literary use of this
theme is made by Rudyard KIPLI NG in 'Cold Iron', one of the stories
in Puck of Pook's Hill.
LEPRACAUNS were reputed to be highly skilled at their trade, but
since there is no record that they made shoes for other than fairy feet,
there is no means of testing this.
GOBLINS labouring in the mines were proverbial in the 17th century
for producing no results by their deedy labours. Boat-building, on the
other hand, was a work on which they nightly laboured and which they
could transfer to human proteges. Evans Wentz, in The Fairy-Faith in
Celtic Countries (pp. 106-7), collected a story from a Barra piper about
how an apprentice boat-builder, \vho had picked up a fairy's girdle, was
given the gift of a master's skill when he returned it to her. The gift
remained even after he had told how he acquired it.
One undoubted gift of the fairies \Vas that of skill in music, and there
are many stories of ho\v the MacCrimmons, the most famous family of
Scottish pipers, \Vere given their skill by the gift of a black chanter to a
despised younger son of the family. The gift was accompanied by
tuition. Many songs and airs have come out of fairy hills and have sur-
vived the change into the human world. It is clear that whatever fairy
skills are the work of glamour, their music survives in its own right.
(Motifs: F262; F262.1; F271.0.1; F271.4.2; F271.4.3; F271.7; F271.10)
Fairy cup, the 140
Fairy cup, the. The story of the fairy cup, told by William of New-
bridge, the 12th-century chronicler, is an early example of THEFTS
FROM THE FAIRIES. Thomas KEIGHTLEY quotes it from Gui/ie/mi
Neubrigensis Historia, sive Clzronica Rerum Anglicarun1 (Book 1, Chapter
28):
In the province of the Deiri (Yorkshire), not far from my birth-place,
a wonderful thing occurred, which I have known from my boyhood.
There is a town a few miles distant from the Eastern Sea, near which
are those celebrated waters commonly called Gipse ... A peasant of
this town went once to see a friend who lived in the next town, and it
was late at night when he was coming back, not very sober; when lo!
from the adjoining barrow, which I have often seen, and which is not
much over a quarter of a mile fron1 the town, he heard the voices of
people singing, and, as it were, joyfully feasting. He wondered who
they could be that were breaking in that place, by their merrin1ent, the
silence of the dead night, and he wished to examine into the matter
more closely. Seeing a door open in the side of the barrow, he went up
to it, and looked in; and there he beheld a large and luminous house,
full of people, women as well as men, who were reclining as at a
solemn banquet. One of the attendants, seeing him standing at the
door, offered him a cup. He took it, but would not drink; and pouring
out the contents, kept the vessel. A great tumult arose at the banquet
on account of his taking away the cup, and all the guests pursued him;
but he escaped by the fleetness of the beast he rode, and got into the
town with his booty. Finally, this vessel of unknown material, of un-
usual colour, and of extraordinary forn1, was presented to Henry the
Elder, king of the English, as a valuable gift, and was then given to the
queen's brother David, king of the Scots, and was kept for several
years in the treasury of Scotland; and a few years ago (as I have heard
from good authority), it was given by \Villiam, king of the Scots, to
Henry the Second, who wished to see it.
(Type: ML6045. Motifs: F352; F352. I]
Fairy dogs. There are a number of varieties of fairy dogs. There are
those domesticated to the FAIR 1ES, either as watch-dogs or as hunting
dogs. (For these, see cu SITH, C\VN ANN\VN, \vhich also fulfil the func-
tion of the spectral pack (see below), the HOUNDS OF THE HILL, with
individuals such as BRAN AND SCEOLAN and FARVANN.) There are
solitary dogs of the BOGEY-BEAST type, BLACK DOGS, with the GUAR-
DIAN BLACK DOG and the CHURCH GRIT\1 as a contrast, GALL Y-TROT,
the GRANT and the MAUTHE DOOG as menacing individuals, and there
are the spectral packs, usually accompanied by demonic huntsmen:
CHENEY'S HOUNDS, DANDO AND HIS DOGS, the DEVIL'S DANDY
.... 1, ,;,.y J)wt Uiu l~ on Stltun ,,,., tlw
tucl I llllfOtH IJ ,
u J" w all h lt ' 111 1d ' 'I
' lfuiry I )wllirag uu S ltuu fHH", I lu . A 111n .1 iaat ., ' I lrav J q~ ucl ,,f
~ V J N J 'I ' I (J J A I J V I. A f J) I, l) I Vt' ll '/'1 {lt/1/l fJII 11111/ f/rtlllfl
Ill 11 f I I 'I 11 J. I . L/ .
tlllr: S /OII l' o/
JVe I (_,'111 1111'11" (v, ,J , ,. pp. ,,, I J;t)~ wluc ), dlu.t ,,, Vf ' l y
w 11 rl w b Ji I . ', 11 1la v 1 1 , 1 1 ' ' 1 t 1 11 1 A 1 1 1 1 ,, 11 d .u 1,tl J11 .1 t' 1 y .1 J1 I
la Id i11 ( ,, uw.all ut I J. IIIHidJr ,,f I la J,, I ul lll y. It 1. ' J.,,,, l1 ., I, ;, y
l.aud t)Jlll lh.at tru,agtr wd iu Hhttl ll'. Hh 1 ''" Y ,f J 1 h.ud V~'' .
xp ' I j ' 11 I ' ~ I, 11 it t:. IVt , 1 ( {_lltlfJI I Jfl11 .(I tf I HI (If I lJ ' 111 I ~ Ill ,,, IJ f ,,f tit
1 "'I 1 1.~ ' th pa ~ ~~ d ,ad " ufth d. ~ ., . ,,f '''"' ' 1 A ll ~ 1 o ,,, u1l ,,f
1
f.ai1i WJIJt tJ. ' 11 dwiuiJJut~ ) JII\Vf' l . tlld I d11 y (5 1V ,lJt IIIIJH' .. 11111 tJ.,at
r 11 .i Jt cl IJ 11 .u 1u J. t1 w 'I . w d I ' . t ul d I" ll ~
Fairy food. There are various accounts of fairy food. The small, homely
FA 1 R1 Es, such as that in the Worcestershire story of the BRoKEN PE D
and its variants, bake small, delicious cakes which they give to their
benefactors. Those fairies about whom tales of FAIRY BORROWING are
told often beg for loans of grain, and return it honestly. According to
]. G. CAMPBELL in his Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland (p. 22), they often borrow oatmeal and return double measure,
but always of barley meal, for barley seems to be their natural grain. The
fairies also steal the essential good out of human food, and leave an un-
nourishing substance behind them. KIRK speaks of their stealing away
the 'FOYSON' of human food, and Campbell uses the Gaelic 'toradh'.
The tale of the TACKSMAN OF AUCHRIACHAN illustrates this trait.
Otherwise their food, though it appears by GLAMOUR to be rich and
elegant, consists of weeds. St Collen, in the tale of ST COLLEN AND THE
FAIRY KING, scornfully dismisses the fairy banquet as 'the leaves of a
tree'. According to Camp bell (p. 21) it consists of brisgein (that is, the
roots of silverweed), stalks of heather, milk of red deer and goats, and
barley meal. HERRICK's minute fairy king has a banquet fitted to his
small size, but not very appetizing to the ordinary mortal:
Fairy food 144
A little mushroome table sprcd,
After short prayers, they set on bread;
A toon-parcht grain of purest wheat,
\ ith some small glit'ring gritt, to cate
His choyce bitts with; then in a trice
They make a feast Iesse great then nice.
And now, we n1ust in1aginc first,
The Elves present to quench his thirst
A pure secd-Pcarle of Infant dew,
Drought and bcswectned in a blew
And pregnant violet; which done,
His kitling eyes begin to runnc
Quite through the table, where he spies
The hornes of papcrie Butterflies,
Of which he eates, and tastes a little
Of that we call the Cuckoes spittle.
A little Fuz-ball-pudding stands
By, yet not blessed by his hands,
1"hat was too coorsc; but then forthwith
He ventures boldly on the pith
Of sugred Rush, and catcs the sagge
And well best rutted llccs sweet bagge:
Gladding his pallat with son1e store
Of Emits eggs; what 'vo'd he more?
But Beards of 1 lice, a 1ewt's stew'd thigh,
A bloated Earewig, and a I~ lie;
\Vith the Red-capt worme, that's shut
\Vithin the concave of a 1ut,
Browne as his Tooth. i\ little 1oth,
Late fatned in a piece of cloth:
\Vith withered cherries; tan drakes ea res;
l\.1oles eyes; to these, the slain- tags teares:
The unctuous dewlaps of a Snaile;
The broke-heart of a. -ightingale
Ore-come in musicke; with a \vine,
Ne're ravisht from the flattering Vine,
But gently prest from the soft side
Of the most sweet and dainty Bride,
Brought in a dainty daizie, which
He fully quaffs up to bewitch
His blood to height; this done, commended
Grace by his Priest; The feast is ended.
It is doubtful if this diet has any folk foundation. It may well be the
product of Herrick's own fancy. In one of Lady \VILDE's more grue-
145 Fairy funerals
some tales, the rich banquet served up to the fairy court had appeared to
a mortal visitor in the kitchen to be the body of an old HAG. It is certain
that all the food served in Fairyland was spiced and transformed by
glamour.
(Motifs: F243; F243.1]
Fairy horses of the Tuatha de Danann, the. All the HEROIC FAIRIES
spent a great part of their time in solemn rides, and their horses, large or
small according to the riders, were often described. The FAIRIES
Fairy levitation 148
described by ELIDOR were small, but noble, and they had horses and
hounds proportioned to their size, the \Vclsh G\\' RAGEDD ANN\VYN
rode on milk-white horses and the FAIRY RADE described in the Scottish
ballads was on horses of varying colours richly caparisoned with tinkling
bells. The TUATHA DE DANANN, who were conquered and driven under-
ground by the 1\1ilesians and who afterwards dwindled down into the
DAOINE SIDHE, were the very cream of the heroic fairies, and their
horses were eloquently described by Lady \V Il..DE in her Ancitnt Ltgtnds
of Ireland (vol. 1, pp. 178- 9 and 182- 3):
And the breed of horses they reared could not be surpassed in the
" 'orld - fleet as the wind, with the arched neck and the broad chest
and the quivering nostril, and the large eye that showed they were
made of fire and flan1e, and not of dull, heavy earth. And the Tuatha
made stables for then1 in the great caves of the hills, and they were
shod with siher and had golden bridles, and never a slave was allowed
to ride then1. A splendid sight was the cavalcade of the 1'uatha-de-
Danann knights. Seven-score steeds, each with a jewel on his forehead
like a star, and seven-score horsemen, aiJ the sons of kings, in their
green mantles fringed with gold, and golden heln1cts on their head,
and golden greaves on their limbs, and each knight having in his hand
a golden spear.
And so they lived for a hundred years and more, for by their en-
chantments they could resist the power of death.
A fe\\ pages later she tells of the last of these royal steeds:
Of the great breed of splendid horses, some remained for several
centuries, and \\ere at once known by their noble shape and qualities.
The last of them belonged to a great lord in Connaught, and when he
died, all his effects being sold by auction, the royal steed came to the
hammer, and was bought up by an emissary of the English Govern-
ment, who wanted to get possession of a specimen of the magnificent
ancient Irish breed, in order to have it transported to England.
But \vhen the groom attempted to mount the high-spirited animal,
it reared, and threw the base-born churl violently to the ground, killing
him on the spot.
Then, fleet as the wind, the horse galloped away, and finally plunged
into the lake and was seen no more. So ended the great race of the
mighty Tuatha-de-Danann horses in Ireland, the like of 'vhich has
never been seen since in all the 'vorld for majesty and beauty.
[Motifs: F24 I. I ; F241. I. I. I)
Once there was a boy who \Vandered away from the right path on a
journey to his home, and lost himself in a big wood ; night came on,
and he lay down tired out, and fell asleep. When he woke, two or three
hours after, he could see that a bear was lying beside him, with its head
on his little bundle of clothes. It got up, and the boy was very much
frightened at first, but, finding the bear was quite tame and gentle, he
allowed the animal to lead him out of the wood, to a spot where he
could see a light. Walking towards it, he found it came from a little
turf hut. In answer to his knock, a little woman opened the door,
kindly inviting him to enter. There he saw another little woman sitting
by the fire. Mter a good supper, he was told he must share with them
the only bed, and lying down, he fell fast asleep, to be wakened when
the clock struck twelve by his bedfellows, who sprang up, putting on
little white caps, \vhich hung at the bed's head. One said, 'Here's off,'
Fairy loans
and the other, 'Here's after,' and they suddenly disappeared, as though
flying. Afraid to stay in the hut alone, and seeing another white cap
hanging at the bed's head, the boy seized it, saying, 'Here's after.' He
was immediately transported to the fairy ring outside the door of the
hut where the little women were dancing merrily. Then ont; said,
'Here's off to a gentleman's house,' and the other, 'I Iere's after,' so
the boy did likewise, and found himself on the top of a tall chimney.
The first fairy said, 'Down the chimney,' and the others repeating the
usual formula, down they went, first to the kitchen, and then to the
cellar. Here they began collecting bottles of wine to take away; they
opened one, and gave it to the boy, \Vho drank so greedily that he fell
asleep; on waking, he found himself alone, and in fear and trembling,
went up to the kitchen, where he met the servants, and was taken
before the master of the mansion.
He could give no satisfactory account of himself, and was con-
demned to be hanged.
On the scaffold he saw, pushing eagerly through the crowd, a little
woman carrying a white cap, and wearing a similar one. She asked the
judge if the prisoner might be hanged in the cap, and he gave his
consent. So she walked up to the scaffold, and placed it on the lad's
head, saying, 'Here's off!' He quickly said, 'I-Iere's after!, and away
they went like lightning to the turf hut. Here the fairy explained that
she had been displeased by his taking the magic cap, and that if be-
friended by fairies he must in future never take liberties with their
property. This he promised, and after a good meal was allowed to
depart to his home.
Fairies "-ere also in the habit of levitating buildings, castles and
churches if their situation did not suit them. ometimes they removed
the building material to the preferred location. In many of the stories it is
a monstrous animal, a cat or a pig who is the agent; sometin1es it is the
Devil, but occasionally it is a crowd of fairies, as in the anecdote given by
George Henderson in The Popular Rh;mzes, Sayings and Proverbs of the
County of Berwickshire, 'The Fairies and Langton House'. Their levi-
tation rhyme was:
Lift one, lift a',
Baith at back and fore \Ya' -
Up and away wi' Langton House,
And set it down in Dogden loss.
Fortunately their intention was frustrated by a hastily-uttered prayer.
[Type: MLsoo6*. l\1otifs: F241.1.o.r; F282; F282.2]
Fairy market, or fair. The most famous of the fairy markets \vas held
in Somerset at Blackdown near Pitminster. It is first mentioned in detail
by BOVET in his Pandaemonium, or The Devil's Cloyster (p. 207). It is
quoted by KEIGHTLEY:
At some times they \vould seem to dance, at other times to keep a
great fair or market. I made it my business to enquire among the
neighbours \vhat credit might be given to that which was reported of
them, and by many of the neighbouring inhabitants I had this account
confirmed.
The place near \vhich they most ordinarily showed themselves was
on the side of a hill, named Black-down, between the parishes of Pitt-
minster and Chestonford, not many miles from Taunton. Those that
have had occasion to travel that way have frequently seen them,
appearing like men and \vomen, of a stature generally near the smaller
size of men. Their habits used to be of red, blue or green, according to
the old \vay of country garb, \vith high crowned hats. One time about
fifty years since, a person living at Comb St Nicholas, a parish lying
on one side of that hill, near Chard, was riding towards his home that
\vay, and sa\v, just before him, on that side of the hill, a great company
of people, that seemed to him like country folks assembled at a fair.
There were all sorts of commodities, to his appearance, as at our
Fairy market, or fair 152.
Fairy morality. Wherever there were fairy beliefs there has always been
a distinction drawn between the good and the bad fairies, the SEELIE
COURT and the UNSEELIE COURT, as they put it in Scotland, as between
the HOSTS and the fairies in the Highlands. An old Barra piper inter-
viewed by Evans Wentz in The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (p. 106)
made a distinction between the two.
'Generally,' he said, 'the hosts were evil and the fairies good, though
I have heard that the fairies used to take cattle and leave their old men
rolled up in the hides ... I saw the men who used to be lifted by the
hosts. They would be carried from South Uist as far south as Barra
Head, and as far north as Harris. Sometimes when these men \vere
ordered by the hosts to kill men on the road they would kill instead
either a horse or a cow; for in that way, so long as an animal was killed,
the injunction of the hosts was fulfilled.'
This habit, so frequently described, is part of the DEPENDENCE OF
Fairy morality 154
FAIRIES UPON MORTALS. It will be noticed that even the 'good fairies'
were not scrupulous about stealing cattle from mortals.
In England, the picture was the same, though more naively expressed.
In Leather's The Folk-Lore of Jlerefordshire, for instance, the house-
keeper at Pontrilas Court told of the beliefs of old .Nlary Phillips when
she was young.
She told us how to be very careful not to offend the wicked old
fairies, or they would do us dreadful injury. 1~hesc always accompanied
the pretty bright fairies, who were always draped in white, with wands
in their hands and flowers in their hair.
In general it may be said of the good fairies that they hold to the saying,
'All that's yours is n1inc, all that's n1inc is my own', at least as far as
hun1ans arc concerned (sec FAIRY THEFTS). They arc n1orc scrupulous
about dealings among themselves. In Jcssic axby's Shetland Tradilioual
Lore (Chapter 10), there is the story of a TRO\\' boy who was guilty of
theft fron1 a Trow:
There was said to be a boy sometimes seen wandering about the
mires o' Vaalafiel, the Sn1a' \Vatcrs, and the burn \Vhich meanders
from Helyawater to the Loch of \Vatley.
\Vhencver the boy was seen he was clad in grey and weeping sadly.
His history, which I got fron1 a \voman belonging to Uyeasound, who
called it 'Gude's truth', is here given as nearly as I can remember.
'The Tro\\s arc not honest. T'hcy will klikk (steal) anything they can
find. But they ne' er, never tak aught frae one o' themselves. o! that
wad be the worst fa ut o' any! They arc aubar (very greedy and eager)
to get silver, and a boy o' their ain stole a silver spoon frae a Kongl-
Trow. He was banished frae Trowland on the moment and condemned
to wander for ever among the lonesome places o' the Isle. But once a
year - on Yule Day - he \vas allowed to veesit Trowland for. a peerie
start; but a' he got was egg-shells to crack atween his teeth, followed by
a !under upon his lugs, and a \vallop ower his back. So he wanders
wanless, poor object! But so it 1\iaun be for dat's their law!'
Here \Ve see a stern morality at \Vork, which reminds us ofELIDOR's
fairies, and an even higher tone is shown by the PLANT RHYS D\VFEN,
those fairies who inhabited an invisible island off Cardiganshire. An
account of these people by John Rhys will be found in his Celtic Folklore
(pp. 158-6o). They were great traders, and riches from all the \Vorld were
on their small island. Once they were very friendly \Vith a certain Gruffyd
ab Einon, and took him \Vith them to their home, \Vhere they showed him
their treasures and loaded him with presents before taking him back to the
mainland. Before he parted with his guide he asked him how they secured
their land, even beyond the virtue of the magic herbs that grew on it.
'For surely,' he said, 'there might grow up a traitor amongst you who
155 Fairy morality
could lead an enemy to your land.' 'Traitors cannot gro\V upon our soil,'
said his guide. And the narrative - quoted from the Brython (vol. 1) -
continues:
'Rhys, the father of our race, bade us, even to the most distant
descendant, honour our parents and ancestors; love our own wives
without looking at those of our neighbours; and do our best for our
children and grandchildren. And he said that if we did so, no one of us
would ever prove unfaithful to another, or become what you call a
traitor. The latter is a wholly imaginary character among us; strange
pictures are drawn of him \Vith his feet like those of an ass, with a nest
of snakes in his bosom, with a head like the devil's, with hands some-
what like a man's, \vhile one of them holds a large knife, and the
family lies dead around the figure. Good-bye!' When Gruffyd looked
about him he lost sight of the country of Plant Rhys, and found himself
near his home.
The Welsh fairies seem to have been rather unusually high-souled.
As a rule the most people expected of the good fairies was a general
readiness to be helpful, and fairness in their dealings; that is, the return
ofF AIRY BORRO\VINGS, gratitude for kindness done to them, patronage
of true love, delight in music and DANcING and a general interest in
fertility, in NEATNESS, order and beauty.
Even bad fairies did not lie; they only equivocated.
The goodwill of a fairy, however, might at times prove rather em-
barrassing, like the goodwill of a savage \Vith a code of morality different
from one's own. They might, for instance, avenge one's wrongs with a
disproportionate severity or enrich one at the expense of a neighbour.
This might be illustrated by the tale of 'The Fairy Threshers', to be
found in J. R. W. Coxhead, Devon Traditions and Fairy-Tales. It is a tale
of a Devon farmer in whose barn a troop of fairies one day started to
thresh the corn unloaded there. He \vas a man well versed in fairy
etiquette, and he strictly forbade his men to go near the barn while the
sounds of threshing continued. In the evening they found that the
threshed corn was all piled on one side of the barn and the straw neatly
piled on the other. The farmer left a generous meal of bread and cheese in
the barn and closed the door. Every day the same thing happened and
every day the farmer left his bread and cheese. The strange thing \vas that
even after all the corn on the farm was carried in the grain continued to
appear, drawn, they concluded, from some neighbouring farm, and as the
year went on more and more far-fetched grain enriched the farmer who
had shown how well he understood ho\v to receive fairy favours. The
farmer might well have felt himself to be in a dilemma: on the one hand
he was guilty of enriching himself by another's loss, on the other, he
could not risk offending a benevolent but touchy set of patrons; but there
is no evidence in the story that the farmer felt any uneasiness at all. Here
Fairy ointment 156
is perhaps an explanation of the ambivalent strain in the morals of the
good fairies. The talcs were conceived when the morals of the com-
munity were on the same pattern as that of a savage. The narrators felt
no uneasiness about partial charity or disproportionate punishment
because considerations of abstract morality had never been presented to
them.
(Motifs: 02066; FI72. I ; F365)
Fairy ped, the. One of the tales of the small, homely FAIRIES who are
glad of human help is told by Ruth Tongue in County Folklore (vol. VIII,
pp. I 16-17) in a story of a BROKEN PED:
157 Fairy rade, the
A farm labourer whose way took him across \Vick Moor, heard the
sound of someone crying. It was someone small, and within a few steps
he came across a child's ped (spade or shovel) broken in half. Being a
kindly father himself he stopped and took a fe\v moments to mend it
neatly and strongly, never noticing that he was standing close to the
barrow called 'Pixy Mound '.
Putting down the mended ped he called out, 'There 'tis then- never
cry no more,' and went on his way.
On his return from work the ped was gone, and a fine new-baked
cake lay in its place.
Despite the warnings of his comrade the man ate it and found it
'proper good'. Saying so loudly, he called out, 'Goodnight to 'ee,' and
prospered ever after.
It is noticeable in the stories of this type that no ill-consequences come
of eating FAIRY FOOD outside Fairyland. This man was \vell versed in
fairy etiquette. He expressed appreciation of the food, but he did not
give thanks for it. These small fairies seem powerless enough, but they
are believed to have control over good and bad luck.
Fairy thefts. Even setting aside their thefts of human beings, mortal
babies, beautiful maidens, nursing mothers and so on, there is no doubt
that the FA 1R 1ES, like all wild creatures, felt themselves to have a right to
any human possessions, particularly food (see FAIRY l\.10RALITY).
According to KIRK and J. G. CAMPHELL, the Highland fairies do not
steal actual food - except for grain and occasionally meal - but leave the
appearance of the thing and take the substance out of it, the 'FOYSON',
as Kirk calls it, or the 'loradll' according to the Gaelic word used by
Camp bell. The} can take the goodness out of cheese, so that it floats in
water like a cork, out of butter, bread or bannocks. Sometimes they
allure cattle away into the fairy K o\VES, but more often they leave the
appearance of a beast behind, as the ox is left in the tale of the TACKSMAN
OF AUCHRIACHAN. Similar stories are told of the Shetland TRO\\'S.
Campbell denies that the fairies ever take milk, and this may be true in
the Highlands, but it is not so everywhere. HUNT has a story of a CO\V
who was a great favourite with the fairies and \Vho always held back some
of her milk for them. They were invisible to human sight as they milked
her, until one night the dairymaid, who was milking the cows in the
meadow, plucked a FOUR-LEAFED CLOVER in the pad of grass with which
she softened the pail on her head, and sa\v the tiny people swarming about
with their little pipkins, caressing the CO\V and milking her. In stories
about the FAIRY OINTl\.tENT, the owners of the seeing eye generally
detect the fairies pilfering in the market place, scraping over the pats of
butter and so on. Tales of FAIRY BORRO\VI!':G exhibit them in a very
different character, for they are generally scrupulous about returning \Vhat
they have borro\ved, and often give something in addition to those who
obliged them. Campbell says that the fairies can only take \vhat people do
not deserve to have, what they have grumbled at or refused to share,
which gives them some resemblance to the ABBEY LUBBER and his kind.
There may be some foundation for this, but it does not seem to be borne
out by all the anecdotes he tells. However, many of the stories seem to
illustrate the old saying that ill-gotten gains never prosper.
[Motif: FJ6s]
159 Fairy trees
Fairy trees. Nearly all trees have some sacred association from very
early times, but some are more sacred than others. There is the magical
trilogy of Oak and ASH and Thorn. There are the fruit-bearing trees,
especially Apple and Hazel; there are ROWAN, Holly and Willow, Elder
and Alder. Some trees seem to be regarded as having a personality of
their own, and some are more specifically a haunt of FAIRIES or spirits.
Most people would probably think first of an oak as a sacred tree, wor-
shipped by the Druids, and it is strong enough certainly to stand in its
own right, though everyone knows the couplet,
Fairy folks
Are in old oaks,
and many oak coppices are said to be haunted by the sinister OAKMEN.
Hawthorn has certain qualities of its own, but it is primarily thought of
as a tree sacred to or haunted by the fairies. This is especially so of solitary
thorns growing near fairy hills, or of a ring of three or more hawthorns.
White may in blossom was supposed to bring death into the house,
and although it was brought round on May Morning it was hung up
outside.
Ruth Tongue collected a folk-song in Somerset whose chorus illus-
trates the popular belief about three very different trees:
Ellum do grieve,
Oak he do hate,
Willo\v do walk
If you travels late.
Possibly because of the vulnerability of elms to disease, it was thought
that if one elm was cut down a neighbouring elm would pine and die in
sympathy. Oaks, however, as fitted their ancient, god-like status, bitterly
resented being cut, and an oak coppice which sprang from the roots of a
felled oakwood was malevolent and dangerous to travel through by night,
more especially if it was a blue-bell wood. Willows were even more
sinister, for they had a habit of uprooting themselves on a dark night and
following a solitary traveller, muttering. TOLKIEN is faithful to folk
tradition in the ogre-ish behaviour of Old Man Willow. Wood-Martin,
in his Traces ofthe Elder Faiths of Ireland, devotes some attention to tree
beliefs. For instance, speaking of the sacred ash, he mentions one in the
parish of Clenor in County Cork, whose branches were never cut,
though firewood was scarce all round, and another in Borrisokane, the
old Bell Tree, sacred to May Day rites, of which it was believed that if
any man burnt even a chip of it on his hearth his whole house would be
burned down. A similar fate was brought down on himself by a cottager
who tried to cut a branch from a sacred elder overhanging a saint's well.
He tried three times; twice he stopped because his house seemed to be on
Fairy trees x6o
fire, but found it a false alarm. The third time he determined not to be
put off by appearances and carried the branch home, only to find his
cottage burnt to the ground. He had had his warning. l'hcre are two
views of the elder. It has been a sacred tree, as \VC may sec from Hans
Andersen's 'Elder-Flower Mother'. In Lincolnshire, too, it used to be
thought necessary to ask the tree's permission before cutting a branch.
The formula was 'Owd Gal, give me of thy wood, an Oi will give some of
moine, when I graws inter a tree' (County Folk-Lore, vol. v, p. 21 ). The
flowers and fruit were much esteemed for wine, the tree was a shelter
against flies, and it was said also that the good fairies found protection
under it from \Vitches and evil spirits. On the other hand, in Oxfordshire
and the Midlands, many elders were strongly suspected of being trans-
formed witches, and they were supposed to bleed if they were cut. 'fhe
witch of the Rollright Stones took the form of an elder tree according to
the popular legend. D. A. Mac 1\1anus in The A fiddle Kingdom, an
explanation of comparatively modern fairy beliefs in Ireland, devotes a
chapter to fairy trees, and gives many examples of the judgements falling
on people who have destroyed sacred thorn trees. He believes some trees
to be haunted by fairies and others by demons, and gives one example of
a close group of three trees, two thorns and an elder, which was haunted
by three evil spirits. He says that when an oak and ash and thorn grew
close together, a twig taken from each, bound with red thread, was
thought to be a protection against spirits of the night.
In England, ash was a protection against mischievous spirits, but in
Scotland the mountain ash, rowan, was even more potent, probably
because of its red berries:
Rowan, lammer (amber) and red threid
Pits witches to their speed,
as the old saying went. Red was always a vital and conquering colour. A
berried holly was potent for good. On the other hand, a barren one- that
is, one that bore only male flowers - was thought to be malevolent and
dangerous. T'vo fruit-bearing trees, apple and hazel, had specialJy
magical qualities. Hazel-nuts were the source of \visdom and also of
fertility, and apples of power and youth. There \vas some danger attached
to each of them. An 'ymp-tree' - that is, a grafted apple - was under
fairy influence, and a man \Vho slept under it was liable, as Sir Lancelot
found, to be carried away by fairy ladies. A somewhat similar fate befell
Queen Meroudys in the medieval poem of KING ORFEO. The fertility
powers of nut-trees could be overdone, and the Devil was said to be
abroad in the \Voods at the time of nut-gathering; 'so many cratches, so
many cradles', goes the Somerset saying quoted by Ruth Tongue in
County Folklore (vol. VIII). On the other hand, the hazel-nuts eaten by
trout or salmon gave their flesh a po\ver of imparting wisdom at the first
taste of it. It was to this that F 1N N owed his tooth of wisdom.
161 'Fairy Widower, The'
Mac Manus mentions other fairy trees, Scots fir, birch, black thorn and
broom, though this last is a shrub rather than a tree. A beech is a holy
tree, with no connection with fairies. It is said that the prayers spoken
under it go straight to Heaven. Otherwise it is difficult to think of a tree
which has not some fairy connection.
(Motifs: A2766.1; 0950.2; 0950.6; 0950.10; 0950.13; 01385.2.5)
Feens, or Fians. FINN and his FIANNA Fin were in the Scottish Gaelic
tradition translated into Finn and the Feinne, and the Fenian BROCHS
were said to be built by them. According to David MAC RITCHIE, in his
Testimony of Tradition and other writings, the Feens were a dwarfish
Ugrian people who were spread over Finland, Lapland, Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, northern Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales,
and who were conquered and driven underground by the Milesians or
Scots. This follows the old Irish traditional history (see TUATHA DE
DANANN) and is plausibly presented by Mac Ritchie with a wealth of
evidence, though \Vith more attention to that which confirms his theory
than to that which tends to disprove it. He also makes the SILKIES and
ROANE a part of the same pattern, Finmen and Fin women in their seal-
skin kayaks. If we subscribe to his theory, we have to abandon the great
figure of OSSIAN, towering on his white horse above the puny modern
men, for a stunted, cunning l\.1AGI CIAN with almost superhuman
strength of muscle, but we may leave them their music, tale-telling and
wealth of golden treasure.
Ferries. The most usual name for the Shetland and Orcadian FA 1 R 1ES
is TROWS, and all the usual elfish and fairy legends are told about them.
Occasionally, however, they are called 'Ferries', but there seems to be no
difference of meaning in the two \vords except that ferry is more often
used as an adjective as in 'ferry tuns', tunes learnt from the Trows or
overheard from the fairy KNOWES. Passages quoted in County Folk-Lore
(vol. III, pp. 2o-3o) contain some mention of the Ferries.
Ferrishyn (ferrishin). A Manx name for the fairie tribe; the singular
is 'Ferrish '. Gill supposes it to be derived from the English 'Fairies'. He
gives a list of names of places and plants in which 'ferrish' occurs in A
Second Manx Scrapbook (pp. 217- 18). The Ferrishyn were the TROOP-
ING FAIRIES of Man, though there does not seem to be any distinction
between them and the SLEIH BEGGEY. They were less aristocratic than
the fairies of Ireland and Wales, and they have no named fairy king or
queen. They \Vere small, generally described as three feet in height,
though sometimes as one foot. They stole human babies and left CHANGE-
L 1N G s, like other FA 1 R 1 ES, and they loved to frequent human houses and
workshops when the inhabitants had gone to bed. Their favourite sport
was hunting, and they had horses and hounds of their own. The hounds
were sometimes described as \vhite with red ears, like FAIRY DOGS else-
where, but sometimes as all colours of the rainbow, red, blue, green,
yellow. The huntsmen wore green coats and red caps, so the hunt must
have been a gay sight as they passed. They could hear \vhatever was said
out of doors. Every wind stirring carried the sound to their ears, and this
made people very careful to speak of them in favourable terms.
Fetch. A name common all over England for a double or c o-\V A L K ER,
very similar to the North Country WAFF. When seen at night, it is said
to be a death portent, and is at all times ominous. AUBREY in his Mis-
cellanies (pp. 89-90) records that:
The beautiful Lady Diana Rich, daughter to the Earl of Holland, as
she was walking in her father's garden at Kensington, to take the fresh
air before dinner, about eleven o'clock, being then very well, met with
her own apparition, habit, and every thing, as in a looking-glass. About
a month after, she died of the small-pox. And it is said that her sister,
the Lady Isabella Thynne, saw the like of herself also, before she died.
This account I had from a person of honour.
[Motif: E723.2]
Fianna, the 174
Fianna (feen-a), the. The great fighting force of Ireland, serving under
the Ard Righ, or High King, and it was at its greatest when FINN Mac
Cumhal was its last and greatest leader. The account of the Fianna and
of the career ofFinn Mac Cumhal, drawn from the Ancient Manuscripts
of Ireland, is to be found in Lady Gregory's Gods and Figluing At!en and
also in O'Grady's Silva Gadelica. An account of the manuscript sources
of these talcs is given in Professor O'Curry's Lectures on the J\1S. Materials
ofAncient Irish History. James Stcphens's Irish f'tury Tales, illustrated by
Arthur Rackham, gives a delightfully humorous turn to some of the
stones.
The Fianna \Vere an order of chivalry whose qualifications were even
more rigid than those of King Arthur's Round 1'able. They arc given in
detail in Gods and Fighting A1en (pp. 169- 70):
And the number of the Fianna of Ireland at that time was seven
score and ten chief men, every one of them having three times nine
fighting men under him. And every man of them was bound to three
things, to take no cattle by oppression, not to refuse any man, as to
cattle or riches; no one of them to fall back before nine fighting men.
And there \Vas no man taken into the Fianna until his tribe and his
kindred \vould give securities for him, that even if they themselves
\Vere all killed he would not look for satisfaction for their death. But if
he himself would harm others, that harm \vas not to be avenged on his
people. And there was no man taken into the Fianna till he knew the
t\velve books of poetry. And before any man was taken, he wou]d be
put into a deep hole in the ground up to his middle, and he having
his shield and a hazel rod in his hand. And nine men would go the
length of ten furrows from him and would cast their spears at him at
the one time. And if he got a wound from one of them, he was not
thought fit to join \Vith the Fianna. And after that again, his hair \vould
be fastened up, and he put to run through the woods of Ireland, and
the Fianna following after him to try could they wound him, and only
the length of a branch between themselves and himself when they
started. And if they came up with him and wounded him, he was not let
join them; or if his spears had trembled in his hand, or if a branch of a
tree had undone the plaiting of his hair, or if he had cracked a dry stick
under his foot, and he running. And they would not take him among
them till he had made a leap over a stick the height of himself, and till
he had stooped under one the height of his knee, and till he had taken a
thorn out from his foot with his nail, and he running his fastest. But if
he had done all these things, he was of Finn's people.
It \Vas good wages Finn and the Fianna got at that time; in every
district a townland, in every house the fostering of a pup or a whelp
from Samhain to Beltaine, and a great many things along with that.
But good as the pay was, the hardships and the dangers they went
175 FinBheara
through for it were greater. For they had to hinder the strangers and
robbers from beyond the seas, and every bad thing, from coming into
Ireland. And they had hard \Vork enough in doing that.
This royal band were served by a great retinue of Druids, physicians,
minstrels and musicians, messengers, door-keepers, cup-bearers and
huntsmen, besides fifty of the best serving-women in Ireland, who worked
all the year round making clothes for the Fianna in a rath on Magh
Femen.
There was constant intercourse \Vith the TUATHA DE DANANN; many
of the men had fairy mistresses and FAIRY BR I o ES; Finn's chief musician
was the fairy Cnu Deireoil, the 'Little Nut', a little man with GOLDEN
HAIR, about four feet high, said to be a son of LuG of the Long Hand; a
fairy helper would suddenly join them, and they would be constantly
assailed by hideous supernatural HAGS, GIANTS and \VIZARDS. It was
an active life, full of delights and dangers, and it went on until old age
overtook Finn, and his Fianna went down under dissensions, jealousies
and deaths.
[Motif: H900]
Fin Bheara (fin-vara). The Fairy King of Ulster. Lady WILDE seems
to regard him as the king of the dead. In 'November Eve', a story in her
Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol. I), she tells ho\v a fisherman, Hugh King,
negligently returning late from the fishing on November Eve, once got
caught up in a Fairy Fair and found that all the dancers were dead men
whom he had known. Finvarra and his wife drove up to the fair in a
coach with four white horses: 'Out of it stepped a grand, grave gentleman
all in black and a beautiful lady with a silver veil over her face.' In another
tale, ETHNA THE BRIDE, we see Finvarra as the thief of beautiful human
women, a theme reminiscent of the medieval KING oR FE o. In vol. n there
is another story of Finvarra as a horseman on a black horse who lent
one of the Kir\vans of Galway a jockey by means of whom his horse won
a great race, and afterwards took him to dinner in a grand mansion -
actually, probably Knockma, Finvarra's fairy mound - where he
Finn, or Fionn
gradually recognized the splendid company as the dead whom he had
known. Though he ate the banquet and drank the fairy wine, he came to
less harm than most mortals who violate the TABOO against partaking of
FAIRY FOOD. He was escorted safely home; the only harm he received
was a burnt ring round his wrist left by a girl whom he had loved in old
days and \Vho had died before their marriage.
The brief mentions of Finvarra in Wentz's The Fairy-Faith in Celtic
Countries lay less stress on his role as king of the dead and more on his
territorial holding.
(1\1otifs: F109; F160.0.2; F167.12; F184; F252.1)
Finn, or Fionn (f-yoon). The last and greatest leader of the FIANNA.
He was the son of Cumhal (' Coo-al ') Mac Baiscne, who had been head
of the Fianna of Ireland and had been killed by the sons of Morna who
were contending against him for the headship. Finn's mother was Muirne,
granddaughter ofNuada of the TUATHA DE DANANN, and ofEthlinn, the
mother of LUG of the Long Hand, so he was of godlike and fairy race.
After Cumhal was killed, Finn's mother sent him away to the care of a
female Druid, for the sons of Morna were looking for him to kill him too.
There he was trained, strenuously and in secret, and sent from place to
place for safety and further education. He \Vas trained in poetry, and he
acquired two magical skills; whilst he was in training to the poet Finegas
he accidentally tasted the salmon of kno\vledge and gained his magic
tooth, and he drank a mouthful of water of the well of the moon which
gave him the power of prophecy. At last his training was complete, and he
went up at the time of Samhain ('Sow-in') to the High King's palace at
Team hair (' Tara '). The High King recognized him by his likeness to his
father, and putting the smooth horn into his hand, which gave him
immunity from attack, he asked him who he was. Finn told him his whole
story and asked to be admitted to the Fianna; and the king granted it to
him, for he was the son of a man whom he had trusted. Now every year at
Samhain for the past nine years the Hall of Team hair had been burned
dO\Vn by a fairy musician called AILLEN MAC MIDHNA, who played SO
sweet an air that no one \Vho heard it could help falling asleep, and while
they slept he loosed a burst of flame against the place so that it was con-
sumed. That night the king asked the Fianna if any man among them
\vould attempt the \Vatch, and Finn offered to do so. While he was going
the round an old follower of his father offered him a magic spear of
bitterness, \vhich smelt so sharply that it would keep any man awake.
By the use of this spear, Finn kilJed Aillen and rescued the Hall for ever.
He \Vas made leader of the Fianna, and Goll Mac Morna, his chief and
most bitter enemy, made willing submission to him, and was ever after
his true follower and friend, though he still picked quarrels with all his
kinsmen. Many stories of his adventures were told, of his hounds and
cousins, BRAN AND SCEOLAN, of the birth of his son OISIN, the poet and
177 Fir Darrig, or Fir D hearga
warrior, of his old age, and the last sad moment when he let the saving
water trickle through his fingers, leaving Diarmuid to die in revenge for
his un,villing abduction of Grania, Finn's young queen.
[Motifs: A5I1.2.3; A511.3; A524.1.1; A527.2]
Fir Darrig, or Fir Dhearga (fir yaraga). Of the Fir Darrig, YEATS says
in Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (p. So):
The Far Darrig (fear dearg), which means the Red Man, for he
wears a red cap and coat, busies himself with practical joking, especi-
ally with gruesome joking. This he doe~, and nothing else.
The example he gives is 'The Far Darrig in Donegal' (pp. 9C>-93),
which is a version of 'The Story-Teller at a Loss', in which a man who
fails to produce a story on request suffers a succession of macabre ex-
periences which prove to be illusions designed to provide him with
Firbolgs
material for a story. The Far Darrig in this story is described as the big
man, 'a gigantic fellow, the tallest of the four'. The Fear Dearg of
Munster was, according to Crofton CROKER, a little old man, about two
and a half feet in height, wearing a scarlet sugar-loaf hat and a long
scarlet coat, with long grey hair and a wrinkled face. He \Vould come in
and ask to warm himself by the fire. It was very unlucky to refuse him.
The CLURICAUNE in his account was only six inches high. There is,
however, another Fir Darrig, a red-headed man, who occurs in stories of
humans trapped in Fairyland. He is generally taken to be a human captive
in Fairyland, and it is his advice and help which enables the human
visitor to escape. Examples are to be found in Lady \V 1 LDI:.'s A11cient
Legends of Ireland (vol. 1), 'Fairy Music' and 'Fairy Justice', and the
same character occurs in many of the Scottish stories.
[Motifs: F2333; F369.4; F375]
Fomorians, the. A race of demons, hideous and evil, against whom most
of the successive invaders of Ireland had to fight. There is no record of
their arrival, so presumably they had been there from the beginning,
surviving the various hazards that exterminated the successive waves of
colonizers. According to the Book of Conquests, the first unnamed in-
habitants had perished in the Great Flood. Then came the children of
179 Foul-Weather
Partholon, who waged war against the Fomorians and were finally
destroyed by a great pestilence. Mter them came the people of Nemed,
who fared even worse against the Fomorians than their predecessors, for
they were enslaved by them and had to pay every November a yearly
tribute of two thirds of their children and two thirds of their cattle. At
length in a great battle they conquered the Fomorians and killed Conann,
their king; but they themselves were so cruelly diminished in numbers
that they left the country. Then came the FIR BOLGS, who had no trouble
with the Fomorians, but were defeated by another wave of invaders, the
TUATHA DE DANANN. The Tuatha conquered the Fir Bolgs, but allowed
them to retain the province of Connacht. They also came into conflict
with the Fomorians, but compromised with them to a certain extent, even
to intermarriage. However, the war broke out again in the end, and the
Fomorians were finally conquered at the second battle of Moytura. It has
been suggested among the TH EORIES OF FAIRY ORIGINS that these
successive \vaves of invasion describe the conflicts of religious cults and
practices. If this is so, the Fomorians would represent a primitive religion
that entailed barbaric human and animal sacrifices.
The Highland Fomorians were a race of giants, less evil than the Irish
demons.
(Motifs: A1659.1; AI659.I.I; GIOO. I; S262]
F oyson. The term used by KIRK for the essential goodness that is taken
out of food by the FAIRIES. See also FAIRY THEFTS.
Fuath (foo-a). 'The Fuathan' 'vas the generic term for a number of
spirits, generally malicious and dangerous, \vho had a close connection
with \Vater, lochs, rivers and sometimes the sea.]. F. CAMPBELL counts
them as water spirits, though J. G. CA~tPBELL denies that they are in-
variably so, but tvlackenzie in Scottish Folk Lore and Folk Life agrees with
]. F. Campbell. The PEALLAIDH was a fuath, SO \Vere the FIDEAL,
SHELL YCOAT, many at least of the UR ISKS, and presumably NUCKE-
LAVEE, if he was not too Lowland a character. The word is sometimes
\vritten 'vough' by those who had not seen it written and relied on the
sound. It was a vouGH who was the mother of the BROLLACHAN in
Campbell's version of the NEMO story.
(Motifs: F420.5.2; F470.]
Ganconer, or Gean-cannah, the Love-Talker
Gentle Annis, or Annie. The weather spirit responsible for the south-
westerly gales on the Firth of Cromarty. The firth is \veil protected from
the north and east, but a gap in the hills allows the entry of spasmodic
squally gales. These give Gentle Annis a bad reputation for treachery. A
day will start fine and lure the fisher out, then, in a moment, the storm
sweeps round and his boat is imperilled. D. A. Mackenzie suggests that
Gentle Annis is one aspect of the CAILLEACH BHEUR. 'Annis' may
come from the Celtic goddess ANU, which has been suggested as the
origins of BLACK ANN IS of the Dane Hills. It may be, however, that
these half-jocular personifications have no connection with mythology.
(Motif: F430]
Gentry, the. One of the many EUPHEMISTIC NAMES FOR THE FAIRIES,
used in Ireland. As KIRK says, 'the Irish use to bless all they fear Harme
of'.
[Motif: C433]
Giants. Almost the only trait that giants have in common is their
enormous size and strength. Some of them, such as BRAN THE BLESSED,
have obviously once been gods. Bran was so large that no house could
contain him, so large indeed that he looked like an approaching mountain
as he waded the channel between Wales and Ireland. His strength was
tremendous, but he was essentially benevolent and his decapitated head
Giants
,
Giraldus Cam brcnsis
conquered. Some of these were MONSTERS with several heads, most of
them not overburdened with sense, all man-caters. The Highland giants
were much more astute, some of them l\tAGICIANS, like that in 'The
Battle of the Birds', the Highland version ofNICHT NO GHT NOTHING.
The grim giant of 'A King of Albainn' in IVaifs and Strays of Ce/tzc
Tradttzon (vol. n), collected by D. Maclnncs, may be a magician as well
as a giant, for a magical hare enticed his victims into the cave where the
giant and his twelve sons were waiting for them and the giant gave them
the choice of deadly games: 'the venomous apple' or 'the hot gridiron'.
In the end they had to play both. There is another giant in the story,
who has carried off the old king's daughter, an activity to which giants
are very prone. Both giants are conquered by a supernatural helper called
'The Big Lad'. This may either be an incomplete version of a 'grateful
dead' type of story, or more probably the ghost of the young king's
father, for '"horn he has been mourning inordinately. Another dangerous
and evil giant, 'The Bare- tripping Hangman', also occurs in 111aifs and
Strays of Celtic Tradition (vol. 111). This giant is a magician, for he has a
SEPARABLE. souL which has to be destroyed before he can be killed.
There is a series of giants to be destroyed, one-headed, two-headed and
three-headed. In the same volume is a story of a guileless giant who does
not know how formidable his strength is, a human giant after the type of
Tom Hickathrift, whose story Joscph Jacobs tells in At1ore English Fatry
Stories (pp. 42- 9). He \vas suckled by his mother for twenty years and so
gained supernatural strength. His frightened master sets him a succession
of tests in order to destroy him, but he succeeds in them all, and in the
end settles down happily with his old mother in the house he has won
for himself. It will be seen that there is a great variety of giants in British
tradition.
[Type: ?\.IL5020 . .l\lotifs: A523; A963.5; A977.1; FSJI; F628.2.3; N812]
Goblins. A general name for evil and malicious spirits, usually small and
grotesque in appearance. The sting is taken from the name by prefixing
it with 'HOB', for the HOBGOBLINS were generally thought of as helpful
and well-disposed to men, if sometimes rather mischievous. The Puritans,
however, would not allow this, and so we have Bunyan in his hymn
coupling 'hobgoblin' and 'foul fiend' together. The highland FUATH
cover the same kind of ground as the English goblin and the French
gobe/in.
[Ivlotif: F470]
In this talc the young woman had acted more criminally than the mid-
wives often do, for she had stolen the fairy liquid, yet she was only
deprived of fairy sight, not of the sight of her eye. A suck of human milk
was such a coveted boon that the fairy did not forget her gratitude.
An} share in humanity is coveted by the fairies, except for a gift of
human clothing to BRO\V IES and other helpers. There was, however,
at least one gift of fairy clothing which earned a lasting reward. The tale
is told in \V. \V. Gibbings, Folk-Lore and Legends, Scolland.
A poor man of Jedburgh was on his way to the n1arkct at Hawick and
was passing over the side of Rubislaw when a great clamour arose in that
lonely place. He could see nothing, but there was suddenly a great
clamour of mirth and jollity, in the midst of \vhich a terrible wailing
arose. He could make out the words: '0 there's a bairn born, but there's
naething to pit on 't [' The cry was repeated again and again. The man
was sure that it \Vas the fairies rejoicing at the birth of a baby, but in
consternation that they had nothing to clothe it in. He was terrified, but
he had a kind heart. He at once stripped off his plaid and threw it on the
ground. It was at once snatched away and the sounds of rejoicing \vere
redoubled. He did not stay to hear more, but drove his single sheep on
to the market. It sold for a most unusual price and ever afterwards luck
was with him, and he grew to be a rich and prosperous man.
Sometimes a piece of courtesy and consideration obtains a substantial
reward, as in SCOTT's anecdote, in A1instrelsy of the Scottish Border (vol.
n, p. 359), of Sir Godfrey ~lacCulloch, who happened to live above a
house owned by the SUBTERRANEANS. One day, as Sir Godfrey was
riding over his estate, he was joined by a little old man on a white palfrey
who complained to him that his 'room of dais' was entirely spoiled by
Sir Godfrey's main sewer \vhich ran straight into it. Sir Godfrey was
rather startled, but guessed what kind of person was speaking to him,
apologized \Vith great courtesy and promised to have the direction of the
199 Great Giant ofHenllys, the
drain changed immediately. He went home and did so at once. Some years
later he was so unfortunate as to kill a neighbour in an affray, and was
sentenced to have his head struck off on the Castle Hill in Edinburgh.
No sooner had he ascended the scaffold than a little old man on a white
palfrey pressed through the crowd. He beckoned Sir Godfrey to jump
down behind him, and no sooner had he done so than the two vanished
like lightning and were never seen again.
The Laird o' Co was rescued in the same way, but this was as a reward
for the honourable performance of a promise, and hence for another of the
VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE FAIRIES.
It will be seen that the fairies are not generally devoid of gratitude,
though a few, like YALLERY BROWN, are of such an evil disposition that
it is a misfortune ever to befriend them.
(Motifs: FJJO; FJ33; F338]
Llynwyn Pool, to lie there for ninety-nine years. Some say that it was for
nine hundred and ninety-nine; but at any rate they arc very careful not
to disturb the tobacco box when they are dredging Llynwyn Pool.
[Motif: D2176.3]
Green Mist, the. Mrs Balfour, in her collection of unusual stories from
Lincolnshire to be found in her 'Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars', gives
us a striking variant of the SEPARABLE SO U L theme, in \vhich a life is
bound up in an external object. It was told her by an old man of Lindsey
and is presented in full dialect, like her other stories. This summary is
taken from K. M. Briggs, A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English
Language (Part A, vol. 1). Examples of the dialect are given in the
STRANGERS.
In the old days, the 'car-folk', as the people of the Fens were known,
had many strange ways and words to keep danger from them, and to
bring good luck. In the churches the priests would sing their services,
but the old people set more store by the old ways that the priest knew
nothing about.
In the winter the BOGLES and such had nothing but evil to do, but
in the spring the earth had to be \Vakened and many strange words were
spoken that the people did not understand themselves: they would turn
a mould in each field, and every morning at first dawn they would stand
in the doorway with SALT and BREAD in their hands waiting for the
Green Mist to creep up which meant that spring had come. There was
one family that had done all that had to be done year after year, and yet
for all that, one winter heavy sorrow came on them, for the daughter,
who had been the prettiest lass in the village, grew so pining and sickly,
that at last she could not stand upon her feet. But she thought if she
could greet the spring again she would live. Day after day they carried
her out to watch, but the wintry weather held on, and at length she said
to her mother: 'If the Green Mist doesna come tomorrow, I can stay no
longer. The earth is calling me and the seeds are bursting that will cover
me, but if I could only live as long as one of those cowslips that grow by
Green Sleeves 202
the door each spring, I swear I'd be content.' The mother hushed her,
for she did not know who might hear; the air was full of listeners in those
days. But the next day the Green Mist came, and the girl sat in the sun,
and crumbled the bread in her thin fingers, and laughed with joy; and as
the spring went on she grew stronger and prettier every day that the sun
shone, though a cold daycouldmakeherwhiteand shiveryasever,and when
the cowslips flowered she grew so strange and beautiful that they almost
feared her. But she would never let her mother pluck a cowslip. But one
day a lad came to her cottage, and he plucked a cowslip and played with
it as they chatted. She did not sec what he had done till he said goodbye,
and she saw the cowslip lying on the earth.
'Did thee pull that cowslip?' she said, and her hand went to her head.
'Aye,' he said, and stooped and gave it to her, thinking what a pretty
lass she was.
She took it from him and stood looking round the garden, and then
she gave a cry and ran into the house. They found her lying on the bed
\Vith the cowslip in her hand, and a11 day long she faded, and next
morning her mother found her lying dead and withered like the withered
flower in her hand.
The bogies had heard her \vish and granted her to live as long as the
cowslips, and fade with the first that was plucked.
[~lotif: E76534]
last was to clear a stable where 200 horses had stood for 200 years, and
recover from it a golden needle lost by Green Sleeves' grandmother
1 ,ooo years before.
Green Sleeves now offered the prince one of his daughters in
marriage. They would have murdered him, but Blue \Ving, by a trick,
again saved him and they fled. Magic cakes hung on their bed delayed
the pursuit, but finally Green Sleeves in seven-leagued boots followed
them. Magic obstacles, a forest, a great rock, and a rushing river,
enabled the prince, directed by Blue Wing, to procure an egg from a
certain bird's nest on top of a high hill. \Vith this egg, aimed at a
special point of his breast, Green Sleeves was slain, and the prince rode
home to procure a fitting escort for his bride before making her known
to his parents. Blue \Ving warned him against being kissed, but a
lap-dog sprang up and licked him, and he forgot her.
Blue Wing hid in a tree above a pool, and two servants of a neigh-
bouring goldsmith, mistaking her reflection for their own, refused,
through pride in their supposed beauty, to serve him any more. Blue
\Ving took their place, and served the goldsmith, until two of his
customers, a prince's groom first, and then the Duke of ~1arlborough
himself, fell in love with her. She tricked them both, by magic, having
promised to sleep with each of thetn for one night, and then kept them
spell-bound to some menial task, and so made her way, as the duke's
partner, to a ball at court. Here, when the dancing was over, and tales
were told and songs sung, Blue \Ving produced a golden cock and hen,
which talked, and reminded the prince of all that had happened.
The new bride to whom he had been promised was dismissed, and
Blue Wing and the prince were married, with all honour and joy, and
lived to see their large family grow up to take their place in due time.
[Types: 313; 425 ~lotifs: OJ6I.I; 0672; 0721; OIJIJ.I; 01521.1;
02004.2.1; 02006.1.1; G465; H151.1; HJJS.O.I; HIOIO; H1102;
H1219.1; N2.0.1)
Grig. Rather a debatable fairy. The Oxfo rd Dictionary gives the word as
meaning a ow ARF or something small, a baby eel, a cricket. There is,
however, a fairly widespread idea that the proverbial expression 'As
merry as a grig' relates to FAIRIES, and in Somerset 'griggling apples'
are the small apples left on the trees for the fairies. Ruth Tongue heard a
story, 'The Grig's Red Cap', from a groom at Stanmore, Harry White, in
1936, and an earlier version of it from the Welsh Marches in 1912.
According to both of these, the grigs were small, merry fairies dressed in
green, with red stocking caps, a costume which could indeed apply to
fairies in a good many places, as, for example, the WEE FOLK in Ireland.
It is possible that the idea of smallness and the expression 'merry as a
grig' built up a kind of pseudo-fairy about the word 'grig'.
(Motifs: F2J6. I .6; F2J6.J.2]
I walke with the owle, and make many to cry as loud as she doth
hollow. Sometimes I doe affright many simple people, for which some
have termed me the Blacke Dog of Newgate. At the meetings of young
men and maydes I many times am, and when they are in the midst of
all their good cheare, I come in, in some feareful shape and affright
them, and then carry away their good cheare, and eat it with my
fellow fayries. 'Tis I that do, like a skritch-owle, cry at sicke men's
windowes, which make the hearers so fearefull, that they say that the
Grindylow 206
sick person cannot live. Many other wayes have I to fright the simple,
but the understanding man I cannot moove to feare, because he
k.nowes that I have no power to do hurt.
My nightly businesse have I told,
To play these trickes I use of old;
When candles burn both blue and dim,
Old folkes will say, Here's fairy Grim.
(Motif: DI812.5.1.12.2]
Gruagachs. Much has been written about the Gruagachs, and out of a
wealth of information from J. F. CAMPBELL and J. G. CAMPBELL, from
Alexander Cartnichael, Donald Mackenzie and Lewis Spence, three
different types of Gruagach seem to emerge. In the Highlands there is
207 Guardian Black Dog, the
the fairy lady dressed in green with long GOLDEN HAIR, sometimes
beautiful and sometimes wan and haggard, who is the guardian of cattle
and is a kind of fairy chatelaine to a farm. Mackenzie is inclined to think
that she is truly a GLAISTIG and that Gruagach, 'the hairy one', is an
epithet attached to her. Like the Glaistig she travelled extensively and
was connected \Vith water. It was her habit to come dripping into houses
and ask to dry herself by the fire. There were also male gruagachs in the
Highlands, some handsome, slender youths wearing green and red, but
for the most part naked and shaggy and performing BRowNIE labours
about the farm \Vhich they patronized. Both kinds had offerings of milk
made to them. In northern Ireland the GRoG AN s followed the brownie
tradition, but in southern Ireland, the Gruagach was a SUPERNATURAL
\VIZARD, often a GIANT after the style of the Wizard in NICHT NAUGHT
NOTHING. A clear account of all these three gruagachs is given by Lewis
Spence in The Fairy Tradition.
(Motifs: F480; F488.1]
Gull. The name of one of the FAIRIES introduced into the LIFE oF
ROBIN GOODFELLOW. He is one of the tricksy fairies, but his name is
not to be found in any of the local traditions. His own account is true
enough to the HOBGOBLIN's habits:
When mortals keep their beds I walke abroad, and for my prankes
am called by the name of Gull. I with a fayned voyse doe often deceive
many men, to their great amazement. Many times I get on men and
women, and soe 1ye on their stomackes, that I cause their great paine,
209 Gwartheg Y Llyn
for which they call me by the name ofHAGGE, or NIGHT-MARE. Tis I
that doe steale children, and in the place of them leave CHANGELINGS.
Sometimes I also steale milke and creame, and then with my brothers,
PATCH, PINCH and GRIM, and sisters, SIB, TIB, LICKE and LULL,
I feast with my stolne goods.
times visit earthly herds with most fortunate results for the farmer. On
one occasion at least a stray fairy cow attached herself to an earthly bull,
and the farmer succeeded in catching her. From that moment his future
was made. The number and quality of the calves born to the stray cow
were unsurpassable. Never was such milk or butter or cheese. The
farmer became the richest man in the countryside. But as years passed
the rich farmer became prouder and more grasping. He began to think
that the stray cow's heyday had passed and that it was time to fatten her
for the market. She was as industrious at fattening as she had been at
breeding or giving milk. Soon she was a prodigy of fatness. The butcher
was called, the neighbours assembled to see the death of the far-famed
cow. The butcher raised his sharp knife; but before the blow could be
struck his arm was paralysed and the knife dropped from his hand . A
piercing scream rang out, and the crowd saw a tall figure in green standing
on the crag above Llyn Barfog. She chanted out in a great voice
'Come thou, Einion's Ycllo'v One,
Stray-horns, the Particoloured Lake Cow,
And the hornless Dodin;
Arise, come home.'
As she sang the stray cow broke loose, and followed by all her progeny,
raced up the mountain-side to the fairy lady. The farmer followed
frantically after them, only to see them surrounding the green lady, who
formed them into ranks and led them down into the dark waters of the
lake. She waved her hand derisively to the farmer, and she and her herd
disappeared into the dark "aters, leaving only a cluster of yellow water-
lilies to mark the place where they had sunk. The farmer became as poor
as he had been rich.
The Highland version of this story is the ELF-BULL, though no lake
maiden appears.
[.l\1otif: F241 .2]
Gwragedd Annwn (gwrageth anoon). Of all the folk fairy tales of Wales,
that of the Lake Maidens who married mortals has had the widest
distribution and the longest life. There are many sinister fairies in Welsh
tradition, but the Welsh water-fairies are not among them. They are
beautiful and desirable, but they are not sirens or nixies. John Rhys
devotes a chapter in Celtic Folk-Lore (Chapter 1) to 'Undine's Kymric
Sisters'. The best-known and the earliest of the stories about the
Gwragen Annwn is the story of the lady of Llyn y Fan Fach, a small
and beautiful lake near the Black Mountains. It happened in the 12th
century that a \vidow with a farm at Blaensawde, near Mydfai, used
to send her only son two miles up the valley to graze their cattle on
the shores of Llyn y Fan Fach. One day, as he was eating his midday
snack, he saw the most beautiful lady he had ever seen, sitting on the
surface of the lake combing the curls of her long GOLDEN HAIR with the
smooth water as her mirror. He was at once fathoms deep in love, and
held out his hands with the bread in them, beseeching her to come to
shore. She looked kindly at him, but said, 'Your bread is baked too hard'
and plunged into the lake. He went back and told his mother what had
happened. She sympathized with him and gave him some unbaked dough
to take next day. That was too soft, so the next day his mother gave him
lightly baked bread. That passed the test, for three figures rose from the
lake: an old man of noble and stately bearing with a beautiful daughter
on each side of him. The old man spoke to the farmer saying that he was
willing to part with his daughter if the young man could point out to
him the one on w horn his love was set. The fairy ladies were as like as
two peas, and the farmer \vould have given it up in despair if one of them
had not slightly moved her foot so that he recognized the distinctive
lacing of her sandal and made the right choice. The fairy father gave her
a dowry of as many cattle as she could count in a breath - and she
counted quickly- but warned her future husband that he must treat her
kindly, and if he gave her three causeless blows she and her dowry would
be lost to him for ever. They married and were very happy, and had
three beautiful boys, but she had strange, fairy-like ways; she fell some-
times into a kind of trance, she was apt to weep when other people
rejoiced, as at weddings, and to laugh and sing when other people were
mourning) as at a child-funeral, and these peculiarities were the cause of
his giving her three causeless blows, mere love-taps but a breach of the
TABOO, so that she was forced to leave him, taking with her all her cattle
Gwydion 212
and their descendants, even to the slaughtered calf hanging against the
wall. She did not forget her three sons, however, for she visited them and
taught them deep secrets of medicine so that they became the famous
physicians of Mydfai, and the skill descended in their family until it died
out in the 19th century. This tale Rhys reproduced from The Physicians
of Mydfai by Rees of Tonn, but he also recorded variations of it from
oral collections, adding fresh details in some versions, though some
were rudimentary. Wirt Sikes in British Goblins tells the same story in
considerable detail, but without giving his source, as Rhys is careful to
do. In all the stories the taboo is, in the end, violated and the fairy dis-
appears, just as the wedded SEAL MAIDENS regain their skins and return
to their element.
(Motifs: F241 .2; FJOO; FJ02.2]
Gwydion (gwideeon). The \VIZARD and Bard of North Wales, who was
the son of the Welsh goddess, DON, the equivalent of the Irish DANA.
Don had three children: Gwydion the \Vizard, Gofannon the Smith, and
a daughter Arianrhod, the mother of Llew. In the lv1abinogi of Math ab
A1athonWJ', Math and Gwydion make a bride for Llew - Blodeuwed, the
flower-like - who fell in love with another man and betrayed Llew to his
death. In the ~iABINOGION, Gwydion performed many works of magic
against the men of southern \Vales.
Gyl Burnt-tayl. A jocular name for a female \VILL o' THE WISP. She
is to be found in Gayton's Festivious Notes (1654). She is mentioned by
Gillian Edwards in Hobgoblin and Sweet Puck, who considers that ']ill'
was generally used as a slightly opprobrious term, in the sense of a flirt
or a \Vanton. Perhaps it was more usually a rustic name, as in 'Jack shall
have JilP.
[Motif: F491]
Gyre-Carling. The name given to the Queen of the Fairies in Fife. She
seems to be a spinning fairy like HABETROT, for]. E. Simpkins in County
Folk-Lore (vol. vu) quotes Jamieson's Dictionary:
Superstitious females in Fife, are anxious to spin off all the flax that
is on their rocks, on the last night of the year; being persuaded that if
they left any unspun, the Gyre-Carling, or - as they pronounce the
\vord - the Gy-carlin, would carry it off before morning.
It is still considered unlucky to leave a piece of knitting unfinished at
the end of the year, but this is not now with any reference to the Gyre-
Carling.
few feet of lumpy, uneven thread. \Vhen it grew dark she cried herself to
sleep. She woke up on a glorious morning, looked at her wretched stint,
and despaired. 'I can do no good here,' she thought, 'I'll away oot into
the caller air., She wandered here and there down the st rcan1 and at last
sat down on a SELF-BORLO STONE and burst into tears. She had heard
no one come near, but when she looked up there was an old wife beside
her, plying her spindle busily and pulling out her thread with a lip that
seemed made for that very purpose. 'fhe lass was a friendly wee thing,
and she wished the old wife a kind good n1orning. 1' hen like the bairn
she was she asked, '\Vhit way are ye sac lang lipit, gudewife?' '\Vith
drawing the thread, ma hinnie,' said the old wife, well pleased with her.
'That's what I sud be doing,' said the lassie,' but it's a' nac gude.' And she
told the old wife her story. 'Fetch me yir lint, and I'll hac it spun up in
gude time,' said the kind old wife; and the lassie ran hotnc and fetched it.
'What's yir name, gudcwifc?, she asked, 'and whaur \V ill I get it?' But
the old wife took the lint without answering - and was nowhere. '!'he girl
sat down, thoroughly bewildered, and waited. Presently the hot sun made
her drowsy, and she fell asleep. 'fhe sun was setting when she woke, and
she heard a whirring sound and voices singing coining from under her
head. She put her eye to the self-bored stone and beneath her she saw a
great cavern, with a nurnber of queer old wives sitting spinning in it, each
on a white marble stone, rounded in the river, called a 'colludie stone'.
They all had long, long lips, and her friend of that morning was walking
up and down among them, directing them all, and as the lassie peeped
in she heard her say, 'Little kcns the wee lassie on the brae-hcad that
Habetrot is my name.' There \vas one spinner sitting a little apart from
the rest who was uglier than all of then1. Habetrot went up to her and
said: 'Bundle up the yarn, SCANT LIE MAB, for it's time the wee lassie
sud gie it to her l\1innie.' .i\t that the lassie kne\\' that it was time for her
to be at the cottage door, and she got up and hurried home. She met
Habetrot just outside, who gave her seven beautiful hanks of yarn. 'Oh
whit can I dae for ye in return?' she cried. ' 1 aething, naething,' said
Habetrot, 'but dinna tell yer mither whae spun the yarn.'
The lassie "'ent into the cottage treading on air but famished with
hunger, for she had eaten nothing since the day before. Her mother " 'as
in the box-bed fast asleep, for she had been hard at \Vork making black
puddings, 'sausters, they called them round there, and had gone to bed
early. The lassie spread out her yarn so that her mother could see it when
she waked, then she ble\V up the fire, took down the frying-pan and fried
the first sauster and ate it, then the second, then the third, and so on till
she had eaten all seven. Then she \Vent up the ladder to bed.
The mother was awake first in the morning. There she saw seven
beautiful skeins of yarn spread out, but not a trace of her seven sausters
except a black frying-pan. Half-distracted between joy and anger, she
rushed out of the house singing:
215 11 'hl't rot
' J\la d.tughHr's ~pun Sl''<n, sc.\ n, sc.'<n,
f\ lt d.tughtc.r'=' l'.ltl'll sl\ n, sl'tu, sc.\ n
1\nd all bdt H'l' l.1ylight 1
1\nd who should c.otlll' riding :tlong hut thl ' Otl1tg l.tird hintsdt: \Vh.tt's
that 'ou'n: l'l' 'tng loodwih. ?' hl s.lid, nnc.l slw s.utg out ng.tiu :
' la dnu htlr's s pun Sl\n, ~a\u, sc.\ n,
1\ \a daughttr's l',\lt.'tl sc.\n, sl\ n, Sl' \ u,
an' if ' l' don't hdkvl' nu-, on\t' :tn I Sl' C.' fot ' 'c.'t sdl'
' l'htlairc.f foltt>Wl'd hl'l' into thl' hO\lSl', ~ltlc.f Wl \(' ll Ill' S,\W the. Sl\\Oo flttll'SS
~utd l'Vl'tltll'SS of tht sktins, he wantc.:c.l to s r tl w s p i tllll' t' uf tlwttt, .nul
\Vhl'tl ht saw tht l'onu v l.ts~, ht askc.c.l hc."'r tu lw his wife.-.
"'
' l'ht luirc.l w.ts handsontc. an 1 hr.tw, nuc.l tin l.tss w.as gl.tl to s.ty 'c.' s,
but thlrc wns one thing that t rouhlc.d hc.ao, t lw l.tit 1 kr pt t.tlking of .tll t h
fine 'arn shl would hl spinning feu hi tu tfttr t h wtddtng. So Hilt'
cvt~ning t lu. l.tssil went c.lown to the. sl'l f-1 orr d st on .and c.d k 1 on
I labt.trot. llaht.trot kntw wh.tt htr troubk woulc.llw, but she. s:tic.l, ~ l'\'c.'t'
hcld, hinni ', bring 'our jo ht.n and Wl'll sort it for ye..' So nl'xt tught :tl
sunset the p.tir ofthc.tu stooc.l at the. sd{:.honc.l stcut "' anc.l hc.-.trc.lll.thc.trot
singing, and at tht. c.nd ofth song slw optncd a hiddtn c.lt or and kt tlwtn
into the tllO\ItHf. ' l'lll' lainl WaS astonishnl al :tit t h ' SlmprS of c.l c fot'tllit '
he saw bdtH"l' hin\ aud askl'd :aloud wh ' thtil' lips wc.n so distot tcd . >uc.
after anothl'l' thly ntuth.'r(d in hardl ' int~.' lli g ihlt tonc.s, '\Vith sp-sp-
--
..
r
Hagge, the 216
spinning.'' Aye, aye, they were once bonnie eneugh,' said Habetrot, 'but
spinners aye gan of that gait. Yer own lassie 'ill be the same, bonnie
though she is noo, for she's fair mad about the spinning.' 'She'll not!'
said the laird. 'Not another spindle shall she touch from this day on!'
'Just as ye say, laird,' said the lassie; and from that day on she roamed
the countryside with the laird or rode about behind him as blithe as a
bird, and every head of lint that grew on their land went to old Habet rot
to sptn.
This pleasant version of Grimm's tale of 'The Three Spinners' is
more than a mere folk-tale, for Habctrot was really believed to be the
patroness of spinners, and it was seriously held that a shirt made by her
was a sovereign remedy for all sorts of diseases. It is strange that so many
of these spinning fairies had names ending in 'trot', 'throt' or 'tot'.
There is TRYTEN-A-TROTEN, G\VARYN-A-THROT and TOM TIT TOT.
Habetrot, however, is not sinister like the others, though the over-
hearing of her name suggests a similar motif which somehow got overlaid.
[Type: 501. Motifs: D2183; F271.4.3; F346; G20l.I; H914; H1092; JSI)
Hags. Ugly old 'vomen who had given themselves over to witchcraft
were often called 'hags', but there were thought to be supernatural hags
as 'vell, such as those who haunted the Fen country in Mrs Balfour's
story of the DEAD ~100N; and giant-like hags 'vhich seem to have been
the last shadows of a primitive nature goddess, the CAILLEACH BHEUR,
BLACK ANNIS or GENTLE ANNIE.
[Motif: A125.1]
Hairy Jack. The name given to one of the Lincolnshire BLAcK DoGs
of the BARGUEST type. This particular barguest haunted an old barn
near Willoughton Cliff, and others of the same breed were said to haunt
lonely plantations and waste places. Mrs Gutch, after mentioning Hairy
Jack in County Folk-Lore (vol. v), cites from Notes and Queries the legend
of a lame old man who was reputed to turn himself into a black dog and
bite cattle. One neighbour claimed to have seen the transformation from
dog to man.
[Motifs: D141; F234.1.9]
. ....
219 Henkies
'quick', rise upright, and shuffle away before her, till at last it vanished
from her sight with a laugh and shout. Again, in the shape of a favourite
cow, the sprite \vould lead the milkmaid a long chase round the field,
and after kicking and routing during milking-time would upset the
pail, slip clear of the tie, and vanish with a loud laugh. Indeed the
'Kow' must have been a great nuisance in a farmhouse, for it is said
to have constantly imitated the voice of the servant-girl's lovers, over-
turned the kail-pot, given the cream to the cats, unravelled the knitting,
or put the spinning-wheel out of order. But the sprite made himself
most obnoxious at the birth of a child. He \Vould torment the man who
rode for the howdie, frightening the horse, and often making him upset
both messenger and howdie, and leave them in the road. Then he
would mock the gudewife, and, when her angry husband rushed out
with a stick to drive away the 'Kow' from the door or window, the
stick \Vould be snatched from him, and lustily applied to his O\Vn
shoulders.
T\vo adventures with the Hedley Ko\v are thus related.
A farmer named Forster, who lived near Hedley, went out into the
field one morning, and caught, as he believed, his own grey horse. After
putting the harness on, and yoking him to the cart, Forster was about
to drive off, when the creature slipped away from the limmers 'like a
knotless thread', and set up a great nicker as he flung up his heels and
scoured away, revealing himself clearly as the Hedley Kow. Again,
two young men ofNewlands, near Ebchester, \Vent out one evening to
meet their sweethearts; and arriving at the trysting-place, saw them, as
it appeared, a short distance before them. The girls walked on for two
or three miles; the lads followed, quite unable to overtake them, till
at last they found themselves up to the knees in a bog, and their
beguilers vanished, with a loud Ha! ha! The young men got clear of
the mire and ran homewards, as fast as they could, the bogie at their
heels hooting and mocking them. In crossing the Derwent they fell into
the water, mistook each other for the sprite, and finally reached home
separately, each telling a fearful tale of having been chased by the
Hedley Kow, and nearly drowned in the Derwent.
[Type: 1415 (distant variant). Motifs: E423(b); F234.o.2; F234.3;
F399.4; F402.1.1; 1346]
Henkies. One name given to the TRO\VS of Orkney and Shetland. Like
many of the Scandinavian and Celtic FA 1R1ES they had one of the
DEFECTS OF THE FAIRIES by \Vhich they could be recognized, and these
Shetland trows limped or 'henked' as they danced. John Spence, in
Shetland Folk-Lore (p. 39), quotes a pathetic little song which illustrates
the use of the word. It was sung by a little trow-wife who could find no
partner in the dance.
Herla's Rade 220
Hinky-Punk. One of the many names for WILL o' THE WISP. It occurs
on the Somerset-Devon borders. In appearance it seems to be something
like the Highland DIREACH, for it was described to Ruth Tongue by
members of the Dulverton Women's Institute as having 'one leg and a
light, and led you into bogs'.
(Motif: F491]
Hob, or Hobthrust 222
Hob, or llobthrust. Hob is the general name for a tribe of kindly,
beneficent and occasionally mischievous spirits to which the BRO\VNIE
belongs. They are generally to be found in the North Country or northern
Midlands. William Hcnderson in Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties
(p. 264) mentions a localized hob who lived in a hobhole in a natural
cave in Runswick Day near 1-lartlepool. 1-lis speciality was the cure of
\vhooping-cough. Parents would bring their sick children into the cave
and whisper:
'Hobhole Hob! Hob hole 1lob!
M a bairns gotten t, kink cough,
Tak't off, tak't off.,,
and vanished for ever. Another brownie-like hob, '"ho \Vorked at a farm
in Danb), seems to have been dissatisfied with the quality of the clothes
provided for him, for his r hyn1e ran:
'Gin Hob mun hae nowght but Harding hamp,
He'll come nae mair to berry nor stan1p.'
IV1any tales of Hob and Hobthrust are reproduced by ~1rs Gutch in
County Folk-Lore (vol. n), among them the story of the hempen shirt told
of Hart Hall in Glaisdale, and several versions of 'Aye, George, we're
Flitting', generally told of a BOGGART. There is also a tale of a hobthrust
who lived in a cave called Hobthrust Hall and used to leap from there to
Carlow Hill, a distance of half a mile. He worked for an innkeeper named
'Veighall for a nightly \Vage of a large piece of bread and butter. One
night his meal 'vas not put out and he left for ever. l\1rs Gutch derives
'Hobthrust' from 'Hob-i-t' -hurst ',but Gillian Edwards in Hobgoblin and
Sweet Puck maintains that it should more properly be derived from 'Hob
223 Hobyahs
Thurse', an Old English word 'thyrs' or 'thurs' for a GIANT ofheathen
mythology and in Middle English used, as PUCK or 'Pouk' was, for the
Devil. If this be so, the friendly prefix of' hob' draws some of the sting.
Mrs Gutch and Henderson use HOBMEN as the generic name for the
\vhole race of Hobs. They were very nearly as various as, though less
sinister than, the great tribe of the Highland FUATH.
[Motif: F381 .3]
Hobgoblin. Used by the Puritans and in later times for wicked goblin
spirits, as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul fiend', but its more correct
use is for the friendly spirits of the BRO\VNIE type. In a MIDSUMMER
NIGHT's DREAM a fairy says to Shakespeare's PUCK:
'Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their \vork, and they shall have good luck:
Are you not he ?'
and obviously Puck would not wish to be called a hobgoblin if that was
an ill-omened word. 'Hob' and 'Lob' are \vords meaning the same kind
of creature as the Hobgoblin, and more information will be found about
these under HOB, OR HOBTHRUST and LOBS AND HOBS.
Hobgoblins and their kind do not strictly belong to the TROOPING
FAIRIES, nor yet to demons and GOBLINS, though WILL 0' THE WISPS
and other tricksy spirits can be included in this category. They are, on
the whole, good-humoured and ready to be helpful, but fond of practical
joking, and like most of the FAIRIES rather nasty people to annoy.
BOGGARTS hover on the verge of hobgoblindom. BOGLES are just over
the edge.
[Motif: F470]
Hobmen. The generic name for all the various types of LOBS AND
HOBS, to which ROBIN GOODFELLOW, ROBIN ROUNDCAP, PUCK, the
LUBBARD FIEND, PIXIES, the Irish PHOOKA, the Highland GRUAGACH,
the Manx FENODEREE, the North Country SILKIES, KILLMOULIS and
many others belong. Even BOGGARTS and the various forms of WILL o'
THE \VISP may be described as hobmen.
..'
,.
,
.,.. ..'' ./ ...r
...
-.....
=w._-.
~
-
frightening U RSERY BOGIE talc, of the sa1ne type as '''I he Old 1an in
1
the \Vhite }louse', but there is no sign that the hobyahs were objects of
real belief.
Holy water. One of the chief protections against FAIRY THEFTS, spells
or ill-wishing. See also PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES.
Hounds of the Hill, the. A name sometimes used in English for the
hunting-dogs of the FA 1 R 1ES who live in the hollow hills. As FA 1R Y
DOGS they are distinct from the GABRIEL HOUNDS, the DEVIL'S DANDY
DOGS and other spectral packs whose duty it is to hunt souls rather than
fairy deer. The Hounds of the Hill are generally described as wbite with
red ears rather than dark green like the cu SITH described by ]. G.
Howlaa
CAMPBELL. Ruth Tongue, in Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English
Counties, reports an anecdote heard in Cheshire in 1917 and again in
1970 about a Hound of the Hill befriended by a young labourer. It was
the size of a calf with a rough \Vhite coat and red ears. Its paws seemed
sore, and the boy treated them with wet dock-leaves. ome time later,
going through a haunted wood, he was attacked by a spectral goat and
rescued by the hound. The episode has a Highland rather than a \Velsh
flavour.
Hunt, Robert (b.1790). Hunt \vrote the Preface to the third edition
of Popular Romances of the fVest of England in 1881. The book had first
been published in 1865, but it was the fruit of long collection. f-Ie gives
some account of this in the introduction to the first edition:
The green hill opened, and the pair 'vent into a fine chamber.
Paudyeen never saw before a gathering like that which was in the
Doon. The 'vhole place was full up of little people, men and women,
young and old. They all \velcomcd little Donal - that was the name of
the piper - and Paudyeen O'Kelly. The king and queen of the fairies
came up to them, and said:
'\Ye are all going on a visit to-night to Cnoc Mat ha, to the high king
and queen of our people.'
They all rose up then and 'vent out. There " 'ere horses ready for
each one of them and the coash-t'J'a bower for the king and the queen.
The king and queen got into the coach, each man leaped on his own
horse, and be certain that Paudyeen was not behind. The piper went
out before them and began playing them music, and then off and away
with them. It was not long till they came to Cnoc ~1atha. The hill
opened and the king of the fairy host passed in.
Finvara and Nuala "ere there, the arch-king and queen of the fairy
host of Connacht, and thousands of little persons. Finvara came up
and said:
'We are going to play a hurling match to-night against the fairy host
of Munster, and unless we beat them our fame is gone for ever. The
match is to be fought out on Moytura, under Slieve Belgadaun.'
229 Hyde, Douglas
The Connacht host cried out: 'We are all ready, and we have no
doubt but we'll beat them.'
'Out with ye all,' cried the high king; 'the men of the hill of Nephin
will be on the ground before us.'
They all went out, and little Donal and twelve pipers more before
them, playing melodious music. When they came to Moytura, the
fairy host of Munster and the fairy men of the hill of Nephin were
there before them. Now, it is necessary for the fairy host to have two
live men beside them when they are fighting or at a hurling-match,
and that was the reason that little Donal took Paddy O'Kelly with him.
There was a man they called the 'Yellow Stongirya ', with the fairy
host of Munster, from Ennis, in the County Clare.
It was not long till the two hosts took sides; the ball \vas thrown up
between them, and the fun began in earnest. They \vere hurling away,
and the pipers playing music, until Paudyeen O'Kelly saw the host of
Munster getting the strong hand, and he began helping the fairy host
of Connacht. The Stongirya came up and he made at Paudyeen
O'Kelly, but Paudyeen turned him head over heels. From hurling the
two hosts began at fighting, but it was not long until the host of
Connacht beat the other host. Then the host of Munster made flying
beetles of themselves, and they began eating every green thing that
they came up to. They \vere destroying the country before them until
they came as far as Cong. Then there rose up thousands of doves out
of the hole, and they swallowed down the beetles. That hole has no
other name until this day but Pull-na-gullam, the dove's hole.
There was great zest about this game, but it seems it had something in
common with modern cricket's test matches.
[Motif: F267]
Hyde, Douglas (x86o-1949). The first of the Irish folklorists to pursue
the fully scholarly methods of research initiated by J. F. CAMPBELL. In
his collection of folk-tales, Beside the Fire, he puts the Irish and the
English on alternate pages for the first time in an Irish folk-tale book.
His introduction was a most scholarly piece of work, criticizing keenly
but not unkindly the work of his predecessors, and noticing particularly
the handicap under which Lady WILDE laboured in knowing no Irish,
and strongly advising all collectors to take careful note of the source of
their tales. Dr Hyde was the founder of the Irish League to promote the
study of Irish Gaelic. He was a close collaborator with YEATS and Lady
Gregory in their Irish renaissance, and was elected Ireland's first Presi-
dent in 1938. The tales he reproduces in Beside the Fire were more of
ghosts and witchcraft than of FAIRIES, but 'Guleesh' is a notable story
of FAIRY LEVITATION and of the rescue of a mortal CAPTIVE IN
FAIRYLAND. lt also illustrates the DEPENDENCE OF FAIRIES ON
MORT ALS for certain activities.
Hyter sprites 230
Hyter sprites. Lincolnshire and East Anglian fairies. They arc small
and sandy-coloured with green eyes, like the FERIERS of Suffolk.
They assume the bird form of sand martins. They are grateful for human
kindnesses, and stern critics of ill-behaviour. Ruth Tongue has permitted
an otherwise unpublished story about the Hyter Sprites to appear in
Part B of A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales. It is a talc traditional in her
family. She also reports that the Hyter Sprites have been known to bring
home lost children, like the G H 1L L 1E oH u of the Highlands.
[tv1otif: F2J943]
Ignis Fatuus. This, \Vhich literally means 'the foolish fire', is tradition-
ally called \VILL o' THE WISP, but has many other names and is given
several origins. Mrs Wright in Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore gives a long,
but not exhaustive, list: corp-candle or dead-candle (see CORPSE-
CANDLE) when it is regarded as a death omen, and more generally:
Billy-wi'-t'-wisp (West Yorkshire), Hobbledy's-lantern (Warwickshire,
Worcestershire, Gloucestershire), Hobby-lantern (Worcestershire, Hert-
fordshire, East Anglia, Hampshire, Wiltshire, west Wales), Jack-a-
lantern (see JACKY LANTERN), Jenny-burnt-tail (Northamptonshire,
Oxfordshire), Jenny-wi'-t'-lantern (Northumberland, North Yorkshire),
JOAN-IN-THE-\VAD or Joan-the-\vad (Somerset, Cornwall), Kit-in-the-
Candlestick (Hampshire) (see KIT \VITH THE CANSTICK), Kitty-candle-
stick (Wiltshire), Kitty-wi'-the-\visp (Northumberland), the Lantern-man
(East Anglia), Peg-a-lantern (Lancashire), PINKET (Worcestershire). To
these may be added FRIAR RUSH, GYL BURNT-TAYLE, HINKY PUNK,
SP UNKIES, PUCK or Pouk and ROBIN GOODFELLOW, who also amused
themselves with Will-o'-the-Wisp pranks at times. Various legends
account for the Ignis Fatuus. Sometimes it is thought to be a tricksy
BOGGART, and where it is called 'Hobbledy's lantern', this is plainly so;
sometimes it is ghostly in origin, a soul who for some sin could not rest.
For instance, a man who had moved his neighbour's landmarks would be
doomed to haunt the area with a flickering light. In Shropshire, Will the
Smith, after being given a second spell of life by St Peter, spent it in such
wickedness that he was debarred both from Heaven and Hell. The most
the Devil would do for him was to give him a piece of burning pit coal
to warm himself, with which he flickers over boggy ground to allure poor
wanderers to their death. In other versions of the tale, the smith tricks
the Devil into a steel purse, in which he so hammers him that the Devil
dare not admit him into Hell, but in this version the smith tricks his way
into Heaven. In the Lincolnshire fen country, the WILL o' THE WYKES
are BOGLES, intent upon nothing but evil.
[Motifs: F369.7; F4o2.1.1; F491; F491.1]
by Ruth Tongue in CotJnty Folklore (vol. VIII, p. 115). See also FAULTS
CONDEMNED BY THE FAIRIES; VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE FAIRIES.
lna Pie Winna. In County Folklore (vol. VIII), Ruth Tongue records
some of the local fishcrn1en's superstitions. The most interesting is that
about Ina Pie \Vinna.
At \Vorle, when the fishermen go down to sea, they each put a white
stone on the cairn or 'fairy mound' on the hillside and say,
' I na pie \Vinna
Send me a good dinner.'
And more times than not they come [back] with a load of fish.
This v.-as told her by a \\"eston-super-1\1are fisherman.
[1\Jlotif: F4o6]
Iron. Cold iron repels FAIRIES. A knife, or a CROSS of iron, arc sovereign
protections against witchcraft and evil n1agic of all kinds. A pair of open
scissors hung above a child's cradle is said to protect it from being carried
off by the fairies. It is a dual protection because it is in the form of a
cross, and is also made of steeL Sec also PROTECTION AGAINST
FAIRIES.
[Motif: F382. 1]
The woman of peace \Vould come back every day with the kettle and
flesh and bones in it. On a day that was there, the housewife was for
going over the ferry to Baile a Chaisteil, and she said to her man,
'If thou wilt say to the \VOman of peace as I say, I will go to Baile
Castle.' 'Oo! I will say it. Surely it's I that will say it.' He was spinning
a heather rope to be set on the house. He saw a woman coming and a
shadow from her feet, and he took fear of her. He shut the door. He
stopped his work. When she came to the door she did not find the door
open, and he did not open it for her. She went above a hole that was
in the house. The kettle gave t\vo jumps, and at the third leap it went
out at the ridge of the house. The night came, and the kettle came not.
The \vife came back over the ferry, and she did not see a bit of the
kettle within, and she asked, 'Where was the kettle?' 'Well then I
don't care where it is,' said the man; 'I never took such a fright as I
took at it. I shut the door, and she did not come any more with it.'
'Good-for-nothing wretch, what didst thou do? There are two that
will be ill off- thyself and I.' 'She will come tomorrow with it.' 'She
will not come.'
She hasted herself and she went a way. She reached the knoll, and
there was no man within. It was after dinner, and they \Vere out in the
mouth of the night. She went in. She saw the kettle, and she lifted it
with her. It was heavy for her with the remnants that they left in it.
When the old carle that was within saw her going out, he said,
Jacky Lantern. Another of the numerous names for WILL o' THE
wIsP, generally found in the West Country.
(Motifs: F491; F491.1]
In the course of the thirteen verses, all the Puckish activities are covered.
As for the DIM~INUTIVE FAIRIES, the descent to triviality is well seen
in Drayton's Nimphidia. The fairies in a ~uosu~t~tER NIGHT's DREA~t
are small, but they are still formidable. Their dissensions affect the
seasons, they have power over the unborn offspring of mortals; they can
bless and ban. Though they are small, they can assume human size and
they have the power of rapid motion. \Ve have only to compare this with
Drayton's flustered, frustrated OBERON and the little ladies of ~tAB's
court, bustling about tearing their tiny ruffs and dropping their little
gloves. The \vhole pleasure in them is in their littleness. It is a court
intrigue through a minifying-glass. HERR I cK's fairies are in the same
vein, with a hint of scurrility about them which reminds us that the
fairies were fertility spirits.
239 Jefferies, An.ne
Towards the end of the 17th century, we reach the nadir of the
fairies' powers with the Duchess of Newcastle's fairies, who are no bigger
than microbes. Mter that, we have to wait for the Romantic revival and
the rebirth of folklore.
The fairies afterwards told her they heard her well enough, and would
run from frond to frond of the fern as she was searching. In the end they
decided to show themselves.
Anne was knitting one day in a little arbour just outside the garden
gate when she heard a rustling among the branches as if someone was
peeping at her. She thought it was her sweetheart and took no notice.
There was silence for a while, except for the click of her needles; then
the branches rustled again and there was a suppressed laugh. Anne said
rather crossly, 'You may stay there till the cuney grows on the gate ere
I'll come to 'ee.' Immediately there was a tinkling sound and a ringing,
musical laugh. Anne was frightened, for she knew it was not her sweet-
heart's, but she stayed where she was, and presently she heard the garden
gate open and shut gently, and six little men appeared in the arbour.
The) were very beautiful, all dressed in green and with the brightest of
eyes. The grandest of them had a red feather in his cap and spoke to her
lovingly. She put her hand down to him. He jumped on to her palm and
she lifted him up on to her lap and he clambered up to her bosom and
began kissing her neck. She was perfectly charmed with the little gentle-
man's love-making and sat there in ecstasy until he called his five
companions and they swarmed up her skirts and dress and began to kiss
her chin and checks and lips, and one put his hands over her eyes. , he
felt a sharp pricking and everything was dark. Then she was lifted into
the air and carried she knew not where, until she felt herself set down,
and someone said, 'Tear! tear!' Her eyes were opened again and she
found herself in a gorgeous fairyland.
She ''as surrounded by ten1ples and palaces of gold and silver; there
were trees covered ''ith fruit and flowers, lakes full of golden and silver
fish and bright-coloured birds singing all around. Hundreds of splendidly
dressed people '':ere walking in the gardens or dancing and sporting or
reposing themselves in flowery arbours. Anne herself was dressed as
finely as any of them. To her surprise they seemed no longer small, but
of human size. Anne could have stayed forever in that happy place. She
was surrounded and courted by her six friends, but the finest of them
still made her his prime favourite, and presently they managed to steal
away together and were in the height of happiness when there was a
clamour, and her five followers broke in on them, followed by an angry
crowd. Her lover drew his sword to protect her, but he was wounded and
fell at her feet. The fairy who had first blinded her put his hands over her
eyes again. She 'vas '"hirled up into the air with a great humming, and
at length regained her sight to find herself lying on the floor of the arbour
surrounded by anxious friends.
Anne never revisited Fairyland, but the fairies did not \vithdraw their
favours. They were with her constantly (though no one else could see
them), and nourished her '"ith FAIRY FOOD. Moses Pitt says in his
letter:
Jefferies, Anne
She forsook eating our victuals, and was fed by these fairies from that
harvest time to the next Christmas-day; upon which day she came to
our table and said, because it was that day, she would eat some roast
beef with us, the which she did- I myself being then at the table.
He adds later that Anne 'gave me a piece of her bread, which I did eat,
and I think it was the most delicious bread that ever I did eat, either
before or since'.
Mter her illness, Anne became very fervent in her devotions, though
it was the church Prayer Book that she wished to hear, for she was a
fervent Episcopalian and all her prophecies were of ultimate victory to
the king. People resorted to her for cures from Lands End to London,
and her prophecies had great vogue. It was these even more than her
dealings with the fairies which caused her to be prosecuted. She was
arrested in 1646 at the suit of John Tregeagle, who was to attain a post-
humous supernatural reputation as the Demon Tregeagle, some stories
of whom Hunt also tells. He committed her to prison and gave orders
that she was not to be fed, but she made no complaints and continued in
good health. In 1647, the Clarendon Correspondence notes, she is
detained in the house of the Mayor of Bodmin and is still not fed. In the
end she was released, \vent into service with a widowed aunt of Moses
Pitt and married a labourer named William Warren.
Moses Pitt was a printer in London when he published the letter to
the Bishop of Gloucester, and since he could not himself visit Anne
Jefferies, he sent an old friend, Mr Humphrey Martin, to whose little
daughter Anne had once given a silver cup from the fairies, to confirm
her account of her fairy experience. She would tell him nothing. He
wrote:
As for Anne Jefferies, I have been with her the greater part of one
day, and did read to her all that you wrote to me; but she would not
own anything of it, as concerning the fairies, neither of any of the cures
that she did. She answered, that if her own father were now alive, she
would not discover to him those things which did happen then to her.
I asked her the reason why she would not do it; she replied, that if she
should discover it to you, that you would make books or ballads of it;
and she said she would not have her name spread about the country
in books or ballads of such things, if she might have five hundred
pounds for it.
Poor Anne had no desire to suffer again the things she had suffered at
Justice Tregeagle's hands.
The subject-matter of Anne's delusion, the type of fairies that occurred
to her, are of great interest. In this remote part of Cornwall, not fifty
years after the first performance of a MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM, we
have an illiterate country girl building up a courtly Fairyland of
Jenny Greenteeth
DIMINUTIVE FAIRIES with all the minuteness and amorousness of the
fairies in Shakespeare, Drayton and HERRICK. It is clear that the poets
built on a real country tradition.
(Motifs: F2J53; F2J6. I .6; F23943; Fz8z; FJOI; FJ20; FJ29.2;
FJ4J.I9; FJ70)
Jenny Pertnuen. The heroine of HUNT's story, 'The FAIRY \VIDO\VER ',
a rather less detailed and interesting version of 'CHERRY OF ZEN NOR'.
Joan the Wad. One of the local and obscure types of IGNIS FATUUS,
and, though she has lately been publicized as one of the Cornish
PISKIES, we O\Ve our knowledge of her to Jonathan Couch's History of
Polperro. She has, however, the distinction of being invoked in a rhyme:
'Jacky Lantern, Joan the Wad ... '. From her tickling habits it seems
likely, as Couch claimed, that she was a pisky, and the probability is that,
if properly invoked, she and JACKY LANTERN would lead travellers
aright instead of misleading them.
[Motif: F491]
243 'Kate Crackemuts'
Joint-eater. The name given by KIRK to what the Irish call 'Alp-
Luachra'; but, according to Kirk, this Joint-eater is a kind of fairy who
sits invisibly beside his victim and shares his food with him. In The
Secret Conzmonwealth (p. 71) he says:
They avouch that a Heluo, or Great-eater, hath a voracious Elve to
be his attender, called a Joint-eater or Just-halver, feeding on the Pith
or Qyintessence of \V hat the Man eats; and that therefoir he continues
Lean like a Hawke or Heron, notwithstanding his devouring Appetite.
In Ireland this phenomenon is accounted for by the man having
swallowed a newt when sleeping outside by a running stream. In Douglas
HYDE's Beside the Fire, there is a detailed account of a man infested by
a pregnant Alp-Luachra, and the method by which he was cleared of the
thirteen Alp-Luachra by Mac Dermott the Prince of Coolavin. In all the
stories the method is the same: the patient is forced to eat a great quantity
of salt beef without drinking anything, and is made to lie down with his
mouth open above a stream, and after a long wait the Alp-Luachra will
come out and jump into the stream to quench their thirst. But this is
folk-medicine, not fairy-lore; it is Kirk who attributes the unnatural
hunger to an Elf (see ELVES).
245 Keightley, Thomas
'And his fair lady him behind.' And a door opened in the hillside and let
them in. Kate slipped off and hid behind the open door, but the prince
went in and danced till he fainted with \Veakness. When dawn came he
mounted his horse, and Kate climbed up behind him. Next night she
offered to watch again for a peck of gold, and followed the prince as
before. That night a little fairy boy \Vas playing about among the dancers,
astride of a silver wand. One of the dancers said to him: 'Tak' tent o'
that wand, for one stroke of it would give back the king's Kate her ain
he id again.'
When the queen's Kate heard that she began to roll the nuts she had
gathered out, one by one, from behind the door, till the fairy child laid
down the wand and went after them. Then she snatched it, and carried it
with her when she rode back behind the prince. When the day came, and
she could leave the prince, she ran up to her attic and touched the king's
Kate \Vith the wand, and her O\Vn looks came back to her, bonnier than
ever. The third night Kate \Vatched; but this night she must marry the
prince for her reward. She followed the prince again, and this time the
fairy child was playing with a little dead bird.
'Now mind,' said one of the dancers, 'not to lose that birdie; for three
tastes of it, and the prince \Vould be as well as ever he was.'
When Kate heard that, she rolled out the nuts faster than before, and
the fairy boy laid down the bird and went after them. As soon as they got
home Kate plucked the bird and set it down to the fire to roast. At the
first smell of it the prince sat up in bed and said: 'I could eat that birdie.'
At the third mouthful he \vas as \vell as ever he had been; and he
married Kate Crackernuts, and his brother married the king's Kate, and
Kirk, Robert (1644--92). The author of the fullest and most authoritative
treatise on the fairy-lore of his period; it is, indeed, one of the most
important \\'Orks ever written on the subject. He is unusual, too, in being
a folklorist \vho is the subject of a fairy-tale. Kirk was a Gaelic scholar
and in 1682 he published the first metrical translation of the Psalms into
the Gaelic tongue. This received a great \velcome and made his reputation
in his time, but some time in 1691 he produced a manuscript which \Vas
to give his name a much \vider currency. It was The Secret Commonwealth
of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. The book was not printed till 18rs, reprinted
in 1893, edited, with an introduction, by Andrew Lang. By this time the
manuscript, which had been lodged in the Advocates' Library, had dis-
appeared. Lang's emendations \vere necessarily conjectural. The book
'vas published again in 1933 with a further introduction by Cunninghame
Graham and a reproduction of D. Y. Cameron's painting of 'The Fairy
Knowe at Aberfoyle'. Now, most fortunately, a fuller transcript has
come to light in the Laing Collection in the University of Edinburgh
Library. This has been examined and edited by Stewart Sanderson and
there are plans for its publication. In the meantime, we must content
ourselves with the present editions, supplemented by a delightful paper,
'A Prospect of Fairyland', delivered by Stewart Sanderson to the Folk-
253 Kirk, Robert
lore Society and published in Folklore (vol. 75, Spring 1964). Robert
Kirk had been born at Aberfoyle, where his father \vas minister, and
after twenty-one years of serving as minister at Balquidder, he was called
to Aberfoyle on his father's death. In both places he had an admirable
opportunity of studying the fairy beliefs of the Highlanders, and he
examines them with calm detachment and impartiality, but apparently
with an ultimate conviction of their truth. All aspects of the Highland
fairy-lore are presented in this short treatise, which would be an encyclo-
pedia in little if it \Vere alphabetically arranged. Various theories of the
ORIGIN OF FAIRIES are presented: fairies as the dead, or alternatively
as 'Of a midle Nature betwixt Man and Angel, as were Daemons thought
to be of Old'; ofDEPENDENCE OF FAIRIES UPON MORTALS, shown by
the CQ-WALKER and JOINT-EATER; of FAIRY THEFTS, FAIRY FOOD,
FAIRY CRAFTS, FAIRY LEVITATION, the DRESS AND APPEARANCE OF
THE FAIRIES, ELF-SHOT, FAIRY OINTMENT, CAPTIVES IN FAIRYLAND
and many other aspects of fairy-lore. The whole is written in the
admirable prose of the 17th century:
They are not subject to sore Sicknesses, but dwindle and decay at a
certain Period, all about ane Age. Some say their continual Sadness is
because of their pendulous State, as uncertain what at the last Revolu-
tion will become of them, when they are lock't up into ane unchange-
able Condition; and if they have any frolic Fitts of Mirth, 'tis as the
constrained grinning of a Mort-head, or rather as acted on a Stage,
and moved by another, then cordially comeing of themselves.
Kirk's parishioners evidently felt that he had infringed the TABOO
against spying upon the FAIRIES, for when his body was found beside
the Fairy Knowe at Aberfoyle, it \vas soon whispered around that what
was buried was only a STOCK and that the minister himself was with the
SUBTERRANEANS under the Fairy Kno\ve. In Waiter SCOTT's time the
legend was still current and was recorded by the Reverend P. Grahame,
Minister of Aberfoyle, in his Sketches of Picturesque Scenery in the
Southern Confines of Perthslzire (18o6). Scott reproduces his tale in his
Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. It seems that after his funeral
Robert Kirk appeared to one of his relations in the night-time and told
him to go to Grahame of Duchray with a message from him. He was a
prisoner in Fairyland, but he had one chance of escape. His posthumous
child had just been born, and would be christened at the Manse. At the
christening feast Kirk would appeat, and if Duchray kept his dirk in his
hand and threw it over Kirk's spectral form, he would be disenchanted
and free to enter the mortal world again. Kirk duly appeared, but
Duchray was too startled to fling the dirk and the chance was lost. Never
again could Kirk be father to a 'chrisom' child. However, a tradition
still lingered which gave him a second chance. In the Second World War
an officer's young wife was a tenant of Aberfoyle Manse and was expecting
Kit \vith the Canstick, or candlestick 254
a child. She had been told that if a christening was held at the Manse,
Kirk could still be disenchanted. The chair that was traditionally his still
stood in the dining-room, and if anyone stuck a dirk into the scat of it,
Kirk \Vould be freed. 1"he young \vifc hoped that they would not be
posted before her baby was born. Presumably Kirk would appear only to
crumble into dust, but his soul would have been saved and freed from
the sad n1erriment of Fairyland. As it is, Kirk's story n1ust be numbered
among those tragic talcs of the unrescued CAPTIVES IN FAIRYLAND.
(1\tlotifs: FJ20; FJ7 5]
Knockers. The Cornish mine spirits, not evil and malicious like the
German Kobolds, but friendly to the tin-miners, for they knock to
indicate where a rich ore is to be found. They used to be supposed to be
the ghosts of the Jews who worked the mines, and primitive smelting-
houses sometimes found in the mines were called 'Jews' houses'. The
story was that the Jews who took part in the Crucifixion \vere sent to
work in the Cornish mines as a punishment. Jews did indeed join the
mines in the 1xth and 12th centuries, but tradition puts their \vorking
much earlier. HUNT reports that the miners often say they see little
demons or I~~ P s in the mines, sitting on pieces of timber or tumbling
about in curious attitudes. They \Velcome them, for they only come where
a good lode is to be found. These presumably are knockers, though they
are usually only heard, mimicking the sounds made by the miners, but
continuing their \vork by night, long after the humans have left. The
little, impish creatures may possibly be SPRIGGANS, who are also sup-
posed to visit the mines. Two northern mine spirits are CUTTY SOAMS
and BLUECAP.
The knockers are sometimes called BUCCAS, which is a Cornish name
for a GOBLIN. Mrs Wright, in Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore, gives a list
of the Cornish mine spirits. She says:
255 Knockers
Buccas, Gathorns, Knockers, Nickers, Nuggies and Spriggans are
individual and collective appellations for the sprites that haunt the
tin-mines of Corn\vall - They are for the most part a harmless folk,
occupied in mining on their own account, out of sight of the human
miners. These latter, however, take pains not to annoy the goblin
\vorkers; \vhistling and swearing, for instance, are held to be obnoxious
to mine-spirits, and must therefore be avoided.
She does not mention another TABOO recorded by Hunt which has a
more sinister flavour. It seems the mine spirits cannot endure the sign of
the CROSS, and therefore the miners avoid marking anything \Vith a cross
for fear of annoying them. The generally friendly disposition of the
knockers, however, is confirmed by a story from Hunt in Popular
Romances of the West of England (pp. 90-91):
At Ransom Mine the 'Knockers' \vere always very active in their
subterranean operations. In every part of the mine their 'knockings'
were heard, but most especially were they busy in one particular 'end'.
There \Vas a general impression that great wealth must exist at this
part of the 'lode'. Yet, notwithstanding the inducements of very high
tribute \vere held out to the miners, no pair of men could be found
brave enough to venture on the ground of the 'Bockles '. An old man
and his son, called Trenwith, who lived near Bosprenis, went out one
midsummer eve, about midnight, and watched until they saw the
'Smae People' bringing up the shining ore. It is said they were
possessed of some secret by \Vhich they could communicate with the
fairy people. Be this as it may, they told the little miners that they
\vould save them all the trouble of breaking down the ore, that they
would bring 'to grass' for them, one-tenth of the 'richest stuff', and
leave it properly dressed, if they would quietly give them up this end.
An agreement of some kind \vas come to. The old man and his son took
the 'pitch', and in a short time realized much wealth. The old man
never failed to keep to his bargain, and leave the tenth of the ore for
his friends. He died. The son was avaricious and selfish. He sought to
cheat the Knockers, but he ruined himself by so doing. The 'lode'
failed; nothing answered with him; disappointed, he took to drink,
squandered all the money his father had made, and died a beggar.
We see here the ordinary fairy-lore of just dealings, and the story of
'Barker's Knee', also told by Hunt (p. 88), shows that they share
the fairy dislike of spies among the INFRINGEMENTS OF FAIRY
PRIVACY. According to this tale, the knockers inhabited not only the
mines, but rocks, caves and wells in Corn\vall, and carried on their
mining works \vherever they lived. In the parish ofTowednack there was
once an idle, hulking fellow, who was always playing truant from the
mines. He conceived a great curiosity about the knockers, and found out
Knocky-Boh
that they haunted a well in the parish, where, crouched among the ferns,
he had a good opportunity of watching them. ])ay after day and night
after night he lay, looking and listening. l-Ie learned their hours and their
n1et hods, heard them singing and playing, found out their holidays- the
Jews' Sabbath, Christtnas l)ay, Easter !)ay and All Saints - and at length
even began to understand their speech. All this tin1e he flattered hitnsclf
that they knew nothing about the watch he kept, until one day when they
were knocking off for work he heard thetn telling each other where they
were going to hide their bags of tools. 'I'll put mine in this cleft here,'
said one.' I'll hide mine under these ferns,' said another.' 1'11 put mine on
Barker's knee,' said a third, and at once a great heavy but invisible bag
of tools landed sn1ack on Barker's knee-cap. I le was lame all the rest of
his life, and ever after if one of the n1incrs suffered fron1 rheun1atisn1 he
would say, 'I be as stiff as Barker's knee.'
BOTTRELL, in his Traditions and flearthside Stories of1Vest Cornmall
(vol. 1, p. 77), gives an account of an old n1an, Captain Mathy, \vho was
one of the few who clain1cd to have seen the 'knackers' when, following
their knocking, he broke into a rich vug (an aperture in a lode, frequently
lined with crystals):
\Vhen I rubbed n1y eyes and looked sharper into the inner end there
I spied three of the knackers. 1"hey were no bigger, either one of then1,
than a good sixpenny doll; yet in their faces, dress, and movements,
they had the look of hearty old tinners. I took the most notice of the
one in the n1iddle. He was settan down on a stone, his jacket off and
his shirt-slee\ es rolled up. Between his knees he held a little anvil, no
more than an inch square, yet as complete as any you ever seed in a
smith's shop. In his left hand he held a boryer, about the size of
a darning-needle, \Yhich he was sharpan for one of the knackers, and
the other was \Yaitan his turn to have the pick he held in his hand new
cossened, or steeled.
These knackers did not punish the intruder as Barker was punished,
but seized the opportunity \vhen ~1athy turned aside to get them one of
his candles, to disappear, and he heard them tittering and squeaking but
never saw them again.
(f\1otifs: F456; F456.1.1; F456.I.I.I; F456.1.2.1.1; F456.1.2.2.1;
~1242]
Kno,ve. The Scottish version of the word 'knoll', equivalent to the Irish
'knock'. It sometimes relates to a tumulus and sometimes to the buried
ruins of a castle. See also BRUCH and SITHEIN.
257 'Laird of Balmachie's Wife, The'
Lady of the Lake, the. She is one of the most mysterious and un-
explained of the fairy ladies who appear and disappear in the Arthurian
legends. By the time Malory collected the MATTER OF BRITAIN the
FA 1RI Es had been euhemerized into enchantresses, but in the earlier
romances their fairy nature is apparent. The German Lanzelet by Ulrich
von Zatzikhoven, a translation of a French romance left in Austria by the
de Morville who was one of the hostages for Richard Coeur de Lion,
probably represents a very early version of the Lancelot legend. In this
version the Lady of the Lake is a true lake maiden, like the GWRAGEDD
ANN\VN, the queen of an isle of maidens in the middle of an enchanted
lake, where winter never comes and no one knows sorrow. She breeds
up the young Lancelot to be the champion who shall protect her cowardly
son, Mabuz the Enchanter, from the incursions of his neighbour I weret.
In the 15th-century prose Lancelot she is a sorceress, as MORGAN LE
FAY is in Malory, and the lake is an illusion. Jessie Weston in The Legend
of Sir Lancelot du Lac points out that the original germ of the Lancelot
legend is the story of the capture of a royal child by a water-fairy, for, in
Lanzelet, Lancelot has not become the lover of Guinevere, and Sir
Gawaine is still Arthur's chief knight. The Lady of the Lake makes
appearances in other parts of the Arthurian legends. It will be remembered
that she gives Excalibur to Arthur at the beginning of his reign, and
receives it again as a token of his mortal wounding and a summons to
fetch him with the three other queens of faerie to be tended in the Isle
of Avalon. She is generally identified with NIMUE.
[Motifs: D8IJ.I.I; 0878.1; F371; F420.5.1.9; F421.1)
'Laird ofBalmachie's Wife, The'. The most serious of all the FAIRY
THEFTS was the theft of human beings: human babies taken to reinforce
the fairy stock and CHANGELINGS left in their place, children enticed
away, young maidens to be brides, newly delivered mothers to act as
nurses to fairy babies and others. Once these humans had been made
CAPTIVES IN FAIRYLAND it was very difficult, though not impossible,
to rescue them, but there are quite a number of anecdotes of the pre-
vention of theft or of rescues before the captive had reached fairyland.
'The Laird of Balmachie's Wife', from Gibbings's Folk-Lore and
Legends, Scotland, is a representative example. It is reproduced in
A Dictionary ofBritish Folk-Tales in the English Language (Part B, vol. 1):
'Laird o' Co, The' 258
In the olden times, when it was the fashion for gentlemen to wear
swords, the Laird of Balmachie went one day to Dundee, leaving his
wife at home ill in bed. Riding home in the twilight, he had occasion
to leave the high road, and when crossing between some little romantic
knolls, called the Cur-hills, in the neighbourhood of Carlungy, he
encountered a troop of fairies supporting a kind of litter, upon which
some person seemed to be borne. Being a man of dauntless courage,
and, as he said, impelled by some internal impulse, he pushed his
horse close to the litter, drew his sword, laid it across the vehicle, and
in a firm tone exclaimed :
'In the name of God, release your captive.'
The tiny troop immediately disappeared, dropping the litter on the
ground. The Laird dismounted, and found that it contained his own
wife, dressed in her bedclothes. \Vrapping his coat around her, he
placed her on the horse before him, and, having only a short distance
to ride, arrived safely at home.
Placing her in another room, under the care of an attentive friend, he
immediately went to the cham her \Vhere he had left his wife in the
morning, and there to all appearance she still lay, very sick of a fever.
She was fretful, discontented, and complained much of having been
neglected in his absence, at all of which the laird affected great concern,
and, pretending much sympathy, insisted upon her rising to have her
bed made. She said that she was unable to rise, but her husband was
peremptory and having ordered a large wood fire to warm the room,
he lifted the impostor from the bed, and bearing her across the floor as
if to a chair, 'vhich had been previously prepared, he threw her on the
fire, from which she bounced like a sky-rocket, and went through the
ceiling, and out at the roof of the house, leaving a hole among the
slates. He then brought in his own wife, a little recovered from her
alarm, who said that some time after sunset, the nurse having left her
for the purpose of preparing a little caudle, a multitude of ELVES came
in at the windo\\', thronging like bees from a hive. They filled the
room, and having lifted her from the bed, carried her through the
window, after which she recollected nothing further, till she saw her
husband standing over her on the Cur-hills, at the back of Carlungy.
The hole in the roof, by which the female fairy made her escape, was
mended, but could never be kept in repair, as a tempest of wind
happened always once a year, which uncovered that particular spot,
without injuring any other part of the roof.
[Motif: F322]
the swiftly flowing river carried them away before they could reunite.
The heir staggered home with hardly strength to blow his horn. But his
old father, who had been waiting in terrible suspense, ran out to greet
him. The heir, in horror, blew his horn again, and the servants loosed the
dog. The heir killed it with one thrust, but the condition was broken, the
father had reached him first, and for nine generations no Lord of
Lambton died in his bed.
(Type: JOO. Nlotifs: BII.2.I.J; BII.2.I2; BII.II; B11.12.4.1; C631;
C984; C987; ~1101]
Lamia. A fairy creature which never got out of book-lore into living
tradition, though it must have been a familiar figure to a great nun1ber of
literate children in the 17th century, for it appeared in TopselPs The
Historie ofFoure-Footed Beastes (r6o7). All the early copies of this book
Last '\'ord, the. In dealing with evil spirits and BOGLES as \vell as the
Devil, it was important to have the last word. The BLUE MEN OF THE
M IN CH are an example of this. They were evil sea-spirits \Vho used to
swim out by the tinch (the strip of water between Lewis and the main-
land of Scotland), and the captain of the boat had to hold parley \Vith
them and get the last word, preferably in rhyme, or they would sink his
ship.
Ill
Liban. The sanctified l\1ER~1AID, who may possibly account for the
presence of some of the mermaids who so often occur in church carvings.
Liban is briefly mentioned in The A1znals of the Kingdo11z of Ireland by
the Four 1\tlasters, a history compiled in the 17th century and covering
the time from the creation of the world down to the year 1616. The year
558 is given as the one in which Liban was caught in a net on the strand
of Ollarbha, but her personal history goes back some 300 years earlier.
Her whole story is given by P. W. Joyce in Old Celtic Romances (1894).
Liban was one of the daughters of EOCHAID and presumably of
ETAIN. In the year go a sacred spring which had been sacrilegiously
neglected overflowed its bounds and formed the great water of Lough
Neagh. Eochaid and all his family were overwhelmed and drowned,
except his two sons, Conang and Curman, and his daughter Liban. Liban
was indeed swept away by the waters, but she and her pet dog were
supernaturally preserved and carried into a subaqueous cave where she
Licke
spent a year in her bower with no company except her little dog. She
gre\v \veary of this after a time, and prayed to God that she might be
turned into a salmon and S\Vim around with the shoals of fish that passed
her bo,ver. God so far granted her prayer as to give her the tail of a
salmon, but from the navel upwards she retained the shape of a beautiful
woman. Her dog was turned into an otter~ and the two swam round
together for 300 years or more. In this time Ireland had become Christian
and St Comgall had become Bishop of Bangor. One day Comgall
dispatched one of his clergy, Beoc, to Rome to consult Pope Gregory
about some matters of order and rule. As they sailed they were accom-
panied by a very sweet voice singing from under the water. It was so
sweet that Beoc thought that it must be an angel's voice. At that Liban
spoke from under the \Vater and said: 'It is I who am singing. I am no
angel, but Liban the daughter of Eochaid, and for 300 years I have been
swimming the seas, and I implore you to meet me, with the holy men
of Bangor, at Inver Ollarba. I pray you tell St Comgall what I have said,
and let them all come with nets and boats to dra\v me out of the sea.'
Beoc promised to do as she asked, pressed on on his errand, and before
the year was over had returned from Rome, in time to tell St Comgall of
Liban's prayer. On the appointed day a fleet of boats was there, and
Liban was drawn out of the water by Beoan, son of Inli. They half-filled
the boat in which she was caught with \Vater, and crowds of people came
to see her swimming around. A dispute arose as to \vho had the right to her.
St Comgall thought she was his as she was caught in his diocese; Beoc
claimed her because she had made her appeal to him; and even the man
who had dra\vn her out of the sea staked his claim. To avoid dissension
all the saints of Bangor embarked on a night of fasting and prayer. An
angel spoke to them and said that on the next morning a yoke of t\vo oxen
would come to them. They were to put Liban into a chariot and harness
the oxen to it; wherever they stopped, that was the territory. It was a
method employed in many saints' legends to settle the place where a
church should be erected, and the expedient did not fail this time. The
oxen drew their chariot undoubtingly to Beoc's church, Teo-da-Beoc.
There she was given her choice whether to die immediately and ascend
at once to heaven or to stay on the earth as long as she had lived in the
sea, and to ascend to heaven after 300 years. She chose immediate death.
St Comgall baptized her by the name of Murgen, or 'sea-born', and she
made her entry into heaven. She was accounted one of the Holy Virgins,
and signs and wonders were done through her means in Teo-da-Beoc.
[Motifs: F'f.20.5.1.1; V229.2.12]
Licke. The name given to one of the small female fairies in the LIFE OF
ROB IN GOODFELLOW. She is mentioned in ALLIES'S LIST OF THE
FAIRIES, but Allies does not seem to have found any place-names which
Life of Robin Goodfellow, The 268
begin with 'Licke '. Tlze Life ofRobin Goodfellow makes her, by virtue of
her name, the fairy cook:
Licke is cook and dresseth meate,
And fetcheth all things that we eat.
Li'l Fellas, the. This, like the GOOD NEIGHBOURS, the Mob, THEM-
SELVES, is one of the Manx EUPHE~USTIC NAl\IES FOR THE FAIRIES,
or FERR I SHY N.
Llyr (tiJletr). The Welsh equivalent of the Irish god Lir, and possibly
an unde1world god. He was the father of Manawyddan and of BRAN
THE BLESSED, whose bagcdy is the subject of one branch of the
MABINOGION. It has been that King Jar was an euhemerizcd
version of Llyr, but there seems to be no correspondence in their stories.
Lubbard Fiend, the. John MILTON's country roots were at Forest Hill,
and his fairy traditions were true to those of Oxfordshire and the sur-
rounding counties. It is worth giving the whole fairy passage in L'Allegro
in spite of its general familiarity:
With stories told of many a feat,
Ho\v Faery Mab the junkets eat,
She was pincht, and pull'd she sed,
And he by Friars Lanthorn led
Tells how the drudging Goblin swet,
To ern his Cream-bowle duly set,
When in one night, ere glimps of morn,
His shadowy Flale bath thresh'd the Corn
That ten day-labourers could not end,
Then lies him down the Lubbar Fend,
And stretch'd out all the Chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength;
And crop-full out of dores he flings,
Ere the first Cock his Mattin rings.
'Lubbar Fend' is Milton's name for LOB-LIE-BY-THE-FIRE, a HOB-
GOBLIN who performs the usual BRO\VNIE feats of threshing and
l..ubbcrkin 272
cleaning, and like the brownie and many other hobgoblins is a spirit of
the hearth. 1'hough it is a youthful poem, l\.1ilton's Puritan bias is shown
in his calling Lob a fiend as well as a GOBLIN. Some though not all
Puritans identified all FA 1R1ES with the lesser devils, though Baxter and
Cotton 1\1ather considered the possibility that they might be 'spiritual
anin1als '. \Villiam Warner, in his poem Albion's England (Chapter 21),
made the ingenious suggestion that the brownie actual1y did no work
himself, but got the housewife out of bed to do it in her sleep. All kinds
of theories were brought forward in the long debate about the ORIGIN
oF FA 1R 1ES. The blcakcr view is not original to the Puritans, but is to
be found in such talcs as ST COLLEN AND THE FAIRY KING.
The rest of the passage is also interesting with its reference to fairy
M AB and the incident of the stolen junket; at least one may presume
that this is a version of the talc of' 1'hc Brownie of Cransha ws '. 'Friar's
Lanthorn' as a nan1c of\VILL o' THI: \VISP has led to the presumption
that it is attached to FRIAR R US H. 'fhis connection is not n1cntioned in
the chapbook version of the tale, and has been disputed, but it may be
considered as a possibility.
Lug, or Lugh (lu~h). Lug, called Lamfhada ('of the long arm') or
Sami/danach ('man)-skillcd '),\\as one of the sons of the DAGDA to whom
a BR L G H was allotted when ANGus o G was forgotten. A story was told
about him in The Book of Conquests of how he came to Tara in the time
oft\ uada of the Silver Hand and asked to join the Tuatha. He \Vas told
that only one claiming a special skill could be admitted. He claimed skill
as a carpenter, a smith, a \Varrior, a poet, a harper, a historian, a hero and
a sorcerer. He was told that all these posts \Vere already filled. He asked
if there was any man there \vho possessed all the skills at once; on those
grounds he \Vas admitted into the Tuatha. Lug \vas handsome and
polished, unlike his father, the Dagda, who was a more primitive deity.
It \Vas Lug who killed Balor of the one eye, the leader of the FOl\tORIANS,
and put an end to the long war bet,veen them and the TUATHA DE
DANAI\iN.
[i\1otifs: AI4I; AISI.I.I]
Lull. The name of one ofthe female FAIRIES in the the LIFE OF ROBIN
GOODFELLO\V. Following as usual the guidance of the name, the
anonymous author makes her the nurse of the fairy babies:
Lull is nurse and tends the cradle,
And the babes doth dresse and swadle.
In ALLIES'S LIST OF THE FAIRIES he finds quite a number of place-
names beginning with 'Lul '.
1'. ...
'
or se t
.21 . 1\.J\
'\iclsen : illustration from In Pon,da and Crino/int'
275 Mab
and told her to let him go. Even so she clung to him, and would have
pulled him down, but he flashed his knife in her face, and, presumably
repelled by the IRON, she plunged into the sea, calling, 'Farewell my
sweet, for nine long years, then I'll come for thee my love.'
The mermaid was as good as her word, and for generations the Luteys
of Cury were famous healers, and prospered by their art. The first Lutey,
however, only enjoyed his powers for nine years, for at the end of that
time, when he was out in his boat with one of his sons, a beautiful woman
rose out of the sea and called him. 'My hour is come,' he said, and he
plunged into the water, never to be seen again. And they say that ever
after, every nine years, one of his descendants was lost in the sea. This is
the grimmer version given by BOTTRELL from the narrative of a
\VANDERING DROLL-TELLER in The Traditions and Hearthside Stories of
West Cornwall (vol. I). The mermaid in HUNT's 'OLD MAN OF CURY'
is a less sinister character.
(Type: ML4080. Motifs: B81.13.2; B8I.IJ.I3*; F420.J.I; F420.5.2.1;
F420.5.2. I .6)
Mab. In the 16th and 17th centuries most of the poets made Queen Mab
the queen of the Fairies, and particularly of the DIMINUTIVE FAIRIES
of Drayton's Ni11zphidia. Shakespeare's Qyeen Mab as mentioned in
Romeo and Juliet, the fairies' mid,vife, who gives birth to dreams, is of
the same sort, with a coach drawn by insects- a very much less dignified
person than his TITANIA in a MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. This
minute Qyeen Mab, however, probably comes from a Celtic strain and
was once much more formidable, the Mabb of Wales, with possibly some
connection with the warlike Queen MA EVE of Ireland. In Ben Jonson's
Entertainment at Althorpe she is a PIXY type of fairy, described as an
'Elfe' with no royalty about her:
This is MAB, the mistris-Faerie,
That doth nightly rob the dayrie;
And can hurt, or helpe the cherning,
(As shee please) without discerning..
Shall we strip the skipping jester?
This is shee, that empties cradles,
Takes out children, puts in ladles:
Traynes forth mid-wives in their slumber,
With a sive the holes to number.
Mabinogion, The
And then leads them, from her borroughs,
Home through ponds, and water furrowes.
In one of the British Museum magical manuscripts (Sloane MS. 1727),
she is mentioned as 'Lady to the Queen'. Jabcz ALLIES in his chapter on
the IGNIS FATUUS in The Antiquities of 1orcestershire says that 'Mab-
lcd' was used for PIXY-LED. Evidently Jonson followed the same tradition.
(Motif: F369.7)
demand, and he supported himself by his writings. His fame chiefly rests
now on his fairy books and allegories, The Princess and the Goblin, The
Princess and Curdie, Phantastes, The Lost Princess, and At the Back of the
North Wind. He also wrote a number of short fairy-stories. Many of these
are founded on the French fairy tradition, but interesting touches of folk
tradition are to be found in the GoaL IN stories, such as the toeless feet of
the goblins, an example of the DEFECTS OF THE FAIRIES, as in the
tradition recorded in Sir Gibbie of the undivided fingers of the BRoWN I E.
There are fascinating glimpses of fairy traditions running through
Phantastes, and C. S. Lewis has well described George Macdonald as a
'myth-maker', a quality he shares with TOLKIEN.
Mach a (ma-cha). One of the triple forms taken by the ancient Irish war
goddess BADB. All are in the shape of Royston or hoodie crows. Macha
is a fairy that 'riots and revels among the slain', as Evans Wentz puts it in
his analysis ofBadb's triple form.
[Motifs: AIJ2.6.2; A485.1]
Mac Ritchie, David (b. 18oo). Though his private life seems to have
been largely forgotten, Mac Ritchie was chief author of one of the
Mac Ritchie, David
THEORIES OF FAIRY ORIGINS which received \Vide support when it
was first brought forward in his two books, The Teslimony of Tradition
(18go) and Fians, Fairies and Picts (1893). In the introduction to the
second of these books, Mac Ritchie describes how the idea of an ethno-
logical origin of the fairy traditions first came into his head. He says:
Magicians. Those learned men who, like Dr DEE, stretched the area of
their learning to include magic and intercourse with spirits. Some of them
restricted their studies to theurgic magic, in which they approached God
by intensive prayer, and sought intercourse \vith angels; others called up
the spirits of the dead in a kind of refinement of necromancy called
'sciomancy '. A step lower was to reanimate a corpse - true necromancy -
as Edward Kelly was said to have done. Others engaged in more dan-
gerous experiments still and tried to call up devils and confine them into
a stone or magic circle. This was an exceedingly tedious, and was felt
to be a highly dangerous, proceeding, for if the spirit raised succeeded in
frightening the magician to the edge of his ring, so that a step backward
would cau~e a fold of his robe or the heel of his foot to protrude, he would
be liable to be seized and carried down to Hell. It was the tediousness
and danger of these efforts to control the Devil that induced some
magicians to take the last step down the slippery slope and sign the
Diabolic Contract, thus becoming wIZARDS. There was an alternative
to raising devils, and that was TRAFFIC WITH THE FAIRIES, of which
we have mentions in the Scottish witch trials and in the North of England.
To the Puritans as a whole, all FAIRIES were devils, but the country
people generally took a more lenient view of the GOOD NEIGHBOURS.
'Maides Metamorphosis, The' 280
Matter of Britain, the. The Arthurian legends \V ere first called 'The
Matter of Britain' by a 12th-century French poet, Jean Bodel, \vho spoke
of'those idle and pleasant tales of Britain' (Chanson des Saisnes, edited by
Michel, Paris, 1939, vols. 6 ff.). He treated them frankly as legendary,
but they had been thought of as genuine history as early as the year 679
by Nennius of South Wales in his Historia Britonunt. He speaks of' the
warrior Arthur ', and gives a list of the twelve battles in which he was
victorious, ending with Mount Badon, \vhere Arthur sle\v 960 men in
one onslaught; 'no one laid them lo\v save he'. Professor Collingwood in
his book Roman Britain came to the conclusion that Arthur was an actual
warrior who led a picked band, armed and deployed in the almost for-
gotten manner, to aid whatever king was in need of his services against
invading Saxons. By Nennius's time, however, it is plain that legend had
been at work, and indeed Nennius, among his 'wonders', gives us a
real piece of Celtic tradition in the mark left by Arthur's foot in his
legendary hunting of the boar Troynt with his dog Cabal.
As early as 1ogo the Celtic traditions of Arthur had spread even do,vn
into Italy, and many children were baptized by the name of Artus. By the
year I I I3, the 6th-century warrior Arthur had become a King of Fairy,
one of the SLEEPING \VARRIORS whose return was confidently expected.
At that date a riot broke out in Bodmin church. Some monks of Laon,
visiting Cornwall on a collecting expedition, were shown King Arthur's
chair and oven and their servants openly mocked the Cornishmen's belief
that Arthur was still alive and would return to help his countrymen. The
sacredness of the place in which they spoke did not prevent a furious
retaliation.
It is of these beliefs that William of Malmesbury, a serious and schol-
arly historian, wrote a few years later in his Gesta Regtun Anglorunt
(Exploits of the English Kings, 1I2S), 'He is the Arthur about whom the
Britons rave in empty words, but who in truth is worthy to be the subject
MautheDoog
not of deceitful talcs and dreams, but of true history.' The mythological
trcatn1cnt of the Matter of Britain is clearly shown in the tale of'Culhwch
and Olwen' from the Red Book ofHergest, a part of the MABINOGION.
Here we have a god-like king surrounded by a lesser pantheon of knights
\vith special and magical skills, very much like in atmosphere to many of
the early Irish folk-talcs. Something of this was known, as we have seen,
outside the Celtic folk-tales, but it received comparatively little attention
until in 1135 GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH launched it as serious history
in Libel/us klerlini, afterwards incorporated into his lfistoria Regunz
Briuuzuiae. This hit the popular taste between wind and water, in spite
of the horrified protests of such serious historians as William of Kew-
bridge and GIRALDUS CAJ\tBRENSIS. R. F. Treharnc in The Glastonbury
Legends has pointed out how well suited Geoffrey!s treatment was to
catch the taste of the tough fighting men of his period, and how it became
modified in the gentler and more civilized society of the later 12th and
13th centuries, so that the idea of a gentlemtuz was evolved in the writings
of l\1arie de France in England and Chrctien de Troyes in France, and in
the works of many anonymous poets and prose writers. Geoffrey of
Monmouth brought nationalistic fervour, delight in combat and a simple
pleasure in magic into his historical background, but the later authors
introduced their countrymen to chivalry and the idea of gentleness; and
it was in a fairy world that they both moved.
Mauthe Doog. The local name for the l\10DDEY DHOO \vhich haunted
Peel Castle on the Isle of lan in the 17th century. It owes its fame to the
lines in SCOTT's Lay of the Last Ali11strel (Canto VI, v. 26):
For he was speechless, ghastly, \van,
Like him of w horn the story ran,
\Vho spoke the spectre-hound in lvlan.
(l\1otifs: F40I.J.J; F402.I.II; GJ02.J.2)
Melsh Dick. The wood-demon who protects the unripe nuts from
children in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Through most of the North
Country it is a female spirit, CHURNMILK PEG, who performs this
office. The importance of nut thickets in earlier rural economy may be
judged by the number of supernatural beliefs surrounding them, such as
the appearance of the Devil to Sunday nut-gatherers, and the fertility
value ascribed to nuts. 'So many cratches [baskets], so many cradles' is a
Somerset proverb.
.... -~
'
..,
'
.....
. . . '
'
I. <,\
t----- ) /rl
--_-
----
-
--\\~==-==~
- ~-.
.. ~
Mermaids 288
nose. These exact measurements \Vere possible because she \Vas cast up
by the sea. This was said to have happened in about A.o. 887.
Some sea monsters, such as NUCKELAVEE, \Verc allergic to fresh
water, but mermaids penetrated up running streams and were to be found
in fresh-water lakes. They were still called mermaids. A typical example
of a ravening mermaid is to be found in the story of 'The Laird of
Lorntie' told by Robert Chambers in Popular Rhymes ofScotland:
'Lorntie, Lorntie,
\Vere it na your man,
I had gart your heart's bluid
Skirl in my pan.'
This may be called the general picture, but no folk traditions are
absolutely consistent, and there are a number of stories, like HuNT's
'The OLD ~fAN OF CURY', which show gentler traits. Possibly these may
be influenced by the Scandinavian strain in Scotland, for the Danes,
Swedes and orwegians take a much more lenient view of the sea people
than the Scots. A pleasant story of a mermaid giving medical advice is
again quoted by Chambers from Cromek's Nithsdale and Galloway So11g:
Mermaids
sweetness, the good mermaid sung to him:
'Wad ye let the bonnie May die i' your hand,
And the mugwort flowering i' the land?'
He cropped and pressed the flower-tops, and administered the juice to
his fair mistress, who arose and blessed the bestower for the return of
health.
Cromek always gives a favourable view of the FAIRIES, but this story
is confirmed by a Renfrewshire anecdote of a mermaid \V ho rose from the
water as the funeral of a young girl passed, and said mournfully:
'If they wad drink nettles in March
And eat muggons in May,
Sae mony braw maidens
Wadna gang to the clay.'
Muggons is mugwort, or southernwood, and was much used for con-
sumptive disorders. Mermaids had a great kno\vledge of herbs as well as
prophetic po\vers. The most noble of all the mermaids, however, is that
in the Orcadian story who gave her life for one of the SELKIES This
story, by the way, raises an interesting point, for this mermaid, like the
ASRA 1, died from too long exposure to the air of this world, while others,
like the selkies or ROANE, seem native to the air and need a cap or a
magical property with which to make their passage through the sea. Some
of them, like the selkies, were courted by human lovers and became
unwil1ing wives, bequeathing \vebbed hands and feet to their children,
but often also great skill in medicine, like that bequeathed in the story of
LUTEY AND THE MERMAID.
Mermaids were often caught and held to ransom for the sake of the
wishes they could grant or the knowledge they could impart. They always
held exactly to their bargains, as even the Devil must do by the condition
of his being, though the wishes are twisted if it can be contrived.
In Scotland and in Ireland the question of the possibility of final
salvation for the mermaids, as for other fairies, is raised; it is always
denied in Scotland, but in Ireland there is one mermaid, LIBAN, who
died in the odour of sanctity, though it is only right to say that she was
not born a mermaid, any more than Fintan, who was converted by St
Patrick and afterwards canonized, was born a merman.
Anyone who wishes to study this long and complicated subject might
well start by reading Sea Enchantress by Ben\vell and Waugh, which,
starting with fish-tailed gods and working through classical myths and
early zoology, comes down to the most recent beliefs in mermaids and
other water creatures and embraces the beliefs of almost all nations. See
also MERMEN.
[Types: ML4071*; ML4o8o. Motifs: B81.2.2; B8I.J.I; F4205I;
F420.5.1.8; F42052; F42052.1; F420.5.273]
Mermen
Mermen. Though generally wilder and uglier than MERMAIDS, mermen
have less interest in mankind. They do not, like the SELKIES, corne
ashore to court mortal women and father their children, nor arc they
jovial and friendly to men like the Irish ~fERRO\VS, and they do not crave
for salvation like the Scandinavian Neck. If the gentle little mermaid who
was put into the sea by the OLD MAN OF CURY was to be believed, they
were rough husbands and were even capable of eating their own children
if they were left hungry. They seem to personify the stormy sea, and it is
they who raise storms and wreck ships if a mermaid is wounded. Ben well,
however, describes the Scandinavian Merman or 1/avmand as a handsome
creature with a green or black beard, living on cliffs and shore hills as well
as in the sea, and says that he was regarded as a beneficent creature.
(Motifs: B82.6; F420.5.2]
was before you. He never stood a minute when he first got the chance to
come down and see me.'
'Well, I won't be a worse man than my grandfather,' said Jack, 'so
lead on.'
'Well said!' said the merrow. 'Follow me, and hold on to my tail when
I go down.'
They swam out straight enough to a rock a little way out, and Jack
began to wonder what would happen next, when the merrow said: 'Hold
on now!' and down they went; down, down, down, with the water
rushing past Jack's head, so that he could neither see nor breathe, and it
was all that he could do to hold on. At last they landed bump on to some
soft sand, and Jack found he was in air again, as good to breathe as ever
he smelt. He looked up, and there was the sea above them, as it might be
the sky, and the fishes swimming about over their heads, like the birds
flying. In front of them was the merrow's house, with a strong spurt of
smoke going up from the chimney. They went inside, and a good dinner
was cooking of all kinds of fish, and a good meal they made of it, and a
grand drinking at the end of all kinds of strong spirits. Jack had never
felt his head cooler, it must have been the cold water above him; but the
old merrow got quite boisterous, and roared out all manner of songs,
though Jack couldn't call any of them to mind afterwards. He told Jack
his name too - Coomara it was, and Coo to his friends, for by this time
they were pretty snug together.
After they'd drunken as much as \Vas comfortable, Coomara took Jack
to see his curiosities, and a grand museum of things he'd got, all of them
dropped out of the sea. The thing that puzzled Jack most was a great row
of wicker baskets, something like lobster pots.
'And what might you keep in those, Coomara?' he said.
'Oh, those are soul cages,' said Coomara.
'But the fish haven't souls, surely,' said Jack.
' o, not they,' said Coomara. 'Those are the souls of fishermen. I like
to have them about the place. So whenever there is a big storm up above,
I sprinkle those about the sand; and when the souls come down, they are
cold and frightened, having just lost their men, and they creep in here for
warmth; and then it fails them to get out again. And aren't they lucky,
no,v, to have a warm, dry place like this to stay?'
Jack said never a \vord, but he bent down by the soul cages, and
though he could see nothing, he fancied he heard a breath like a sob
when old Coo talked of their good luck. So he said goodbye; and old Coo
gave him a back up, and shoved him up into the sea; and he shot up faster
than he had come down, and threw his cocked hat back as Coomara had
told him, and went home very sad to think of the poor souls imprisoned
in their lobster cages.
Jack Dogherty turned over and over in his mind how he could free the
poor souls, but for a while nothing came to him. He didn't like to ask the
293 Merrows, or the Murdhuacha
Priest, for he didn't want to get Coomara into trouble, and he didn't care
to tell his wife or friends, for perhaps a man mightn't be well thought of
who had dealings with the merrows; so at last he decided he must ask
Coomara to his own house and make him very drunk, and then nip off his
cap and go down and free the poor souls so that Coomara would never be
the wiser. The first thing was to get his wife out of the way. So Jack
turned very pious all of a sudden, and he told his wife it would be a
grand thing if she \vould make a pilgrimage to pray for his soul and the
souls of all poor fishermen drowned at sea. His wife was ready enough to
go, for whoever heard of a woman would refuse a pilgrimage; and no
sooner had he seen her back than Jack nipped over to the merrow's rock
and invited old Coomara to come and dine with him at one o'clock next
day and to see what he had about the place in the way of drink. Coomara
came readily enough; and they kept it up together, drinking and singing;
but Jack forgot this time that he had not the sea above him to keep his
head cool; and the first thing he kne\v he wakened up with a black head-
ache, and there was not a sign of old Coomara, who had drunk him under
the table and \Valked off as cool as you please.
Poor Jack \vas quite downcast to think that the caged souls were as far
from their freedom as ever; but luckily Biddy was to be a \veek away, and
before that time was past he had a thought that gave him a glimmer of
hope. Coomara was well seasoned to whiskey and brandy and rum; but it
was likely he had never tasted a drop of the real Irish potcheen, for that
is a spirit that is seldom put upon the sea. Now as it happened, Jack had a
keg of it, brewed by his own wife's brother, so he thought he would see
what it would do for Coomara. So back he went to the merrow's rock,
where he found Coomara very cock-a-hoop at having put him under the
table.
'I'll not deny that you're a sturdy drinker, Coomara,' said Jack. 'But
I have something put aside that you've never tasted, and that's a keg of the
real potcheen that I'd kept till last; only you slipped out whilst I was
considering to myself for a few moments. Come back tomorrow and you
shall have a taste of it; and that's a thing I wouldn't offer to everyone,
for it's hard to come by.'
Coomara was very ready to come, for he had a curiosity to taste the
stuff; and next day they set to it again. I \Vouldn't say Jack drank entirely
fair, for he put \Vater to what he took and Coomara took it neat, but fair
or unfair he drank Coomara under the table; and he was no sooner there
than Jack nipped the hat off his head and set off to the rock as fast as he
could run. There was nobody to be seen at the bottom of the sea, and
that was a lucky thing for Jack, for he'd have been hard put to it to
explain what he was doing in Coomara's house. He took a great armful
of the soul cages and took them out of the house and turned them up.
He saw nothing at all, except it might be a little flicker of light coming out
of each of them, and he heard a sound like a faint whistle going past him.
Merry Dancers 294
He emptied all the soul cages and put them back just as they had been,
and then he was hard put to it to make his way up to the sea above him
without Coomara to give him a back. But as he looked round he saw one
bit of the sea that hung down lower than the rest, and as he walked under
it a cod happened to put his tail down into the air, and quick as lightning
Jack jumped up and caught the tail, and the cod pulled him into the sea
and the red cap carried him up in a flash; and so he got to land. Coomara
was still asleep, and when he \vaked he was so ashamed to be out-drunken
that he sneaked off without a word. But he and Jack stayed very good
friends, for he never noticed that the soul cages were empty; and often
after a storm Jack would make some excuse to go down, and would free
all the new souls that had been caught. So they went on in great friendship
for many years; until one day Jack threw his stone into the water without
success. Coomara never came. Jack did not know what to make of it.
Coomara was a young slip of a fellow as merrows went, not more than a
couple of hundred years at the most. He couldn't have died on him. So
all Jack could think was that Coomara must have flitted and be living
in another part of the sea. But Coomara had the second cocked hat, so
Jack could never go down to find out.
[Motif: F72533]
Midhir, or Midar. The fairy lover of ETA IN, the queen. According to
Lady WILDE in her Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol. I, pp. 179-82), Etain
was a human, the wife of EOCHAID of Munster, and her beauty was so
great that it reached the ears of Midar, one of the kings of the TUATHA
DE DANANN, and he desired her, and won her from her husband in a
game of CHESS. The more usual story is more complicated. According to
this, Etain was the wife of Midhir in the land of TIR NAN OG, but his
jealous first wife, Fuamnach, cast a spell upon her, turning her into a
midge, and blew her on a bitter wind out ofTir Nan Og and into Ireland.
Midhir searched for her and at last found her as the queen of Munster.
When he had won her he appeared in the palace, ringed as it was with an
armed guard, and he and Etain flew away through the lifted roof of the
palace as two white swans linked with a golden chain. But that was not
the end of it, for Eochaid brought bitter war against Midhir, and in the
end, it is said, Etain went back to her mortal husband, and the great power
of the Tuatha de Danann declined and dwindled for ever.
(Motifs: F322; F322.2)
Mid,vife to the fairies. From the earliest times there have been stories
of mortal women summoned to act as midwives to fairy mothers among
the themes of the DEPENDE TCE OF FAIRIES o MORTALS. One of the
latest of these \vas of a district nurse summoned by a queer old man who
boarded a bus near Greenho\v Hill in Yorkshire. He conducted the nurse
to a cave in the side of Greenhow Hill, and the occupants turned out to
be a family of P 1xI ES. The interesting point here, since the pixies are not
native to Yorkshire, is that Greenhow Hill was said to have been mined
by Cornishmen. The anecdote had currency in the I 92os and after. The
FAIRY o IN T~~ENT motif does not occur in this version. The earliest
version of the midwife tale is to be found in GERVASE OF TILBURY's
13th-century Otia Imperialis. The fullest of all, perhaps the only corn-
-tt
297 Midwife to the fairies
plete fairy midwife story, is given by John Rhys in Celtic Folklore (vol. 1,
pp. 21 1-13). He gives the \Velsh version, written down by William
Thomas Solomon, who had it from his mother, \vho in her turn had
learned it from an old woman at Garth Dorwen some eighty years earlier,
and the English translation, as follows:
An old man and his wife lived at the Garth Dorwen in some period
a long while ago. They \vent to Carnarvon to hire a maid servant at the
Allhallo,vs' Fair; and it was the custom then for young men and
women who stood out for places to station themselves at the top of the
present Maes, by a little green eminence \Vhere the present Post Office
stands. The old man and his \vife went to that spot, and saw there a
lass with yellow hair, standing a little apart from all the others; the old
\voman \vent to her and asked if she wanted a place. She replied that
she did, and so she hired herself at once and came to her place at the
time fixed. In those times it \Vas customary during the long winter
nights that spinning should be done after supper. Now the maid
servant would go to the meadow to spin by the light of the moon, and
the Tylwyth Teg would come to her to sing and dance. But some time
in the spring, when the days had grown longer, Eilian escaped with
the Tylwyth Teg, so that she \vas seen no more. The field where she
was last seen is known to this day as Eilian's Field, and the meadow is
called the Maid's Meadow. The old \Voman of Garth Dorwen was in
the habit of putting women to bed, and she was in great request far and
\vide. Some time after Eilian's escape there came a gentleman to the
door one night when the moon \Vas full, while there was a slight rain
and just a little mist, to fetch the old woman to his wife. So she rode off
behind the stranger on his horse, and came to Rhos y Cwrt. Now there
was at that time at the centre of the rhos, somewhat of rising ground
that looked like an old fortification \Vith many big stones on the top,
and a large cairn of stones on the northern side: it is to be seen to this
day, and it goes by the name ofBryn i Pibion, but I have never visited
the spot. When they reached the spot, they entered a large cave, and
they went into a room where the wife lay in her bed; it was the finest
place the old woman had seen in her life. When she had successfully
brought the wife to bed she went to the fire to dress the baby; and when
she had done the husband came to the old \Voman with a bottle of
ointment that she might anoint the baby's eyes; but he entreated her
not to touch her own eyes with it. Somehow, after putting the bottle by,
one of the old woman's eyes happened to itch, and she rubbed it with
the same finger that she used to rub the baby's eyes. Then she saw \Vith
that eye ho'v the wife lay on a bundle of rushes and withered ferns in a
large cave, 'vith big stones all round her, and with a little fire in one
corner; and she sa\v also that the lady was only Eilian, her former
servant girl, whilst, with the other eye, she beheld the finest place she
Milesians
had ever seen. Not long afterwards the old midwife went to Carnarvon
to market, when she saw the husband, and said to him, 'How is
Eilian?'
'She is pretty well,' said he to the old woman. 'But with what eye do
you see me?'
'With this one,' was the reply; and he took a bulrush and put her
eye out at once.
In conversation old Solomon mentioned the enormous quantities of
flax spun by Eilian when she sat in the meadow with the fairies. Here we
have the story of the girl with GOLDEN HAIR beloved by the FAIRIES or
the TYL \VYTH TEG, the half-human baby who needs fairy ointment to
clear its sight, the GLAMOUR cast over human eyes and the blinding of
the seeing eye. These mid wife stories are common, and according to the
FAIRY D\VELLING ON SELENA MOOR the pure fairies are shy breeders,
but it seems a not unreasonable assumption from this story and CHERRY
OF ZEN NOR that the fairy children who need the ointment are hybrids.
(Motifs: F2354I(a); F372.1)
mg:
Good luck befriend thee Son; for at thy birth
The Faery Ladies daunc't upon the hearth;
Thy drowsie Nurse hath sworn she did them spie
Come tripping to the Room \vhere thou didst lie;
And sweetly singing round about thy Bed
Stre\v all their blessings on thy sleeping Head.
In Comus we have a mention of 'the pert fairies and the dapper elves'.
Years later a sudden rural freshness steals through the austere air of
299 Miser on the Fairy Gump, the
Paradise Lost when the willing compression and diminution of the fallen
angels in Hell is compared to a gathering of fairies in the English country-
side:
they but now who seemd
In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons
Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race
Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,
Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side
Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while over head the Moon
Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth
Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth & dance
Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
These few fairy cameos are scattered through the vast scope of Milton's
poetry; few, but worth the finding.
Mine goblins. The mine GOBLINS of England have names of their own,
COBLYNAU, CUTTY SOAMS, DUNTERS, KNOCKERS and the like, but
there was one kind that was imported into English literature in the 17th
century, and was so often mentioned as to be almost proverbial - 'the
goblins who laboured in the mines'. These references were founded on
Georgius Agricola's work, De ani1nantis subterranibus (Basle, x6sx). They
were mine-spirits who made a great show of working, were seen and
heard blasting, wielding picks and shovels and wheeling away ore, but
without leaving any palpable traces of their labours. There is a pleasant
illustration of them on the title page of Golden Remains of the Ever-
memorable A1r John Bales (r6s3), and we shall find references in such
writers as BURTON, Dr Thomas Browne and Heywood. They were
indeed a gift to the moralist.
Miser on the Fairy Gump, the. The Gump near St Just in Cornwall
had been famous as the meeting-place of the SMALL PEOPLE. Robert
HUNT, in Popular Romances of the West of England (pp. 98-Iox), gives a
vivid description of a fairy gathering as tiny, bejewelled and courtly as
any to be found in the poetry ofHERRICK or Drayton.
The old people of St Just had long told their children and grand-
children of the great spectacle there, of the music, DANCING and feasting.
Modest spectators were not punished, and some had even been given tiny
but most precious gifts.
There was one old miser, however, who could never hear of riches
without desiring them, and on a night of the full harvest moon he set out
to see what he could steal. As he began to climb the Gump he heard
music all round him, but he could see nothing. As he climbed higher it
Miser on the Fairy Gump, the JOO
became louder, and he suddenly realized that it was under his feet, and
in a moment the hill burst open and a hideous crowd of SPRIGGANS
poured out, followed by a great band of musicians and a troop of soldiers.
At the same time the whole hillside was lit up; every blade of grass and
every furze bush sparkled with jewels. He stared at them greedily, but
was disturbed to see that a number of the spriggans were gathering round
him like a kind of guard. one of them was higher than his shoestring,
however, so he consoled hin1sclf by the thought that he could trample
them underfoot, and stood his ground. Then out came a great crowd of
servants, carrying the riches that he was waiting for, hundreds of tables
set out in the finest order with gold and silver plates, and goblets carved
out of rubies and diamonds and all varieties of rich food. He was greedily
wondering where to pounce when the fairy court came out in their
thousands followed by troops of fairy children scattering scented flowers
which rooted themselves as they touched the ground, and last of all came
the prince and princess, and moved to the high table upon the dais. T'his
was the richest focus of the miser's greed, and, crouching down, he
began to creep up behind it to catch the whole brilliant minuscule of
jewels and gold and silk under his broad-brimmed hat. He crept up as the
FAIRIES moved in ordered companies to do homage to their rulers and to
take their proper places at the tables, apparently unconscious of what was
overhanging them. He \\'as so absorbed with his stealth that he never
noticed that the spriggans were moving with him and that each one had
cast a shining rope around him. At last he was behind the dais and raised
himself to his knees with his hat above his head. Then he suddenly saw
that every eye in that great assembly was fixed on him. As he paused, a
whistle sounded, every light went out and he was jerked sideways by
hundreds of thin cords; he heard the whirr of wings and was pierced all
over and pinched from head to foot. He lay stretched on his back, pinned
to the ground, while the biggest of the spriggans danced on his nose with
shouts of laughter. At length the spriggan shouted, 'Away, away! I smell
the day!' and disappeared. The miser found himself lying stretched at the
foot of the mound covered with dewy cobwebs. He broke through them
and managed to stagger to his feet and totter home. It \\'as a long time
before he confessed to anyone what happened to him that night.
It seemed that Hunt's 19th-century love of ornament ran a"ay with
him in this tale; but unless it is a complete invention - of which he has
never been accused - \Ve have here a tradition of the DI~11NUTIVE
FA 1R 1E s and the royal court such as Herrick may well have found 200
years earlier. It also differs from the FAIRY D\VELLING ON SELENA
MOOR in being an entirely sympathetic approach to the fairies, treating
them presumably as flower spirits, with the spriggans as their body-
guard rather than as spirits of the dead.
[Type: 503 I I I. Motifs: F2I 1; F23943; F262.3.6; F340; F350; F361.2;
FJ6I.2.J)
JOI Monsters
Moddey Dhoo (moor tlla do). The most famous of the BLACK DOGS of
the Isle of Man was the Moddey Dhoo or MAUTHE DOOG of Peel Castle,
made famous by Waiter SCOTT. In the 17th century when the castle was
garrisoned, a great, shaggy black dog used to come silently into the guard-
room and stretch himself there. No one knew whom he belonged to nor
how he came, and he looked so strange that no one dared to speak to him,
and the soldiers always went in pairs to carry the keys to the governor's
room after the castle was locked up. At length one man, the worse for
drink, taunted his companions and mocked the dog. He snatched up the
keys, dared the dog to follow him, and rushed out of the room alone. The
dog got up and padded after him, and presently a terrible scream \Vas
heard and the man staggered back, pale, silent, shuddering. The dog was
never seen again, but after three days of silent horror the man died. That
was the last thing seen of the Mauthe Doog, but the Moddey Dhoo per-
sists to modern times. Waiter Gill gives two accounts of his appearances,
of which one was in 1927 near Ramsey at the Milntown corner when a
friend of Waiter Gill met him, black, with long, shaggy hair and eyes like
coals of fire. He was afraid to pass it, and they looked at each other
till the dog drew aside and allowed him to pass. The man took it for a
death token, for shortly after his father died. The other account was of a
doctor in 1931 and at the same corner. He passed it on his way to a
confinement, and it was there still when he came back two hours later.
He described it as being nearly the size of a calf, with bright, staring eyes.
We are not told if his patient died.
One story is told by Gill of a black dog in Peel who acted as a G u A R-
DIAN BLACK DOG and prevented the deaths of several men. A fishing-
boat was waiting in Peel Harbour for its skipper to command the cre\v
on a night's fishing. They waited all night, and the skipper never came.
In the early morning a sudden gale sprang up in which the boat might
well have been lost. When the skipper rejoined his crew he told them that
his way had been blocked by a great black dog, and whichever way he
turned it always stood before him till at length he turned back. The story
was told to Waiter Gill by one of the crew. This story of the guardian
black dog appears in other parts of Britain. It was said that the Mauthe
Doog was no dog, but the ghost of a prisoner - some said of the Duchess
of Gloucester, but this holds good of many black dogs. The Black Dog of
Newgate, for instance, was said to be the ghost of Luke Hutton, a
notorious highwayman who had been hanged there. Other black dogs
were thought to be the Devil himself.
(Motif: F401 .3.3)
'
--1
~,J
,.. ""'
Jt-..
. ... '\
-.. ~.;.---
- .._. . --
<# .....
~~~-~-=:-
~
'
--
- -
...::::::=.:-- - - - -
-- = ' - -
' \
\ - I
forefeet of an eagle, the body, hindquarters and tail of a lion and ears
which appear to be its O\Vn invention. Griffins are occasionally men-
tioned in some of the fairy-stories. In 'Young Conall of Howth,, for I
Morgan le Fay. By the time that Malory was handling the MATTER OF
BRITAIN, the godlike and fairy elements of many of the characters, so
evident in such early Celtic legends as 'Culh,vch and Olwen' from the
Red Book of Hergest, reproduced in the MABINOGION, had been ob-
scured and euhemerized almost beyond recognition; yet Morgan le Fay
remains an obstinately fairy-tale character. The modernists of the 14th
century did their best for her by making her an enchantress instead of a
fairy. 'And the third sister, Morgan le Fay,' says Malory, 'was put to
school in a nunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great
clerk of necromancy.' Outside the Arthurian stories, Fata Morgana still
preserved her memory as a sea fairy, and the lesser MORGANS of Wales
and Brittany still remind us of her earlier nature. In Arthurian legend,
Morgan le Fay played the part of Arthur's evil fairy as the LADY OF
THE LAKE was his good fairy. She was constantly bent on his death or the
defamation of his court.
The Fourth Book of Malory is largely occupied by a plot of Q!Ieen
Morgan to compass Arthur's death by the means of his own sword and
the unwitting help of her lover Sir Accolon. In Sir Gawayne and the Green
Knight, the whole incident is designed by Morgan to bring the Round
Table into disrepute, and she herself plays a part in it as the ancient
duenna of the lady. In the ballad of 'The Boy and the Mantle' in the
Child collection (No. 29), the magic cup and mantle are sent to Arthur's
1\forgens
court for the same purpose. She is a consistently evil and malicious
character until the time of Arthur's death, when she is one of the four
queens who bear him away to the Isle of Avalon. This an1oral character
might \Veil belong to a fairy, but it possibly points to an earlier function
as a goddess, for the Celtic pantheon seem to have been as fluctuating in
their morals as the gods of Ancient Greece.
[!vlotif: F36o]
l\1orgens. The Breton ~1ERl\lAIDS. They arc conjectured by Rhys in
Celtrc Folklore to be the same as the Welsh M oR G A s.
Morrigan (moreegluuz), or ~lorrigu. One of the forms taken by the
ancient Irish war goddess BADB. In the cucH LA 1 ' epic, Tain Bo
Cuailnge, in which the great \Var bct\\ecn the FOJ\tORIANS and the
TUATHA DE DA A N is celebrated, the three war goddesses in the form
of crows arc NE.i\IAN, l\-tACHA and Morrigu, of whom ~1orrigu is the
greatest. As Evans \Ventz analyses the legend, the) arc the tripartite
form of 'Badb '. eman confounds the armies of the enemy, so that
allies \vage mistaken war against each other, lac ha revels in indis-
crinlinatc slaughter, but it was lorrigu who infused supernatural strength
and courage into Cuchulain, so that he won the war for the Tuatha de
Danann, the forces of goodness and light, and conquered the dark Fo-
morians, just as the Olympic gods conquered the Titans.
(Motif: A485.1)
Moruadh. See l\tERRO\VS.
308
back on condition that you do not till the ground within three perches of
the moat, and leave the thorns and brambles untouched., They agreed to
that and in a few moments the child was laid on his mother's knee, and
they all knelt down and gave thanks to God. It is said that the FAIRIES
were able to steal the baby because some of the women watching the
mother were drunk.
There arc great resemblances here to Burd Janet's rescue of YOUNG
TAMLANE. 'fhe illusions, the necessity of holding the captive firmly, the
saining power of a human garn1ent arc all the same.
(Motifs: FJ22; F372; F379.1; RI 12.3; R156]
' icht ought othing ', or ' icht ocht aethin '. An example of
a widespread story of which the earliest example is that of Jason and
Medea. Andrew I rang published it in Foi~-Lort (vol. 1). In this version
we have the SUPER ATURAL WIZARD as the hero's father-in-law. The
tale is still alive, and was recorded and published by Dr Hamish Hender-
son in The Grtm Man of Kno111/tdge, where the heroine is a swAN
MAIDEN:
There once lived a king and a queen. They were long married, and
had no bairns; but at last the queen had a bairn, when the king was
away in far countries. The queen would not christen the bairn till the
king came back, and she said: 'We will just call him Ni&ht Nought
Nothing until his father comes home.'
But it was long before he came home, and the boy had grown a nice
little laddie. At length the king was on his way back; but he had a big
river to cross, and there was a spate, and he could not get over the
water. But a giant came up to him and said, 'If you will give me icht
Nought Nothing, I will carry you over the water on my back.' The
king had never heard his son was called icht Nought othiog,
and so he him. When the king got home again, he was very
to his q again, and his yollng son. She told him she had
not given the child any name but Nicht Nought Nothing until he
should come home ~ . The poor king was in a terrible He
'Nicht Nought Nothing'
said: 'What have I done? I promised to give the giant who carried me
over the river on his back Nicht Nought Nothing.'
The king and the queen were sad and sorry, but they said: 'When
the giant comes, \Ve will give him the hen-wife's bairn; he will never
know the difference.' The next day the giant came to claim the king's
promise, and he sent for the hen-,vife's bairn; and the giant went away
with the bairn on his back.
He travelled till he came to a big stone, and there he sat down to
rest. He said: 'Hidge, Hodge, on my back, what time of day is it?'
The poor little bairn said, 'It is the time that my mother, the hen-wife,
takes up the eggs for the queen's breakfast.' The giant was very angry,
and dashed the bairn on the stone and killed it. They tried the same
with the gardener's son, but it did no better. Then the giant went back
to the king's house, and said he would destroy them all if they did not
give him Nicht Nought Nothing this time. They had to do it; and
when they came to the big stone, the giant said, 'What time o' day is
it?' and Nicht Nought Nothing said: 'It is the time that my father, the
King, \vill be sitting down to supper.' The giant said: 'I've got the
right one now'; and took Nicht Nought Nothing to his own house, and
brought him up till he was a man.
The giant had a bonny dochter, and she and the lad grew very fond
of each other. The giant said one day to Nicht Nought Nothing, 'I've
work for you to-morrow. There is a stable seven miles long, and seven
miles broad, and it has not been cleaned for seven years, and you must
clean it to-morrow, or I'll have you for my supper.' The giant's
dochter went out next morning with the lad's breakfast, and found
him in a terrible state, for aye as he cleaned out a bit, it aye fell in again.
The giant's dochter said she would help him, and she cried a' the beasts
o' the field, and a' the fowls o' the air, and in a minute they carried
a\va' everything that was in the stable, and made it a' clean before the
giant came home. He said, 'Shame for the wit that helped you; but I
have a worse job for you to-morrow.' Then he told Nicht Nought
Nothing that there was a loch seven miles long, and seven miles deep,
and seven miles broad, and he must drain it the next day, or else he
would have him for his supper.
Nicht Nought Nothing began early next morning, and tried to lave
the water with his pail, but the loch was never getting any less; and he
did not ken \vhat to do; but the giant's dochter called on all the fish in
the sea to come and drink the water, and they soon drank it dry. When
the giant saw the work done, he was in a rage, and said: 'I've a worse
job for you to-morrow; there's a tree, seven miles high, and no branch
on it, till you get to the top, and there is a nest, and you must bring
down the eggs without breaking one, or else I will have you for my
supper.' At first the giant's dochter did not know how to help Nicht
Nought Nothing, but she cut off first her fingers, and then her toes
Nicnevin JIO
and made steps of them, and he clomb the tree, and got all the eggs
safe, till he came to the bottom, and then one was broken. The giant's
dochter advised him to run away, and she would follow him. So he
travelled until he came to a king's palace, and the king and queen took
him in, and were very kind to him. The giant's dochter left her father's
house, and he pursued her, and was drowned. Then she came to the
king's palace \Vhere Nicht Nought Nothing was. And she went up a
tree to watch for him. The gardener's dochter, going down to draw
water in the well, saw the shadow of the lady in the water, and thought
it was herself, and said: 'If I'm so bonny, if I'm so brave, do you send
me to draw \Vater?' The gardener's wife went, and said the same thing.
Then the gardener went himself, and brought the lady from the tree,
and had her in. And he told her that a stranger was to marry the king's
dochter, and showed her the man, and it was icht Nought Nothing,
asleep in a chair. And she saw him, and cried to him: 'Waken, waken,
and speak to me!' But he would not waken, and sync she cried:
'I cleared the stable, I laved the loch, and I clomb the tree,
And all for the love of thee,
And thou wilt not waken and speak to me.'
The king and queen heard this, and came to the bonny young lady,
and she said: 'I canna get icht Nought othing to speak to me, for
all that I can do.'
Then were they greatly astonished, when she spoke of icht Nought
Nothing, and asked where he was, and she said, 'He sits there in the
chair.'
Then they ran to him and kissed him, and called him their own dear
son, and he wakened, and told them all that the giant's dochter had
done for him, and of all her kindness. Then they took her in their arms,
and kissed her, and said she should be their dochter, for their son
should marry her. And they lived happy all their days.
[Type: 313. Motifs: B451; o672; D2oo4.2.1; G465; Hrsr; HJJs.o.x;
HIOIO; HI 102; H1235]
stock and killing every man whom he could encounter. Though he was a
sea spirit he could not endure fresh water, and the only escape from him
was to cross a running stream. In Douglas's Scottish Fairy and Folk Talts
an article contributed by Traill Dennison to the Scottish Antiquary is
reproduced. Mr Dennison met an old man, Tammas, who claimed to
have met uckelavee, and after much persuasion, he described the
encounter.
He was walking late one clear, starlight night along a narrow strip of
land between a fresh-water loch and the sea, when he saw something
moving along towards him. It seemed to him some monster, but he could
go neither to the right nor the left and he had always been told that the
worst thing to do was to run from supernatural creatures, so he took his
courage in both hands, and went steadily, if slowly, forward. As the thing
came nearer he recognized it as ~uckelavee. Traill Dennison gives the
gist of his description:
Obcron. 1uch more generally used as a name for the fairy king than
T 1 TA 1 A for the fairy q uecn, even if we regard the Scottish 'Diana' as
the same as Titania. Obcron was the fairy king in the I sth-century
French prose romance, H UON OF BORDEAUX, translated into English
in 1548 by Lord Berners. This king was an example of a DI\11Nt;TIVE
FA 1 R Y, the size of a three-years child, but this small size was the result of
a curse laid on him by a malicious fairy at his christening. Shakespeare's
Oberon is a typical fairy king, even in his amorous interest in mortals,
and it " 'ill be noticed that Drayton n1akes his fairy king 'Oberon ', even
though he changes 'Titania' to Queen l\lAB. In early Renaissance times,
familiar spirits were called 'Auberon' and 'Oberycom '. Some people
derive 'Auberon' from the same source as the German dwarf 'Alberich '.
(l\1otif: F252.1)
Odin, or \Voden. It seems likely that Odin " 'as the original leader of
the \V ILD HUNT in England, as he was until recent times in Scandinavia,
where, however, he chased the harmless little \vood-wives instead of the
souls of damned men. It was common for Satan to take over the role of
any influential god, and Odin, as the leader and chooser of the dead, had a
special right to play the Devil's part. Brian Branston, in The Lost Gods of
England, devotes a chapter to \Voden and maintains his right to serve as
the first leader of the \Vild Hunt, the DEVIL's DANDY DOGS and other
sinister routs of the same kind.
[Motif: ESOI.I]
Ogme, the champion. One of the sons of the High King DAGDA to
whom Dagda gave one of his BRUGHS when he was forced to take refuge
315 Oisin
underground before the advance of the invading Milesians. The whole
incident is to be found in the Lebor Gebar (Book of Battles), which is one
of the ancient books of Ireland.
Oisin. The poet and recorder of the FIANNA and the last survivor of the
band. He was the son of FINN Mac Cumhal and of Sadbh, a \VOman of
the SIDH, 'vho had been turned into a fawn by the Dark Druid, Fear
Doirche, who was pressing his love on her. She took refuge with the
Fianna 'vhere she could regain her woman's shape, and Finn loved her
and married her, but when Finn was called away to war Fear Doirche
took the appearance of Finn and lured her away, and Finn searched
everywhere, but he could never find her again. But one day when he was
hunting there \Vas a great outcry among the hounds, and \vhen the hunts-
men rode up they found BRAN AND SCEOLAN protecting a beautiful
little boy against all the rest of the pack. Finn leapt from his horse and
picked up the child: '0 Oisin - my little fawn!' he said. For he knew
Sadbh's child and his O\\n son. Later, \vhen Oisin could speak, he told
how he had been watched and nursed by a deer, and how a dark man had
taken her away.
When he grew up Oisin became the sweetest singer and one of the most
valiant fighters of the Fianna, and he lived to see the beginning of the
dark days of the Fianna, for he lived through the Battle of Gabhra \V here
Osgar, his son, 'vho was next to him in valour, was killed. But one day the
fairy princess, Niamh of the GOLDEN HAIR, fetched him away to TIR
NAN OG, the Land of the Young, and none of the Fianna ever saw him
again; but hundreds of years after he had gone he came back, riding the
white horse on which he had departed, but he set down his foot for an
instant to lift a great stone trough, and he fell down an old, old man, and
the horse shied and galloped away so that Oisin could never return to
Tir Nan Og. And by that time Christianity had come to the land, and St
Patrick was the great man there, and he listened eagerly to all that Oisin
told him of the days of the Fianna. But though Patrick tried to \vin him to
Old Bloody Bones 316
Christianity, Oisin continued to lament the days of the Fianna until he
died.
[Type 766 (variant). Motif.~: C52 1 ; c984; FJ02. 1 ; 1~378. 1]
Old Lady of the Elder Tree, the. Of all the sacred and FAIRY TREES
of England, the surviving traditions of the elder tree seem to be the
most lively. Sometimes they arc closely associated with witches, some-
times \\ith FA 1 RI ES, and sometimes they have an independent life as a
dryad or goddess. These traditions are not now generally believed, but
they are still known to some of the country people. Formerly the belief was
more lively. Mrs Gutch in County Folk-Lore (vol. v) quotes from a paper
given by R. M. Heanley to the Viking Club in 1901:
Hearing one day that a baby in a cottage close to my own was ill, I
went across to sec \vhat was the matter. Baby appeared right enough,
and I said so; but its mother promptly explained. 'It were all along of
my maister's thick 'ed; it \V ere in this how: T' rocker cummed off t'
cradle, an' he hedn't no more gumption than to mak' a new 'un out on
illerwood without axing the Old Lad) 's leave, an' in coarse she didn't
like that, an' she came and pinched t' wean that outrageous he were a'
most black i' t' face; but I bashed 'un off, an' putten an' esh 'un on,
an' t'wean is as gall us as owt agin.'
This was something quite new to me, and the clue seemed worth
following up. So going home I went straight down to my backyard,
where old Johnny Holmes was cutting up firewood - 'chopping kind-
ling/ as he would have said. \Vatching the opportunity, I put a knot of
elder-\vood in the \vay and said, 'You are not feared of chopping that,
are you?' ' ay,' he replied at once, 'I bain't feared of choppin' him,
he bain't \vick (alive); but if he were wick I dussn't, not without axin'
the Old Gal's leave, not if it \Vere ever so.' ... (The words to be used
are): 'Oh, them's slape enuff.' You just says, 'Owd Gal, give me of thy
wood, atl Oi will give some of1110ine, when I graws inter a tree.'
[Motif: F44I.2.J.2]
Old People, the. One of the Cornish EUPHEMISTIC NAMES FOR THE
FAIRIES. It was founded on the belief that the SMALL PEOPLE OF
CORNWALL were the souls of the heathen people of the old times, who
had died before the days of Christianity and were too good for Hell and
too bad for Heaven. They were therefore pendulous till the Day of
Judgement between Hell and Heaven. This belief was found by Evans
Wentz in the early 1900s to be held by a proportion of the population in
most of the Celtic countries which he explored.
[Motif: C433]
The greater part of these angels \Vere thought of, like the Cornish
MURYANS, as 'too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven', but with the
growth of Puritanism the view of the fairies became darker and the fallen
angels began to be regarded as downright devils, with no mitigating
feature. \Ve find this in 17th-century England. \ illian1 \Varner in
A/bion's England goes so far as to deny all performance of household tasks
to ROBIN GOODFELLO\V, saying ingeniously that he got the housewives
up in their sleep to clean their houses. Robin got the credit of the work,
and the poor housewife got up in the morning more tired than she had
gone to bed. This is to deprive the fairy character of all benevolence. On
the other hand, two of the Puritan divines of the san1e period allow the
fairies to be a kind of spiritual animal, of a middle nature between man
and spirit. It is clear that there was no lack of diversity between those who
believed in the real existence of fairies.
( 1otifs: F251; F251.1; F251.2; F251.3; F251.6; F251.7; F251.11;
F251.12)
Ossian (islzeen). 'Ossian' has been the usual Highland spelling of the
Irish o IS 1~ since the time of James 1 1acpherson 's poem Ossian, loosely
founded on the Highland Ossianic legends. J. F. CAMPBJ:LL, in his dis-
cussion of the cottish Ossianic legends in his Popular Tales of tlze TVest
Htgh/ands (vol. 1\ ), well establishes the \vidcspread knowledge of the
Ossianic poems and ballads in 18th-century cot land and of the Fin-
galian legends. All over the Highlands, Ossian was known as the great
poet and singer of the Feinn, who survived them all and kept the memory
of them alive by his songs. 1\lany of the Fenian legends survived in these
songs, and in such early manuscripts as The Book of Leinster. 'The Death
of Diarmid, and other tragic stories of the last days of the Feinn '"'ere
deeply remembered and the tragic plight ofOssian, old, blind and mighty,
is the most vivid of all. \Vhat is not recorded in the Highlands is his visit
to TIR NA r OG and the happy centuries he passed with "'iam of the
GOLDEJ'\ HAIR.
Pechs, or Pehts, or Picts. Pechs and Pchts arc cottish Lowland names
for FAIR 1 ES and arc confused in tradition \Vith the Picts, the n1ysterious
people of Scotland who built the Pictish BRUGHS and possibly also the
Fingalian BROCHS, the round stone towers, of which the most perfect
examples arc the Round 1'o\\ ers of Brechin and Abernethy. At the end of
the xgth century, Da,id J\1AC RITCHIE made out a good case for his
THEORY OF FAIRY ORIGI~S that the FEENS or Fians of the Highlands
and Ireland were substantiall} identical \Vith the PECHS of the Lowlands
and the TRO\\'S of Shetland. R. Chambers in his Popular Rhymes of
Scotland sa) s:
Long ago there were people in this country called the Pechs; short
wee men they were, wi' red hair, and long arms, and feet sae braid,
that when it rained they could turn them up owre their heads, and
then they served for umbrellas. The Pechs were great builders; they
built a' the auld castles in the kintry; ...
Mac Ritchie quotes the evidence of a young Shetlander in Kettlester:
It may be mentioned that \Vhen I asked my young guide at Kettlester
the exact height of the small Pechts he had just been speaking of, he
said, 'About that height,' indicating at the same time a stature three
feet or so. Whatever their height really was, this young Shetlander's
ideas \V ere in agreement with those held 'throughout Scotland'.
l\1ac Ritchie also cites an account given by James Knox in 1831 in The
Topography of the Banks of the Tay (p. xo8) in which he says 'the Pechs
were unco wee bodies, but terrible strang' and adds, 'They are said to
have been about three or four feet in height.' The Pechs were tremendous
323 Peg Powler
castle builders and were credited with the construction of many of the
ancient castles and churches. Their method was to shape the stones in the
quarry, and, forming a long chain from the quarry to the site, pass the
stones from hand to hand and erect the \V hole tower in the course of a
night. They could not bear the light of day and always took refuge in
their brughs or SITHEANS at sunrise. This is a convincing picture of the
hill fairies in Scotland and the Border Country. Whether it is a work of
euhemerization to identify them with a former race or no is an open
question. It seems likely that some historic memory of an aboriginal race
contributed one strand to the twisted cord of fairy tradition.
(Motif: F23942]
Peerifool. The name of the Orcadian TOM TIT TOT, which also contains
some elements of HABETROT. The youngest of three princesses cap-
tured by a GIANT shares her porridge with some yellow-headed peerie
folk who enter the house, and afterwards a peerie boy comes in to do
spinning for her. A beggar \Voman looks through a hole into a fairy
dwelling as the lassie did in 'Habetrot' and sees the Peerie Boy going
round the spinners saying: 'Tease, teasers, tease; card, carders, card;
spin, spinners, spin, for peerie fool, peerie fool is my name.' She told this
to gain a night's lodging, and so the princess learned the needed name,
\Vhich is hence one ofthe SECRET NAMES OF THE FAIRIES.
(Types 311; 500. Motifs: C432.1; 02183; F271.2; FJ8I.I; N475)
Peg o' Nell. An evil spirit \vhich haunts the river Ribble near Clitheroe,
and Waddow Hall in particular. One year in seven she claims a victim for
the river, and if a cat or dog has not been drowned by Peg o' Nell's Night,
the Ribble \vill claim a human victim. A well in the grounds ofWaddow
Hall is named after her, and a headless stone figure standing near it is
supposed to represent her. It seems likely that she was originally the
nymph of the Ribble; if so, tradition has replaced her by a human ghost.
Long ago, it is said, there \vas a maidservant named Peg o' Nell at
Waddo\v Hall. She and her mistress quarrelled, and as she picked up her
pail to fetch water from the well her mistress wished she might fall and
break her neck. The ground was covered with ice and the wish was ful-
filled. Peg did not turn into a mild, complaining ghost. A curse was on
the place. Misfortunes to the stock and the illness of children were all
blamed on her. But the worst of all \vas her seven-year toll of a life. We
hear the details, with the confirmatory story of a drowning on Peg's
Night, from William Henderson in Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties
(p. z6s).
[Motif: F42o.s.z.x.6]
Peg Powler. If PEG o' NELL is a wronged ghost, Peg Powler is a relative
of JENNY GREENTEETH, true-bred water-demon, though, according to
Pellings, the
the DENHAM TRACTS (vol. 11, p. 42), she must be rated as a NURSERY
BOGIE.
Peg Powler is the evil goddess of the Tees; and many are the tales
still told at Piersebridge, of her dragging naughty children into its
deep waters when playing, despite the orders and threats of their
parents, on its banks- especially on the Sabbath-day. And the writer
still perfectly recollects being dreadfully alarmed in the days of his
childhood lest, more particularly when he chanced to be alone on the
margin of those waters, she should issue from the stream and snatch
him into her watery chambers.
Henderson gives a more explicit description of the spirit in Folk-Lore
ofthe Northenz Counties {p. 265):
The river Tees has its spirit, called Peg Powler, a sort of Lorelei,
with green tresses, and an insatiable desire for human life, as has the
Jenny Greenteeth of Lancashire streams. Both are said to lure people
to their subaqueous haunts, and then drown or devour them. The foam
or froth, \vhich is often seen floating on the higher portion of the Tees
in large masses, is called 'Peg Powler's suds'; the finer, less sponge-like
froth is called 'Peg Pow ler's cream'.
GRINDYLO\V and NELL Y LO~G-AR~ts are both mentioned by E. M.
\Vright in Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore (p. 198) as similar GOBLINS who
drag children down into water. She gives the last a wider range than the
others (Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire), but
gives no special description of her.
[Motifs: F420.1.4.8; F42o.s.2.1.2]
Perry Dancers. The Suffolk name for the Aurora Borealis. See also
FIR CHLIS.
-- ~
~
asleep. In this form the Phouka is like an old withered man dressed in
rags. The boy tells his father and together they \vatch the phoukas at
work through the crack of the door. After this the miller dismisses his
men, and all the work of the mill is done by the phoukas. The mill
became very prosperous. The boy Phadrig became very fond of the
Phouka and night after night he watched him through the keyhole of an
empty chest. He became more and more sorry for the Phouka, so old and
frail and ragged, and working so hard to keep the idle little phoukas up to
their ' ork. At length, out of pure love and gratitude, he bought stuff and
had a beautiful coat and breeches made for the Phouka, and laid them out
for him to find. The Phouka \Vas delighted with them, but decided that
he \vas too fine to work any more. When he left all the little phoukas ran
away, but the mill kept its prosperity, and when Phadrig married a
beautiful bride he found a gold cup full of wine on the bridal table. He
was sure it came from the Phouka and drank it \Vithout fear, and made
his bride drink too.
Pishogue
A better-known story is that of'The Phooka of Kildare', in which the
brownie-like spirit keeps its animal form of an ass, but describes itself as
the ghost of an idle kitchen boy. It too is laid by a gift of clothing, but in
this case because it has at length earned a reward by its labours. These
stories show the Phouka very near to ROBIN GOODFELLOW, or Puck,
tricksy, mischievous, practical-joking, but helpful and well-disposed to
the human race.
(Motifs: E423; F234.0.2; F343.14; F381.3; FJ994; F40I.J.I; F482.5.4]
Pixies, or Pigsies, or Piskies. These arc \Vest Country FAIR 1 ES, be-
longing to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. There is indeed a tradition of
pixies at Greenho\\' Hill in Yorkshire, but this was once worked by
Cornish miners, and they seem to have left their pixies behind them. They
were first introduced to the literary world by l\Irs Bray in her series of
letters addressed to Robert outhey published under the title of The
Borders ofthe Tavy and the Tamar. Mrs Bray was not native to the West
Country, and occasionally gives some fairy traits to the Pixies and draws
on literature as \Vell as tradition. For all that, she opened a rich vein of
folklore and her findings are confirmed by true \Vest Countrymen such
as HUNT and BOTTRELL in their accounts of Cornish PISKIES.
There are varying traditions about the size, appearance and origin of
the Pixies, but all accounts agree about their being dressed in green, and
about their habit of misleading travellers. They also will help their
favourites like BROW IES, and like brownies are laid by a gift of clothes.
They are generally thought to be homelier in appearance than are fairies.
The most recent and some of the most vivid descriptions of the Pixies are
those given by Ruth Tongue in County Folklore (vol. VIII). According to
her, the Pixies defeated the Fairies in a pitched battle and drove them
across the river Parrett, so that every,vhere to the \Vest of the Parrett is
no\v Pixyland. Pixies, even \vhen they assume a mortal size, are easy to
recognize. They are red-headed, 'vith pointed ears, turned-up noses and
short faces. They often squint. Green is their colour. It is their habit to
steal horses at night and ride them round in circles, called 'gallitraps ', a
term for fairy rings. Anyone who puts both feet into one of these is a
prisoner; if only one foot goes in he can see the pixies, but can still escape.
A criminal putting even one foot into a gallitrap will be hanged.
Pixies piay all the pranks that are elsewhere ascribed to RoB 1 N GooD-
FELLO\V or PUCK, but they are particularly fond of misleading travellers.
Anyone \Vho comes unadvisedly and without precaution across pixy
ground is liable to be PIXY-LED, and can only save himself by turning his
coat, if he has not had the foresight to carry a wicken-caoss or a piece of
329 Pixies, or Pigsies, or Piskies
BREAD with him, but a man who by ill-conduct or churlish ways has made
himself disliked by the pixies is not likely to be let off so lightly. Ruth
Tongue (pp. rrs-r6), after several stories of bad characters left in bogs or
streams, tells one with a well-deserved fatal ending, the tale of 'Old
Farmer Mole':
They'll tell 'ee three things 'bout an Exmoor Pony 'can climb a
cleeve, carry a drunky, and zee a pixy'. And that's what old Varmer
Mole's pony do.
Old Varmer Mole were a drunken old toad as lived out over to
Hangley Cleave way and he gived his poor dear wife and liddle children
a shocking life of it. He never come back from market till his pockets
were empty and he \Vas zo vull of zider he'd zit on pony 'hind-zide
afore' a zingin' and zwearin' till her rolled into ditch and slept the
night there - but if his poor missus didn't zit up all night vor 'n he'd
baste her and the children wicked.
Now the pixies they did mind'n and they went to mend his ways.
'Twad'n no manner of use to try to frighten pony - he were that
foot-sure and way-wise he'd brought Varmer safe \Vhoame drunk or
asleep vor years, wheresoever the vule tried to ride'n tew.
This foggy night the old veller were wicked drunk and a-waving his
gad and reckoning how he'd drub his Missus when he gets to whoame
when her zee a light in the mist. 'Whoa, tha vu le! ' says he, 'Us be to
whoame. Dang'n vor lighting a girt candle like thic. I'll warm her zides
for it!'
But pony he \vouldn' stop. He could a-zee the pixy holdin' thic light
and 'twere over the blackest, deepest bog this zide of the Chains - zuck
a pony down in a minute 'twould, rider and all.
But the old man keeps on shouting, 'Whoa, fule, us be tew whoame!'
And rode straight for the bog- but pony digged in his vour liddle veet
'n her stood!
Varmer gets off'n and catches'n a crack on the head and walks on to
light. He hadn' goed two steps when the bog took and swallowed 'n!
Zo old pony trots whoame. And when they zee'd 'n come alone with
peat-muck on his legs they kno\ved what did come to Varmer- and
they did light every candle in house and dancey!
After that Missus left a pail of clean water out at night vor pixy
babies to wash in, pretty dears, and swept hearth vor pixies to dancey
on and varm prospered wondervul, and old pony grew zo fat as a pig.
Similar stories are told of the Piskies of Corn,vall, who are occasionally
called, as they are sometimes in Somerset, the 'Pigsies '. Hunt gives one
about the night-riding of a fine young horse. These pigsies were pre-
sumably the same as the Piskies, who were of the usual small size and
rode twenty or so to each horse.
The tale of the FAIRY PEDis also told about the Somerset Pixies.
Pixy-led 330
One of the various origins ascribed to the Pixies and Piskies all over
the West Country is that they arc the souls of unchristened children;
another is that they are the souls of the Druids or of heathen people who
died before the coming of Christ and were not fit for Heaven but not bad
enough for Hell. This they have in common with n1any ideas about the
ORIGIN OF FAIRIES, and it will be seen that though some distinctions
can be drawn bet,veen pixies and fairies, they yet have so much in com-
mon that they belong to the same genus.
Type: ML6035. Motifs: F361.16; F369.7; F38r.3; F402.1.1; F405.11)
Pixy-led. One of the most common traits of the FA 1 RI ES was their habit
of leading humans astray. POUK-LEDDEN was the Midlands term for it,
the stories of the STRAY soo give us the Irish version, and ROB IN
GOODFELLO\V, or PUCK, was often credited with it by the early poets.
As Drayton says in his account of the DL\1IN TIVE FAIRIES in
Nimphidia:
This Puck seemes but a dreaming dolt,
till walking like a ragged Colt,
And oft out of a Bush doth bolt,
Of purpose to deceive us.
And leading us n1akcs us to stray,
Long \Vinters nights out of the way,
And when we stick in mire and clay,
Hob doth with laughter lea vc us.
Many of the fairies are credited with this kind of trickery, among them
the G\VYLLION of \Yales, but in modern times the \Vest Country
PIXIES or the Cornish PISKIES are the most usual practitioners of the
art. Two accounts collected by Ruth Tongue from the ~ettlecombe
Women's Institute in 1961 are giYen inK. Briggs, The Fairies in Traditiott
and Literature (pp. 138--<)). One is in the regular country tradition:
I were pixy-led once in a \Yood near Budleigh Salterton. I couldn't
find my way out, though 'twas there, plain to see. I \vent all around
about it three times, and then somebody coom along to find me, and I
thought how could I miss the path. They said others was pixy-led there
too.
The second, given by the President, was more sophisticated, but per-
haps even more interesting:
I \vent a journey to a house in Corn\vall to do some secretarial work.
When the farm came in sight I walked in and asked if I were on the
right track to the 1\lanor. They all looked a little queer,- I thought it
\vas because they never sa\v any strangers, - but the farmer's \Vife was
very kind and gave me careful directions. I was to cross certain fields,
and then go down a certain track to \Vhere there were two gates, and I
331 Plant Rhys Dwfen
must take the white one. She was so insistent on this that I had visions
of a bull in the other field, or fierce watch-dogs; and the farm men
who sat by (they were having a meal) all agreed in silence. Well, I
came to the bridle track; it was a misty, snowy, depressing day and I
didn't want to be late,- I had to walk home after. Then I came to a
gate at the end, set in a thick hawthorn hedge, one gate, and it wasn't
white, and I had a most creepy feeling. I was determined not to lose
that job. I was just starting work and I needed the pay. Well, I went
all along that hedge, and I pricked my fingers too, but there was only
one gate. Then somebody came up the bridle track whistling, and the
thick mist cleared, and there was no hedge. It was one of the farm lads
sent after me \vho knew what to do. 'Here's your white gate, Miss,' he
said, and, sure enough, there it was, beside the other one. He didn't
stop for thanks, but turned back to the farm, still whistling loudly. The
old Manor House was there, right in front of me, and I went in at a
run. My job didn't take me more than an hour, and I simply ran past
the farm. The woman looked out, and I waved and hurried on. I wish
now I'd had the courage to ask if her boy wore hob-nailed boots, or
carried salt in his pocket, or if he had been told to sing or whistle.
To avoid being pixy-led it is necessary to know the correct methods of
PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES.
[Motifs: F369.7; F385.1; F402.1.1]
Plant Ann\vn (plant anoon), the. The Welsh FAIRIES of the underworld,
whose entrance to the human world is by the lakes. Their king is GWYN
AP NUD, and they are chiefly known to men through their maidens, the
GWRAGEN ANNWN, by their white or speckled cattle, the GW AR THEG
Y LL YN, and by their swift \Vhite hounds, the C\VN ANNWN, who were
sometimes seen \Vith their fairy mistresses, but more often heard on
summer nights in full cry after the souls of men \vho had died unassoiled
and impenitent. The Lake Maidens made loving and docile wives until
the TABOO attached to them was violated; the Lake Cattle brought
wealth and prosperity to any farmer who was lucky enough to keep one;
but the hounds of the underworld betray the nature of these underwater
people: they were the company of the dead, like the subjects of FIN
BHEARA in Ireland. In a story told by Pugh of Aberdovey and preserved
by John Rhys, Gwyn ap Nud is called king of Annwn, but elsewhere
Rhys calls ARAWN, the friend of Pwyll of Dyfed, the undoubted king of
the underworld. He is called so in the MABINOGION.
[Motif: F2I2]
Plant Rhys Dwfen (plant hrees thoovn). This, meaning the family of
Rhys the Deep, is the name given to a tribe of fairy people who inhabited
a small land which was invisible because of a certain herb that grew on it.
Plentyn-ncwid 332
They were handsome people, rather below the average in height, and it
was their custom to attend the market in Cardigan and pay such high
prices for the goods there that the ordinary buyer could not compete
with them. They were honest and resolute in their dealings, and grateful
to people who treated them fairly. One man called Gruffid always treated
them so well that they took a great liking to him and invited him to their
country, 'vhich was enriched with treasures from all over the world.
They loaded him with gifts and conducted him back to their boundary.
Just before he took lea vc of them he asked how they guarded all their
wealth. Might not even one of their own people betray them into the
hands of strangers? 'Oh no,' said his guide. ' o snakes can live in
Ireland and no treachery can live here. Rhys, the father of our race, bade
us, even to the most distant descendant, honour our parents and an-
cestors; love our own \vives without looking at those of our neighbours;
and do our best for our children and grandchildren. And he said that if
we did so, no one of us would ever prove unfaithful to another, or become
"hat you call a traitor.' He said that a traitor was an imaginary character
\vith them, shown in a symbolic drawing with the feet of an ass, the head
of the devil and a bosom full of snakes, holding a knife in his hand, 'vith
which he had killed his family. \Vith that he said goodbye, and Gruffid
found himself near his own home, and could no longer sec the Country
of Plant Rhys. After this time he prospered in everything and his friend-
ship with the Plant Rhys continued. After his death, however, the
farmers became so covetous that the Plant Rhys no longer frequented
Cardigan f\vlarket, and were said to have gone to Fishguard. This land of
virtuous, honest fairy people is like that visited by Elidor in the story of
ELIDOR AND THE GOLDEN BALL in medieval times. John Rhys in Celtic
Folk-Lore quotes this account from the Br)'thon (vol. 1).
descriptive speech to TITA ' lA's fairy could not be bettered as the
description of a hobgoblin:
Pwca (pooka). The Welsh version of the English PUCK. His actions and
character are so like those of Shakespeare's Puck that some Welsh people
have claimed that Shakespeare borrowed him from stories told him by
his friend Richard Price of Brecon who lived near Cwm Pwca, one of the
Pwca's favourite haunts. Sikes in British Goblins reproduces a rather
pleasing drawing of the Pwca, done with a piece of coal by a Welsh
peasant. The Pwca in this picture has a head rather like a fledgeling bird's
and a figure not unlike a tadpole's. No arms are shown, but the figure is
in silhouette. One story about the Pwca shows that a tribute of milk was
left for him. This may possibly have been in payment for his services as
Rade
a cowherd, though that is not expressly mentioned. A milkmaid at
Trwyn Farm near Abergwyddon used to leave a bov..l of milk and a piece
of white bread for Pwca in a lonely place on the pastures every day. One
day, out of mischief, she drank the milk herself and ate most of the bread,
so that Pwca only got cold water and a crust that day. 1cxt day, as she
went near the place, she was suddenly seized by very sharp but invisible
hands and given a sound whipping, while the Pwca warned her that if
she did that again she would get worse treatn1cnt.
Pwca is best kno\vn, however, as a \\'ILL o' THE \\'ISP. He will lead a
benighted wanderer up a narrow path to the edge of a ravine, then leap
over it, laughing loudly, blow out his candle, and leave the poor traveller
to grope his way back as best he can. In this behaviour he is like the
Scottish SHELL YCOAT as well as the English Puck.
[~1otif: F402. 1. 1]
Roane, the. 'Roane' is the Gaelic name for a seal, but the old people
believed, as the Shetlanders believed of their SELK IES, that these were a
kind of fairy creature, who wore their skins to travel through the sea, but
could cast them off and appear in human shape. The Roanc were the
gentlest of all the fairy people. The Selkics avenged the death of their kin
by raising storms and sinking the boats of the seal-catchers, but the
Roane seem to have borne little resentment against their persecutors.
Grant Stewart, in his /Jighland Superstitions and Amusements (pp. 65 --71),
tells of a seal-catcher who lived near John O'Groats, who had one day lost
his clasp-knife in the attempt to kill a large dog-seal. That night there
came a knock at his door and a stranger leading a fine horse asked his
name and told him that he had been sent to order a large number of seal-
skins from him. The customer was at hand, and would make the bargain
with him himself. The two got on, and the horse plunged away at such
a pace that the following wind seemed to blow in their faces. They rode
along the wild coast until they reached a great crag above the sea. '\\.here
are you taking me?' said the fisherman. 'Get down, and you 'IJ soon see,'
said the stranger, and as their feet touched the land he seized the fisher-
man and leapt with him right over the crag. Down and down they went
into the depths of the sea until they came to a cave which was full of the
seal people, and the fishern1an perceived that he himself had become a
seal. His companion was a seal too, but he and all the rest spoke and
behaved like human mortals. They were all very sad. The fisherman \Vas
in great terror, for he knew that he must have killed many of their friends.
His guide showed him a clasp-knife. 'Do you know this knife?' he said,
and the fisherman had no choice but to confess that it was his, though he
feared that in a moment it would be plunged into him. 'It was with this
knife that you wounded my father,' said the stranger, 'and only you can
heal him.' He led the fisherman into an inner cave where the big dog-seal
that had escaped that day lay in great pain. The seal people told him \vhat
to do, and with the knife he made a circle round the \vound and smoothed
it with his hand, wishing with all his heart that it might be healed. And
so it was, and the old seal got up from his couch as well as he had ever
been. The fisherman still feared that he ,,ould be punished, but they told
him not to be afraid; if he would swear a solemn oath never to kill a seal
again he should be taken back to his wife and children. He took the oath
with full solemnity; the stranger took him back to the cliff where their
horse was waiting, and left him at his own door, with a gift of money that
was worth the price of many seal-skins.
34 1 Robin Goodfellow
It is the SEAL MAIDENS, too, who sometimes cast off their seal-skins
and dance together on the shore. There are many tales in the Scottish
Highlands, as well as in the Orkneys and Shetlands, of how mortal fisher-
men have sometimes seized a skin and taken captive one of the Roane as a
wife. But the wife always recovers her skin and escapes back to the sea,
just as the GWRAGEDD ANNWN of Wales always leave their mortal hus-
bands in the end. There is no lasting union between FA 1R1ES and mortals.
[Type: ML4o8o. Motif: E731.6]
Ro\van, or mountain ash. The tree which above all others offered the
best protection against fairy enchantments and witchcraft. As the
Scottish rhyme goes:
Rowan, lamer [amber] and red threid,
Pits witches to their speed.
It will be noticed that all these are reddish, and the red berries of the
rowan-tree make it specially effective. A staff of rowan, a CROSS made of
rowan, a bunch of ro\van berries, all these were effective, and it was
customary in the Highlands to plant a rowan-tree outside every house.
Where rowans were scarce, ASH-trees took their place. An ashen gad was
supposed to be protective of cattle. See also PROTECTION AGAINST
FAIRIES.
[Motifs: o9so-6; ox38s.2.s]
St Collen (kothlen) and the Fairy King. St Collen was a Welsh saint
of the 7th century. Like many of the Celtic saints, he was of a pugnacious
and restless disposition, and during his career he spent some time in
Somerset. It was here that he encountered the fairy king. S. Baring-
Gould, in his Lives of the Saints, summarizes his story from a Welsh
Life of St Collen, not translated into English at the time 'vhen Baring-
Gould was writing. This accounts for the confusing statement that the
king of the FAIRIES on Glastonbury Tor was called GWYN AP NUDO,
and his dominion \Vas over Annwn.
St Collen, after three years at Glastonbury, had been elected abbot,
but he soon renounced his abbacy for the heavier and harder life of a
hermit, and found a cell at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. As he was
meditating in it one day he heard two men saying that Gwyn ap Nudd,
king of Annwn, had his castle on the top of the Tor. St Collen stuck his
head out of the windo'v and rebuked them for talking in such good terms
of devils from Hell. The men warned him not to talk in that \vay of
Gwyn ap Nudd, or it would be the worse for him. But Collen persisted.
A fe\v days later a messenger came to the cell inviting Collen to visit the
fairy king. Collen refused, but day after day the invitation was repeated,
and at last the messenger lost patience and said that it would be the worse
for him if he did not come. Collen went with him, but he picked up a
stoup of HOLY WATER and hid it under his cassock.
At the top of the Tor he found the most beautiful castle that the mind
of man could conceive, troops of bodyguards and a number of musicians
with all kinds of instruments, bevies of maidens, and gallant young men
riding around on beautiful horses. He was conducted into the banqueting
hall where the king pressed him courteously to sit down and eat. A great
banquet was carried in by fair pages in uniforms of scarlet and blue. 'Eat
and drink,' said the king, 'and if this does not please you, there is plenty
more of all sorts.' But Collen, whose eyes \vere not blinded by GLAMOUR,
replied, 'I do not eat the leaves of a tree.' A shudder ran through the
shining assembly, but the king still spoke courteously: 'Tell me, have
you ever seen attendants better dressed than my pages in their fair
liveries of scarlet and blue?' 'They are suitably dressed,' said Collen,
'for what they are.' 'And what is that?' said the king. 'Scarlet is for the
ever-living flames,' Collen replied, 'and blue for the eternal ice of Hell.'
With that he dashed the holy water over them all. The gorgeous show
St John's \Vort
vanished in a n1inute, and Collen found himself standing in the pale light
of dawn an1ong the grassy tumps at the sumn1it of the 'for.
It is dear that Collcn n1ade nothing of the need of GOOD l\1ANNERS
in dealing with the fairies, but he was fully alive to the danger of eating
FAIRY FOOD.
(Motif.c;: D20Jl; FJ6o.o.2; F167.12; F382.2)
Scot, Reginald (1535 ?- 1599). The author of two books, both original
in conception and treatment, of which the second, The Discoverie of
Witchcraft (1584), concerns us, though not so closely as if we had been
treating primarily of witchcraft. Scot, after going down from Hart Hall,
Oxford, spent a quiet, studious life in his native Kent. He was not, how-
ever, entirely abstracted from public business and concerned himself in
local affairs to good purpose. In the course of his public services he be-
came much concerned at the cruelty and injustice with which old women
suspected of the practice of witchcraft were treated, and he set himself to
expose the superstitions and fallacies on which the witchcraft beliefs
were founded. This he did with great learning, and in a racy and engaging
style which captured popular attention. In the course of the book he one~
or twice mentioned the FAIRIES and gave the famous list of fairies
believed in in his boyhood which was reproduced in the DENHAM
TRACTS. In Book IV, Chapter 10, he refers to the BROWNIE:
In deede your grandams maides were woont to set a boil of milke
before him and his cousine Robin good-fellow, for grinding of malt or
mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight: and you haue also
heard that he would chafe exceedingly, if the maid or good-wife of the
house, having compassion of his nakednes, laid anie clothes for him,
beesides his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing
fee. For in that case he saith; What haue we here? Hemton, hamten,
here will I neuer more tread nor stam pen.
Scot, Reginald
And in his address 'To the Reader' Scot mentions these beliefs as
long past:
For I should no more prevaile herein, than if a hundred yeares
since I should have intreated your predecessors to bcleeve that
Robin goodfellowe, that great and ancient bulbeggar, had beene
but a cousening merchant, and no divell indeed ... But Robin good-
fellowe ceaseth now to be much feared, and poperie is sufficiently
discovered.
Scot's book attracted considerable attention and was translated into
Dutch. King James of Scotland took strong exception to it, and wrote his
Daemonologie to refute it. He also mentions the fairies with a description
of the FAIRY RADE and a n1cntion of the brownie as a present, not a past
belief, in a devil who haunts the house, doing no evil, 'but doing as it
were necessarie turnes up and down the house: and this spirit they called
Brownie in our language, who appeared like a rough-man: yea, some were
so blinded, as to beleeve that their house was all the sonsicr, as they
called it, that such spirites resorted there'.
Not content with writing to refute the book, James, on his accession to
the English throne, ordered that it should be burnt by the public hang-
man. It was perhaps as well that Scot had died some years before. The
book was not, however, finally suppressed, and in x66s the third edition
was brought out with nine chapters added at the beginning of the
Fifteenth Book and a Discourse upon Devils a11d Spirits in a very different
style from the sturdy scepticism of Rcginald Scot, for that curious
fashion of credulitv had set in which coincided \\ ith the foundation of
the Royal Society. It includes some pretty fair} passages:
And more particularly the Faeries - do principally inhabit the
J\.1ountains, and Caverns of the Earth, whose nature is to make strange
Apparitions on the Earth in !vieddo,vs, or on J\..1ountains being like
!\1en and \Vomen, Souldiers, Kings, and Ladyes Children, and Horse-
men cloathed in green, to which purpose they do in the night steal
hempen stalks from the fields \vhere they grow, to Convert them into
Horses as the Story goes ... Such jocund and facetious Spirits are
sayd to sport themselves in the night by tumbling and fooling with
Servants and Shepherds in Country houses, pinching them black and
ble,v, and leaving Bread, Butter and Cheese sometimes with them,
which if they refuse to eat, some mischief shall undoubtedly befall
them by means of these Faeries. And many such have been taken away
by the sayd Spirits, for a fortnight, or month together, being carryed
with them in Chariots through the Air, over Hills, and Dales, Rocks
and Precipices, till at last they have been found lying in some Meddow
or Mountain bereaved of their sences, and commonly of one of their
Members to boot.
Seal Maidens. The seal people have long been regarded as the gentlest
of the sea spirits, and the seal maidens are among the more recent of the
traditions of the FAIRY BRIDES. Occasional families have a hereditary
horny growth between their fingers which is supposed to be an inheritance
from a seal ancestress. 'The MacCoddrums of the Seals' are the most
famous example. The pattern of the story is almost invariable and is to
be found in Orkney and Shetland, where the seal people are known as
SELKIES, as well as in the Highlands and Islands, where they are called
the RoAN E. A fisherman sees some beautiful maidens dancing by the sea.
Secret names of the fairies 350
He creeps up to then1 unobserved and carries away and hides one of the
skins he finds lying on the rocks by the water. The seal maidens take
alarm, pull on their seal-skins and plunge into the sea. Only one is left
behind, searching desperately for her skin. She begs for it unavailingly,
but at length she is persuaded to n1arry the fisherman, though she always
has a wistful eye on the sea. She makes a good and domesticated wife
until at length she discovers her hidden seal-skin, \vhen she at once
hurries down to the sea and returns to her first husband. Sometimes she
returns to bestow medical knowledge upon her children, as, in \Vales,
did Penelope of the G\VRAGEDD ANN\VN. But here, as in other fairy
bride stories, the rule is that unions between n1ortals and inunortals are
destined for breach and bcrcaven1cnt.
[l\1otifs: n6s r.8; 072 r; 01025.9; F420.1.2*]
The next question [Lewis Carroll says] is, what is the best time for
seeing Fairies? I believe I can tell you all about that.
The first rule is, that it must be a very hot day- that we may consider
as settled: and you must be just a little sleepy - but not too sleepy to
keep your eyes open, mind. \Vell, and you ought to feel a little- what
one may call 'fairy ish' - the Scotch call it 'eerie', and perhaps that's a
prettier \Vord; if you don't know what it means, I'm afraid I can hardly
explain it; you must wait till you meet a Fairy, and then you'll
kno\v.
353 Selkies
And the last rule is, that the crickets should not be chirping. I can't
stop to explain that: you must take it on trust for the present.
So, if all these things happen together, you have a good chance of
seeing a Fairy - or at least a much better chance than if they didn't.
[Motifs: F235 I; F23546; F2355I; F23552]
Seelie Court. The name given to the kindly fairy HOST. 'Seelie' is
'blessed'. The malignant FAIRIES were sometimes called the UNSEELIE
couRT. Macpherson, in Primitive Beliefs in the North-East of Scotland
{pp. g8-Ioo), gives a good account of the Seelie Court, with instances
from Gregor, Grant Stewart and the Aberdeen Journal of 1910. He
mentions first their purely benevolent activities, such as gifts of BREAD
and seed corn to the poor and the help they give to their favourites. An
example drawn from Gregor in Folk-Lore Record (vol. 1) is of an Aber-
deenshire farmer who suspected his thresher of using uncanny help. He
hid himself in the barn to watch the threshing. His man came in, picked
up the flail and approached the sheaves. Then he looked around and said,
'Come awa', ma reed cappies.' After that he made the motions of thresh-
ing, but invisible hands performed the labour. The farmer stayed hidden
and said nothing, but he got rid of his uncanny helper on the first oppor-
tunity. The fair folk were benefactors also to anyone who did them a
kindness. .A story from Grant Stewart illustrates this. A poor woman,
who could ill afford it, gave a fairy who begged from her a measure of
meal. It was returned to her, and during a wintry shortage her meal bin
never ran dry. Even the Seelie Court, however, readily revenged any
injury or insult. People emptying slops into their underground dwellings
were fairly warned, but if they paid no attention to the warning, they
were punished by loss of stock or by the destruction of their house. Other
offences met with appropriate punislunent, but human beings were not
wantonly injured, as by the Unseelie Court.
(Motifs: C433; F340; F346; F403]
Selkies. The selkies of Orkney and Shetland are very like the ROANE
of the West Highlands, but there are some differences in the beliefs about
them. In Orkney the small, common seal, called by the Orcadians 'tang
fish', was supposed to belong entirely to the animal world, but all the
Selkics 354
larger seals, the great seal, the grey seal, the crested seal and others, are
called 'the sclkie folk' because it is believed that their natural forn1 is
human, that they live in an underwater world or on lonely skcrrics and
put on seal-skins and the appearance of seals to enable thcrn to pass
through the waters from one region of air to another. The Irish MERRO\VS
exist under the same conditions, but wear red caps instead of seal-skins
to enable them to pass through the waters. I ~ike other Scottish fairy
creatures, they \vcre supposed to have been angels driven out of Heaven
for some lesser fault, but not bad enough for Hell. Another explanation
was that they were a human race, banished to the sea for their sins, but
yet allowed to \Vcar human shape upon land. Son1e men thought that
they might yet be capable of salvation. In their human forrn, the male and
female selkies were more beautiful than ordinary mortals, though they
were uncouth and shapeless as seals, their beauty only showing in their
large, liquid eyes. The male selkies were amorous, and used to make
expeditions ashore to court mortal women, but they would never stay
with them long. The human offspring of these unions, like those of the
SEAL ~lA I DENS, had webbed hands and feet, and the webs when cut grew
into horny excrescences which n1ade it impossible to do some kinds of
\vork. G. F. Black in County Folk-Lore (vol. 111) gives a comprehensive
account of the selkie beliefs, and among other talcs quotes a story by
Traill Dennison about a proud and passionate girl - Ursilla, Dennison
calls her - who, dissatisfied with the husband she had chosen, summoned
a selkie to be a lover. This was done by sitting on a rock at high tide and
dropping seven tears into the sea. The selkie came to her bed time and
again, and she had many children by him, but each one had webbed
hands and feet, and their descendants after them. Traill Dcnnison him-
self tells of hiring a man to work in the harvest who could not bind a
sheaf because of the horny growth on his hands. He was a descendant of
Ursilla. The selkie maidens do not seem to seek for human lovers, but
are captured unwillingly by the theft of their skins. This is the most
widespread of the tales, a variant of the S\VAN ~1AIDEN type. It is told in
Shetland and Orkney as \veil as in the Highlands. The best-known of the
Orkney stories is 'The Goodman of\Vastness', and in Shetland there is
a similar story told of an inhabitant of U nst. The Shetland story of the
selkie lover is told in the ballad of' The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry '.
Hibbert describes the selkies of Shetland as ~iER~tEN and merwomen,
but this is a confusion of his own, for the distinction is clear, though there
was great kindness between selkies and ~tERl\1AIDS, as a story quoted by
Black from Edmonston shows. There is some compunction felt by the
Shetlanders when they kill and skin the selkies. Because of this a young
fisherman who came on one after stunning and skinning it threw its body
into the sea and pretended to his companions when he joined them in the
boat that he found a dead seal and skinned it. But the seal was still alive.
It regained consciousness, cold and in misery, and somehow made its way
355 Separable soul, or external soul
down beneath the sea into a cave inhabited by a mermaid. The only way
in which the mermaid could help it was to try to regain its skin, and she
bravely allowed herself to be caught in the nets of the boat where her
friend's skin lay. The young fisherman was already remorseful about the
death of the seal, and he was horrified when a mermaid was drawn on
board. He begged earnestly that she might be set free, but his mates were
anxious to sell her on shore and they made towards the land. The poor
mermaid, tangled in the net, was laid on the seal-skin. Like the ASRAI
she could not long endure in the upper air, and she felt her life beginning
to fade. She knew that her death \vould release a storm and sink the boat
and hoped that at least the skin would be swept down to her cave to save
the selkie. And so indeed it happened; the boat was sunk, too late to save
the mermaid, but with her body the skin was swept down to her cave and
the selkie could put on his skin again. For this reason the selkie people
do all that they can to warn and help the mermaids, and often risk them-
selves to save them. It is difficult to understand how this tale came to
mortal knowledge, unless a mermaid told it to a man.
It was believed in both Orkney and Shetland that when the blood of a
selkie is shed in the sea a storm arises that is often fatal to shipping. In
this story the death of a mermaid had the same effect.
[Types: ML4o8o; ML4081 *; ML4083*. Motifs: B8I.IJ.II; F420.1.2*;
F420.5.1]
Seven Whistlers, the. These are allied in people's minds with the
GABRIEL HOUNDS, the WISH HOUNDS, and others, but are not thought
of as hounds with a spiritual huntsman but as seven spirits, death
portents like the BANSHEE. William Henderson in Folklore ofthe Northern
Counties (p. 131) quotes a Folkestone fisherman who well knew what
caused the sound, but still thought it ominous.
'I heard 'em one dark night last winter,' said an old Folkestone
fisherman. 'They come over our heads all of a sudden, singing "ewe,
ewe,, and the men in the boat wanted to go back. It came on to rain
and blow soon afterwards, and was an awful night, Sir; and sure
enough before morning a boat was upset, and seven poor fellows
drowned. I know what makes the noise, Sir; it's them long-billed
curlews, but I never likes to hear them.'
W ordsworth in one of his sonnets mentions the Seven Whistlers, and
connects them with the Gabriel Hounds:
He the seven birds bath seen that never part,
Seen the seven whistlers on their nightly rounds,
Shag-foal, or tatter-foal
And counted them! And oftentimcs will start,
For overhead arc sweeping Gabricl's hounds,
Doomed with their impious lord the flying hart
To chase for ever on aerial grounds.
[Motif: Esoo]
Shag-foal, or tatter-foal. These arc practically the same. They arc the
Lincolnshire members of that tribe of BOGY OR BOGEY-BEASTS that are
adept at SHAPE-SHIFTING, can take many forms but seem to prefer to
go about as shaggy, fiery-eyed horses, foals or donkeys. The Picktrce
BRAG and the HEDLE.Y KO\V arc famous examples. Examples are given
in County Folk-Lore (vol. v) by Gutch and Peacock:
Shag-foal. - An old lady used to talk of a mysterious phantom like an
animal of deep black colour, which appeared before belated travellers.
On hearing that we had been attacked at midnight by a large dog, she
eagerly inquired: 'Had it any white about it?' and \\then we assured
her that it had a white chest, she exclaimed in thankfulness: 'Ah! then
it was not the shag-foal!'
Here the old lady makes no distinction between the shag and the shag-
foal. Eli Twigg in the next extract sticks closer to the usual type:
Tatter-foal. - '\Vhy, he is a shagg'd-looking hoss, and given to all
manner of goings-on, fra cluzzening hold of a body what is riding home
half-scre\ved with bargain-drink, and pulling him out of the saddle, to
scaring a old \Voman three parts out of her skin, and making her drop
her shop-things in the blatter and blash, and run for it.'
[Motifs: E42J.I.J.s(a); F234.t.8]
Sib. The principal fetnale fairy, \vho acts as spokcswontan of the rest in
the LIFE OF ROD I ' GOODFELI..O\V. he spea for herself and her sister
FAIRIES:
1~o walke nightly, as do the men fayrics, \VC use not; but now and
then we goc together, and at good huswivcs fires we \\'armc and drcs c
our fayry children. If \VCC find clcanc water and cleane towels, wee
leave then1 n1oney, either in their ba ons or in their shoocs; but if \Vcc
find no clcane water in their houses, we wash our children in their
pottage, milke or becrc, or what-ere \\' C finde; for the sluts that leave
not such things fitting, \\' CC wash their faces and hands with a gilded
child,s clout, or cls carry thcn1 to some river, and ducke them over
head and cares. \Ve often use to dwell in some great hill, and from
thence we doe lend money to any poore man or woman that hath need;
but if they bring it not againe at the day appointed, we doe not only
punish them with pinching, but also in their goods, so that they never
thrive till they have payd us.
(l\lotif: FJ6I. 17.5)
Sidh, Sith, or Si (shee). The Gaelic name for FA 1 R 1 ES, both in Ireland
and the Highlands of Scotland, as in the BEAN SI or the DAOINE SI OH.
Sili Ffrit and Sili-Go-D\\~. The names of two female fairies to whom
the same rather fragmentary story as TR \VTY -TRATYN is attached by
Rhvs.
"
lt is a version of the T0!\1 TIT TOT or \\THUPPITY STOORIE tale
and hinges on the power given by knowledge of the name of a super-
natural creature, or a SECRET NA~tE OF THE FAIRIES.
[Type: soo.
l\1otif: <432. 1]
Silky. BRO\VNIES are generally male spirits, though there are occasional
female brownies, such as MEG ~tULLACH, mentioned by AUBREY as
Siofra
attached to the Grants, and GRUAGACHS, who were as much female as
male. The Northumbrian and Border silky, however, is always female,
like the BANSHEE. She is a spirit dressed in rustling silk, who does
domestic chores about the house and is a terror to idle servants. Like the
CAULD LAD OF HILTON, she is a ghostly spirit. The Silky of Black
Heddon, mentioned by William Henderson in Folk-Lore of the Northern
Counties (p. 269), was the most famous of them all, and more mischievous
than helpful, for though she tidied what was left in disorder, she would
often throw about anything that had been neatly arranged. She would
spend a great part of the night sitting in an old tree near an artificial lake.
The tree was long called 'Silky's Chair'. From this position she used
often to stop carts and halt horses, and could only be countered by some-
body wearing a CROSS made of ROW AN \vood. One day a ceiling in
Heddon Hall suddenly gave way and a large, rough skin filled \Vith gold
fell into the room below. The silky never haunted Heddon Hall after
that, and it was thought that she \Vas the ghost of someone who had
hidden treasure and died without disclosing it. There was one at Hurd-
wood in Berwickshire, and another mentioned by Henderson at Denton
Hall near Newcastle. There is later news of this silky; for a friend, one
of the Sowerbys of Northumberland, used to visit two old ladies, the
Hoyles of Denton, long ago, when she was a girl. The hall was too big
for them, and they used sometimes to say to their intimate friends that
they did not know how they could manage if it had not been for Silky,
who laid and lighted fires for them and did all manner of chores about the
house. My friend married and moved away, and did not return to New-
castle till the Second Wor Id War. The Misses Hoyle had died long before
and the house had been let to another old acquaintance of Margery
Sowerby. He was not at all the kind of person to commend himself to a
spirit, and he had become the victim of all sorts of practical jokes. He was
so angry that he could not bear to talk about it, and at last he had to
move out ofDenton Hall. The brownie had become a BOGGART.
A story with an ultimate gipsy origin, 'Gilsland's Gry', is told by Ruth
Tongue in Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties (pp. 201-4). Here
the silky is a more formidable character than in any of the other tales. She
is devoted to the interests of Gilsland, and does full brownie labours about
the house, but at night she guards the gate from her tree, and lets any
friend through, though with a scared horse, but she remorselessly kills
any ill-wisher to the house. In this tale she slowly strangles a murderous
robber who falls into her clutches. A silky who did little domestic work
but haunted an avenue near North Shields, seems to have been more
truly a ghost, the spectre of a mistress of the Duke of Argyll in the reign
ofWilliam Ill, supposed to have been murdered by her lover.
[Motifs: E451.5; F48o; F482.5.4; F482.5.5]
Sir Launfal. One of the early romances about Arthur or the l\iATTER
oF BR 1 TA 1 N, written by the 13th-century Iarie de France, was translated
\vith some alterations by a man calling himself l'homas of Chester. It is
a true FAIRY BRIDE story, something after the style of the Irish tale
'Oisin and iam of the Golden Hair'. Lancelot has not yet appeared on
the scene, though Guinevere is there in the role of a villainous character.
Sir Launfal was a famous and liberal knight of King Arthur's court, who
disapproved of his marriage with Guinevere, and was accordingly hated
by her. She put a public slight upon him at her marriage feast, and he
withdrew from the court at Carlisle to go to Caerleon. King Arthur
parted from him regretfully and gave him two knights to attend him.
Launfal's liberality, however, outran his means, and after a while he
could no longer afford maintenance for his knights. Things had come to a
bad pass with him, when he \Vas one day approached by two dazzlingly
beautiful maidens who invited him to visit their mistress, the fairy
princess Tryamour, the daughter of the fairy king Olyroun. He found her
in a gorgeous pavilion lying on a bed with all her charms alluringly dis-
played. They came immediately to an understanding. She would bestow
on him all earthly riches with a fairy squire and a milk-white fairy horse,
and if he went into any secret place and wished for her company, she
would immediately appear to him. She only made one stipulation: their
love must be kept secret. If he boasted of her love he \vould lose her and
all her gifts for ever.
The pact \vas concluded with great joy. Tryamour gave Launfal a
Fortunatus, or inexhaustible, purse- out of which he could draw limitless
stores of gold - a great white charger, and Gyfre, Tryamour's own
attendant, as squire. A procession of young knights brought him rich
clothes and equipment, and he gave out his charity more lavishly than he
had ever done. A great tournament \vas given in his honour in which he
distinguished himself signally. After some time of great happiness,
Launfal was summoned to a tournament in Lombardy by an orgulous
knight, Sir Valentyne. He went and, with much help from Gyfre, killed
Sith
Sir Valentyne and overcame the crowd of local knights who assailed him
all together. The news of this great feat spread, and reached Carlisle.
King Arthur invited Sir Launfal to return. Seven years had now passed
since he left the court. He obeyed, and he \vas still able to enjoy Tryamour
as before. Queen Guinevere, however, \Vho had once hated him, now fell
in love with him, and one day when King Arthur \Vas out hunting made
amorous advances to\vards him, \vhich he refused. The queen was
furiously angry and began to abuse him as an old bachelor whom no
woman would look at and who had never had a love. Sir Launfallost his
temper and replied that the least of his lady's maidens was more beautiful
than Queen Guinevere. They parted; Sir Launfal \vent to his chamber
and called on Tryamour to appear. She did not come and he began to
realize what he had done. He went to his coffers and found them empty.
Gyfre had gone, as had Blanchard, his fairy horse. He flung himself on
the ground and began to lament his folly and falsehood to his word. In
the meantime King Arthur had returned from the hunt, and found his
queen in her chamber, with her clothes and hair torn. She begged him to
put Sir Launfal to death, who had tried to rape her, and when she
repelled him had said that the least of his true love's maidens was more
beautiful than she was. The king \vas unsuspicious of this double accusa-
tion, and at once sent a posse of knights to find Launfal and bring him to
judgement. The king was for his immediate execution, but the court,
knowing Queen Guinevere, ruled other\vise. They gave him a year and a
fortnight to produce his true love, and if she was judged fairer than
Guinevere, then Launfal must go free. The time passed, and Launfal
appeared to clear the sureties who had stood for him, but he said he could
not produce his lady. At this a great clamour broke out in the court; some
wished to acquit him and some to banish him, and as they were disputing
a beautiful damsel rode up to them, and all thought her more beautiful
than Guinevere; but Launfal said: 'That is not my love.' Then one bevy
after another of maidens rode up, and at last Tryamour appeared and
rode up to Guinevere. She publicly declared that Guinevere had made a
false accusation against an innocent man, then touched her eye so that
she could no more see. Then she and Launfal rode off on Blanchard to
the fairy island of Olyroun, from which he never returned, except that
once a year his horse is heard to neigh from Fairyland, and any knight
may challenge Sir Launfal to ride a course with him.
Here we have a good example of a fairy bride complete with theTA Boo,
though in this tale it is not pressed to a tragic conclusion, and the mortal
and the fairy are reunited.
Oisin, or OSSIAN, and Niam were parted for ever, but Marie of France
was more lenient to her characters than popular tradition usually allowed.
[Motifs: CJI; CJI.S; FJoo; FJ02.J.2; F302.6.2]
Size of the fairies. The fairy people arc good and bad, beautiful and
hideous, stately and con1ical, but one of the greatest of their 1nany varia-
tions is that of size. This variation is sometin1es within the control of the
FAIRIES; by SHAPE-SHIFTING they can monstrously enlarge themselves
or shrink into n1idgets of their own volition, but this is not always so.
Son1e of them seem to be controlled by the very essence of their being
and to be sn1all, powerless creatures of the class of DIMINUTIVE
FAIRIES. The O.tford Dictionary, by defining a fairy as 'one of a class of
beings of diminutive size', seems to cast its vote for the small EL\' ES so
much beloved in Jacobean England, and this indeed is one true element
in folk tradition. Among the tiny medieval fairies are the FORTUNES
described by GERVASE OF TILBURY, which, as far as one can make out,
Skillywidden
were about a finger's length in size, or such as the Danish troll which
occurs in the Ballad of 'Eline of Villenokor' quoted by KEIGHTLEY in
The Fairy Mythology (p. 95):
Out then spake the tinyest Troll,
No bigger than an emmet was he;
or the tiny fairies visited by ELIDURUS in GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH,
and little MALEK IN, described by Ralph of Coggeshall as the size of the
tiniest child. All these are medieval fairies, although the FA s H1oN IN
FA IRYLORE in earlier times laid more stress on supernatural creatures of
human or more than human size, WHITE LADIES, FAYS, HAGS,
MAGICIANS, GIANTS and fairy knights like the one in the story of SIR
GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. These never disappeared from
tradition, and were reinforced by the FAIRY GODMOTHER who invaded
England from the courtly French tales, like those of PERRAULT. The
commonest fairies of country tradition, ho\vever, are generally described
as of the size of a three-years' child, the smaller size of human kind;
or the smaller ones, 'a span and a quarter in height'. The insect-sized
fairies are rarer in tradition, though very common in literature. In
Hampshire, in the tale of' I \VEAT, YOU WEAT', we have fairies so small
that a grain of wheat is a burden; the MURYANS of Cornwall reach the
size of an ant only at the last stage of their appearance on earth. In that
very interesting description of the conditions of fairy life, 'The FAIRY
D\VELLING ON SELENA MOOR', the CAPTIVE IN FAIRYLAND explains
that every time one of the SMALL PEOPLE OF CORNWALL changes its
shape- turns itself into a bird, for instance - it is rather smaller when it
returns to its natural form, so that it gradually dwindles, until \vhen it
reaches the size of a muryan, or ant, it passes out of that state altogether.
The fairies of variable size are all those with powers of shape-shifting,
the HEROIC FAIRIES, the White Ladies, many of the hags and nearly all
BOGLES and HOBGOBLINS, such as the BRAG, the GRANT and many of
the GIANTS and WIZARDS. The SPRIGGANS of Cornwall are generally
tiny, but are capable of shooting up into monstrous size, as in HUNT's
story of'The MISER ON THE FAIRY GUMP'.
[Motifs: F2394; F2394 I; F23942; F23943]
Skillywidden. This, as we learn at the end of the story of the same title,
was the name of a little fairy caught by a farmer at Treridge in Cornwall,
one of the CAPTURED FAIRIES. It is to be found in HUNT's Popular
Romances ofthe West of England (pp. 45o-5 1):
I heard last week of three fairies having been seen in Zennor very
recently. A man who lived at the foot of Trendreen hill, in the valley
of Treridge, I think, was cutting furze on the hill. Near the middle of
the day he saw one of the small people, not more than a foot long,
stretched at full length and fast asleep, on a bank of griglans (heath)~
Skriker 370
surrounded by high brakes of furze. 1'hc man took off his furze cuff,
and slipped the little n1an into it, without his waking up; went down
to the house; took the little fellow out of the cuff on the hearthstone,
when he awakened., and seemed quite pleased and at home, beginning
to play with the children, who were well plea..c;cd with the srnall body,
and called him Bobby Griglans.
The old people were very careful not to let Bob out of the house,
or be seen by the neighbours, as he promised to show the n1an where
the crocks of gold were buried on the hill. few days after he was
brought frotn the hill) all the neighbours came with their horses
(according to custom) to bring horne the winter's reek of furze, which
had to be brought down the hill in trusses on the backs of the horses.
That Bob might be safe and out of sight, he and the children were shut
up in the barn. \Vhilst the furze-carriers were in to dinner, the prisoners
contrived to get out, to have a 'courant' round the furze-reek, when
they saw a little man and won1an, not rnuch larger than Bob, searching
into every hole and corner an1ong the trusses that were dropped round
the unfinished reek. 'l'he little won1an was wringing her hands and
crying, '0 my dear and tender ~ killywiddcn, wherever canst ah {thou)
be gone to? shall I ever cast eyes on thee again?' 'Go 'c back,' says
Bob to the children; 'rny father and n1othcr arc come here too.' lie
then cried out, 'Here I atn, manuny!' By the tirne the words were out
of his mouth, the little n1an and \\'on1an, with their precious Skilly-
widden, '"ere nowhere to be seen, and there has been no sight nor sign
of them since. The children got a sound thrashing for lening killy-
widden escape.
(Type: l\tL60IO. i\lotifs: F23943; FJ2943; F387)
in a vaulted passage. The floor \Vas covered with toads and lizards, bats
brushed against his ears, but he followed his cle\v of wool downwards in
the darkness, and at last saw a distant light. Encouraged by this, he made
his way towards it and found himself in a huge vaulted room lit by a fire
that burned without fuel. On a hundred rich couches round the room lay
the sleeping bodies of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and the king's
knights; in the dim light behind the fire, sixty couple of noble hounds lay
sleeping, and on a table in front of it were a horn, a stone sword and a
garter. The shepherd went up to the table, dre\v the sword softly from its
sheath and cut the garter. When he touched the sword all the company
stirred, and as he cut the garter they rose up sitting on their couches, but
as he pushed the sword gently back into its sheath sleep came over them
again, and they sank on to their beds. Only the king lifted his hands and
said in a strong voice:
'0 woe betide that evil day
On which the witless wight \vas born
\Vho drew the sword - the garter cut,
But never ble\v the bugle-horn.'
In Richmond in Yorkshire any decisiYe movement \vould have served.
There, a smooth hill called Round Howe is the place \vhere Arthur is
said to be sleeping. A potter called Thompson was \valking round the
howe one night when a stranger met him and conducted him into the
vault beneath it. He began to draw the sword, but put it hastily back
when the company stirred. A great voice cried out,
'Potter, Potter Thompson,
If thou hadst either drawn
The S\vord or blown the horn,
Thou'd been the luckiest man
That ever was born.'
The Somerset legend of Arthur and his knights at Cadbury Castle is
different. No one visits them, and anyone who tries to dig up the Round
Sleeping \varriors 372
Table will fail, because it only sinks deeper into the earth. But every
M idsurnn1er Eve, King Arthur and his knights come out of the mound
and ride round it on horses shod with silver, as Earl Fitzgerald does at
Mullaghrnast. According to a \Vclsh legend recorded by John Rhys, King
Arthur's knights sleep without him in a cave on Snowdon. Once a shep-
herd looking for a sheep found the entrance to it and made his way in
tin1idly, but as he went through the door he brushed against a bell which
rang out and waked the sleepers, who started up with such a monstrous
din that the shepherd fled fron1 the cave and never recovered from his
terror.
'!'here arc two legends of a \V 1ZA R o seeking for horses for the sleeping
host, one told of Aldcrley Edge in Cheshire, \vhere an anonymous
wizard, probably 1\lerlin, is seeking to make up the full nun1bcr of white
horses sleeping in the stables until the tirnc should come for them to ride
out and save England. It was T'hon1as of Ercildoune, better known as
THO~tAS TilE RHYMER, who was buying horses, black ones this time, for
the sleeping place under the l~ildon Hills. T'his tin1c poor Canobie l)ick,
a horse-coper from whon1 'rhon1as had bought several horses, made a
fatal error by blowing the horn before he had drawn the sword. All the
sleeping knights started up, drew their swords and n1adc for him. A
great voice cried out:
'\Voc to the coward, that ever he was born,
1"hat did not draw the sword before he blew the horn!'
A whirlwind sprang up and swept hin1 out of the cave and down a
precipice, where he had only tin1e to tell his story to the shepherds that
found him before he died.
\Ye cannot be sure who TRUE THO~tAs's warriors \\ere. There is one
legend of Finn 1\lac Cun1hal, '1"he Smith's Rock in the Isle of Skye'. It
is told b} J. lacdougall in IVaifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition (vol. 111).
The Fenians in this talc are GL\ rs:
There was a report that the Fians (Fingalians) \Vere asleep in this
Rock, and that if anyone \vould enter it and blow the \Vooden-Crier
(\Vhistle), \Yhich lay beside Finn, three times, they \\ould rise up alive
and \veil as they formerly \vere.
A Smith \\ho lived in the island heard the report, and resolved that
he would attempt to enter the Rock. He reached the place where it
was; and, having formed a good idea of the key-hole, he returned to the
smithy, and made a key which fitted the hole. He then went back to
the Rock, and, as soon as he turned the key in the hole, the door
opened, and he saw a very great and wide place before him, and
exceedingly big men lying on the floor. One man, bigger than the rest,
was lying in their midst, having a large hollow baton of wood lying
beside him.
373 Sluagh
He thought that this was the Wooden-Crier (Whistle). But it was so
large that he was afraid that he could not lift it, much less blow it. He
stood for a time looking at it, but he at last said to himself that, as he
came so far, he would try at any rate. He laid hold of the Wooden-
Crier, and with difficulty raised its end up to his mouth. He blew it
with all his might, and so loud was the sound it produced that he
thought the Rock and all that was over it came down on the top of him.
The huge unwieldy men who lay on the floor shook from the tops of
their heads to the soles of their feet. He gave another blast on the
Wooden-Crier, and with one spring they turned on their elbows. Their
fingers were like the prongs of wooden grapes, and their arms like
beams of bog-oak. Their size and the terrible appearance they had put
him in such fear that he threw the Wooden-Crier from him, and sprang
out. They were then crying after him, 'Worse have you left us than as
you found us, worse have you left us than as you found us.' But he
looked not behind him until he got outside and shut the door. He then
drew the key out of the hole, and threw it out into the lake which is
near the Rock, and which is called to this day the Lake of the Smith's
Rock.
[Motifs: cg84; oxg6o.2; E502]
Sluagh (slooa), the, or the Host. This is the Host of the Unforgiven
Dead. They are the most formidable of the Highland fairy people. There
are several accounts of the host collected by Evans Wentz in The Fairy-
Faith in Celtic Countries from named informants. A few of them regard
'The Host' as fallen angels, not the dead, but on the whole their accounts
correspond closely to that given by Alexander Carmichael in Carnzina
Gadelica (vol. n, p. 357):
S/uagh, 'the host', the spirit-world. The 'hosts' are the spirits of
mortals who have died. The people have many curious stories on this
subject. According to one informant, the spirits fly about in great
clouds, up and down the face of the world like the starlings, and come
back to the scenes of their earthly transgressions. No soul of them is
without the clouds of earth, dimming the brightness of the works of
God, nor can any win heaven till satisfaction is made for the sins of
earth. In bad nights, the hosts shelter themselves behind little russet
docken stems and little yellow ragwort stalks. They fight battles in
Sluttishness 374
the air as men do on the earth. They n1ay be heard and seen on dear
frosty nights, advancing and retreating, retreating and advancing,
against one another. After a battle, as I was told in Barra, their critnson
blood may be seen staining rocks and stones. (' J uil nan sluagh,' the
blood of the hosts, is the beautiful red 'crotal' of the rocks tnclted by
the frost.) These spirits used to kill cats and dogs, sheep and cattle,
with their unerring venomous darts. They con1n1andcd men to follow
them, and men obeyed, having no alternative.
It was these men of earth who slew and maimed at the bidding of
their spirit-masters, who in return ill-treated thern in a rnost pitiless
manner. They would be rolling and dragging and trouncing them in
mud and mire and pools.
In a report by Evans \Ventz (p. 108), 1arian 1\IacLean of Barra
distinguishes between the FA 1R 1ES and the 1-Iost.
General1y, the fairies arc to be seen after or about sunset, and walk
on the ground as we do, \\'hercas the hosts travel in the air above
places inhabited by people. The hosts used to go after the fall of night,
and more particularly about n1idnight.
[ lot if: F36o]
Sluttishness. Fairies \Vere lavish, but they \vere orderly and liked
NEATNESS. It sometin1cs happened that a URO\V 1 IE would put right
whatever humans had left untidy and disarrange whatever had been
tidied, but the TROOP I G FAIRIES who visited houses expected to find
them in apple-pie order. If clean water was not set out, they washed
their children's feet in milk or in wine or beer set to ferment. Gifts of
silver " ere often left to an industrious maidservant \vho cleaned the
hearth well. See also FAULTS CO"!\DE~tl'\ED BY THE FAIRIES; VIRTuES
ESTEET\IED BY THE FAIRIES.
A discharge of the fayres and other sps. or Elphes from any place or
grounde, where treasure is layd or hidd. First shall the mgn: say in the
name of the fa. the so. & the ho. Go. amen. and they say as followeth. -
I conjure you sps. or elphes which be 7 sisters and have these names.
Lilia. Restilia, foca fola, Afryca, Julia, vcnulia, I conjure youc &
charge you by the fa.: the so.: and the ho: Go.: and holy mary the
mother of our blessed lord and aviour Jesus Christ: and by the
annunciation nativity and circumcision, and by the baptisme; and by
his holy fasting; and by the passion, death and reserection of our blessed
lord Jesus Christ and by the Con1eing of the holy gost our sacred
Comforter: and by all the Apostles ~lartyres confessors: and also
virgins and all the elect of God and of our lord Jesus Christ; that from
hensforth neither you nor any other for you have power or rule upon
this ground neither \vi thin nor without nor uppon this servant of the
liveing god.: : neither by day nor night; but the holy trinity be
always upon itt & him or her. Amen. Amen:
I have never seen a man fairy or a woman fairy, but my mother saw
a troop of them. She herself and the other maidens of the townland
were once out upon the summer sheiling (grazing land). They \Vere
milking the cows in the evening gloaming, when they observed a flock
of fairies reeling and setting upon the green plain in front of the knoll.
And, oh King! but it was they the fairies themselves that had the right
to be dancing, and not the children of men! Bell-helmets of blue silk
covered their heads, and garments of green satin covered their bodies,
and sandals of yellow membranes covered their feet. Their heavy
brown hair was streaming down their waist, and its lustre was of the
fair golden sun of summer. Their skin was as white as the S\van of the
Spriggans
wave, and their voice was as melodious as the mavis of the wood, and
they themselves were as beauteous of feature and as lithe of form as a
picture, \vhile their step was as light and stately and their minds as
sportive as the little red hind of the hill.
Hunting is common to the heroic fairies, whether good or evil. The
good fairies chase fairy deer, though it is doubtful if they kill them, and
their hounds are \vhite with red ears; the Sluagh hunt hu1nan souls, as
the Devil does, and sometin1es in company with the })evil. They fly in
the air with a noise like wild birds calling, and their horses have fiery eyes.
In the orth of England they are called GABRIEL RATCHETS. Evans
Wentz in his collections in IrcJand reported a description of fairy hunting
given under the shadow of Ben Bulbin in The },airy-Faith in Celtic
Countries (p. s6). It was given hi1n by lichacl Oatcs, who acted as his
interpreter.
I knew a man who saw the Gentry hunting on the other side of the
n1ountain. He saw hounds and horsen1cn cross the road and jun1p the
hedge in front of him, and it was one o'dock at night. 'I'he next day he
passed the place again, and looked for the tracks of the huntsmen, but
sa\V not a trace of tracks at all.
These \Vere 'The GENTRY' and of human size. In another account at
Arann1ore a crowd of' small fellows' were chasing a single deer, and on
another occasion they chased a hor c. In his l\11DS ~tMER , IGHT's
DREA~i, Shakespeare makes the small fairies hunt bats and hun1ble-bees,
but one does not find traces of this in folk tradition.
Ball games \\'ere played by the fairies. The earliest mention is in
GIRALDUS CA~tBRENSIS, where a golden ball is stolen by ELIDOR to
prove to his mother that he was speaking the truth about the fairies. In
Ireland, football and H U RLI 1 G are popular among the fairies, but these
are mostly the GOOD PEOPLE, sportive and dwindled in size. The chief
indoor game in which the heroic fairies engaged was CHESS or 'tables'.
Contests in chess were often used to defeat humans, as ~1 I o I R " on
ETAIN from Eochaid when she had been sent by enchantment into the
human world.
Fairyland is again and again described as a place of endless delight and
sparkling beauty, but there are dark whispers that suggest that this is the
delusion of GLA~tOUR and that under the gaiety there is a restless,
unsatisfied yearning. As KIRK says, 'If they have any frolic Fitts of
Mirth, 'tis as the constrained grinning of a ~tort-head, or rather as acted
on a Stage, and moved by another than cordially comeing of themselves.'
(Motifs: F241. I.O. I; F26I; F262; F267]
Spriggans. BOTTRELL and HUNT give much the same picture of the
Spriggans. Both agree that they are grotesquely ugly and that they seem
to act as the fairy bodyguard. In Hunt's story of 'The ~USER ON THE
Spunkies
FAIRY GUMP' in Popular Romances of the West of England it is the
Spriggans who catch and bind the Miser, and in a story of Bottrell's,
'The FAIRIES ON THE EASTERN GREEN', in Traditions and Hearthside
Stories of West Cornwall, one of the free-traders who had dared to mock
the fairies is attacked by the Spriggans. Bottrell says about them in his
descriptions of the various types of Fairy (vol. II, p. 246):
The Spriggans, quite a different class of being, are the dourest and
most ugly set of sprights belonging to the elfin tribe; they are only to
be seen about old ruins, barrows, giants' quoits and castles, and other
places where treasure is buried, of which they have the charge. They
also steal children, leaving their own ugly brats in their place, bring bad
weather to blight the crops, whirlwinds over the fields of cut corn, and
do much other mischief to those that meddle with their favourite
haunts.
According to Hunt, the Spriggans are the ghosts of the old GIANTS,
and though they are usually very small, they can swell to enormous size.
On the whole, despite their interest in promoting BLIGHTS AND ILL-
NESSES, they seem less dangerous than the Highland BOGIES, being
intent rather on frightening than damaging their victims. They are, how-
ever, busy thieves. One of Hunt's stories (op. cit., pp. IIJ-14), 'The Old
Woman Who Turned Her Shift', is of a band of spriggans who used to
meet nightly in an old woman's cottage to divide their spoils. They
always left a coin for her, but she was greedy for more, and one night
contrived slyly to turn her shift inside out and so, by the act of TURNING
CLOTHES, to possess herself of all they had taken. She was punished for
her greed, for she always suffered agonies whenever she put on that shift.
[Type: ML6o45. Motifs: FJ8s.x; F456; F456.r; F456.r.r]
Sprites. A general name for FA 1 R 1ES and other spirits such as sylphs
and nereids. It is not generally used for earthier fairy creatures.
According to the story, all \Vent well with the people and the land as
long as they kept up these habits. But as time 'vent on the people became
careless. No libations " ere poured out, the great flat stones were left
empty, and even sometimes broken up and carried away. There was more
church-going, and in time a generation sprang up that had almost for-
gotten about the Strangers. Only the wise \vomen remembered. At first
nothing happened; the Strangers were reluctant to believe that their old
worshippers had deserted them. At last they became angry, and struck.
Harvest after harvest failed, there was no growth of corn or hay, the
beasts sickened on the farms, the children pined a'vay and there was no
food to give them. Then the men spent the little they could get on drink,
and the women on opium. They were bewildered, and could think of
nothing to do; all except the wise women. They got together and made a
solemn ceremony of divination, with fire and blood. And when they
learnt what was working the mischief, they went all among the people,
and summoned them to gather at the cross-roads in the deep twilight,
and there they told them the cause of the trouble, and explained the
usages of the older people. And the women, remembering all the little
graves in the churchyard and the pining babies in their arms, said that the
old ways must be taken up again, and the men agreed with them. So they
went home, and spilled their libations, and laid out the firstlings of the
little that they had, and taught their children to respect the Strangers.
Stroke
Then, litde by little, things began to mend ; the children lifted their
heads, the crops grew and the cattle throve. Still, there were never such
merry times as there had once been, and the fever still hovered over the
land. It is a bad thing to forsake the old ways, and what is once lost can
never be quite recovered.
[Motifs: C433; VI2.q]
S\van maidens. The swan maiden story has currency all over the world,
but in Britain it occurs most often in Celtic fairy-tales. In the general run
of the stories, the enchanted maidens are the daughters of a royal
l\1AGICIAN. The hero sees them bathing or dancing, falls in love with
one of them and steals her feather cloak. A swan is one of the most usual
forms for the maidens to assume, but they are often doves or partridges.
In the main type of the swan maiden tale, the hero is set tasks by the
WIZARD father and helped by his future wife. The story often follows the
same pattern as NICHT NOUGHT NOTHING, with the obstacle flight, the
destruction of the wizard and the breach ofT AB o o which causes magical
forgetfulness resolved by the motif of the bartered bed. HARTLAND in
Tacksman of Auchriachan, the
The Science of Fairy Tales analyses the swan maiden tale in detail and
treats the SEAL MAIDEN legend as a variant of the same tale. This, how-
ever, is a much simpler tale, the seal-skin is a more necessary part of the
seal maiden's life, the finding of the skin and escape into the sea is
intrinsic to the seal maiden story, although it occasionally occurs in the
pure swan maiden type.
A representative example of the Scottish swan maiden story is to be
found in Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition (vol. 111), the tale of 'The
Son of the King of Ireland and the Daughter of the King of the Red Cap'.
(Motifs: B652.1; DJ6I.I; DJ6I.I.I; F302.4.2; HJJs.o.I]
Tarans. In the north-east of Scotland the spirits of babies who have died
without baptism are called 'Tarans'. McPherson, in Primitive Beliefs in
the North-East of Scotland (pp. 1 IJ-I4}, quotes from Pennant's Tour of
Scotland, the Banff section:
The little spectres, called Tarans, or the souls of unbaptized infants,
were often seen flitting among the woods and secret places, bewailing
in soft voices their hard fate.
In the Lowlands and in Somerset these would be called SPUNKIES.
Little SHORT HOGGERS OF WHITTINGHAME was one of the spunkies.
[Motif: F251.3]
Teind. The old Lo,vland term for tithe. It was the tribute due to be paid
by the FAIRIES to the Devil every se,en years. The mention of it is to be
found in the ballad of'TRtJE THO~tAS and the Queen ofElfland'.
[Motif: F2 57]
Terrytop. The Cornish version of the Suffolk TO~t TIT TOT had the
demon Terrytop for its villain. HUNT, in Popular Romances of the 1est
of England (pp. 239-47), summarizes the story as told by the old drolls,
391 Thefts from the fairies
professional story-tellers who went from farm to farm entertaining the
inhabitants through the long winter evenings. The story, 'Duffy and the
Devil', as it was called, was also made the subject of one of the Christmas
plays. Duffy was an idle, slovenly girl, but evidently a pretty one, for
Squire Lovel of Trewoof, finding her in the middle of a quarrel with her
stepmother about her idleness, believed her claim to be a champion
spinner and knitter and carried her away to help his old housekeeper. Her
helper was a devil, who helped her for three years on the usual terms. The
name was discovered in the same way as in 'Tom Tit Tot', but when the
devil was driven off, all his handiwork \Vent up in smoke, and the squire
had to walk home half-naked. The story meandered on in a long wrangle
from which a compromise was at length arrived at with the help of
Duffy's lover and the old housekeeper. The interest of the tale chiefly
lies in the appearance of the 'Rumpelstiltskin' story type at the opposite
side of England to 'Tom Tit Tot', and even more in this specimen of
the work of the Cornish droll-tellers.
[Type: 500. Motifs: C432.1; 02183; F451.5.2; H521; M242; N475]
Thefts from the fairies. It \vould perhaps not be quite fair to say that
men stole as much from the FAIRIES as the fairies stole from men by way
of FAIRY THEFTS, but, considering the a\ve in which the fairies were
held, it is surprising ho\V many attempts, some of them successful, were
made to take gold or silver plate out of the fairy mounds. The first
accounts are in the .MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES. There is the story of
ELIDOR and his attempted theft of the golden ball which belonged to the
little fairy prince, in order to satisfy his mother's curiosity. William of
Newbridge tells of a barro\v near his birthplace in Yorkshire which was
occasionally open,' with lights streaming from it and feasting going on
inside. One night a peasant passed it and was invited in and offered a
cup of wine. He poured out the contents and carried off the cup, which
was afterwards given to Henry I. GERVASE OF TILBURY tells what seems
like a variant of this FAIRY CUP story, though told of a different place. It
is of a fairy cup-bearer who appeared from a mound near Gloucester and
offered drink to any huntsman who asked for it. One \vas so ungrateful
as to carry off the cup and present it to the Earl of Gloucester, who, how-
ever, executed him as a robber and gave the cup to Henry I. The Luck of
Edenhall \vas stolen by the butler of Edenhall from a fairy gathering in
something the same way, and carried with it a curse. Later attempts, like
that of the MISER ON THE FAIRY GUMP, have often ended in ignom-
inious failure. Ruth Tongue in County Folklore (vol. VIII) tells the story of
a farmer who saw the FAIRY MARKET on Blackdown and tried to snatch
a gold mug off one of the stalls. He galloped off with it, got safe home and
took the mug to bed with him. Next morning there was nothing there
but a large toadstool, and when he went down to look at his pony it was
'scamble-footed' and remained so for the rest of its life. J. G. CAMPBELL
Thefts from the fairies 392
in his Superstitions ofthe 1/igh/ands and Islands of Scotland (pp. 52-7) gives
several variants of the story of Luran, in some of which the hero is a dog,
and in some a human - a crofter or a boy butler. In one version the fairies
steal from Luran and he tries to make up his losses by stealing from the
fairies. He is not finally successful. A feature of the story is the friendly
adviser among the fairies. He is generally called ''fhe Red-headed Man'
and is supposed to be a captured human who retains his sympathy with
his fellow men:
The Charmed Hill (Beinn Shianta), from its height, greenness, or
pointed summit, forms a conspicuous object on the Ardnamurchan
coast, at the north entrance of the Sound of Mull. On 'the shoulder' of
this hill, were two hamlets, Sginid and Corryvulin, the lands attached
to which, now forming part of a large sheep farn1, were at one time
occupied in common by three tenants, one of whom was named Luran
Black (Luran J~1ac-ille-d!Jui). One particular season a cow of Luran's
\Vas found unaccountably dead each morning. Suspicion fell on the
tenants of the Culvcr (an cuilibheir), a green knoll in Corryvulin, having
the reputation of being tenanted by the Fairies. Luran resolved to
watch his cattle for a night, and ascertain the cause of his mysterious
losses. Before long he saw the Culver opening, and a host of little
people pouring out. They surrounded a grey cow (mart glas) belonging
to him and drove it into the knoll. 1ot one busied hin1sclf in doing this
more than Luran himself; he was, according to the Gaelic expression,
'as one and as two' (mar a h-aon's mar a dlui) in his exertions. The cow
was killed and skinned. An old Elf, a tailor sitting in the upper part of
the brugh, with a needle in the right lappel of his coat, was forcibly
caught hold of, stuffed into the cow's hide, and sewn up. He ''"'as then
taken to the door and rolled down the slope. Festivities commenced,
and whoever might be on the floor dancing, Luran was sure to be. He
v. as 'as one and as nvo' at the dance, as he had been at driving the
co\v. A number of gorgeous cups and dishes were put on the table, and
Luran, resolving to make up for the loss of the grey cow, watched his
opportunity and made off with one of the cups (corn). The Fairies ob-
served him and started in pursuit. He heard one of them remark;
'Not swift would be Luran
If it were not the hardness of his bread.'
His pursuers were likely to overtake him, when a friendly voice called
out:
'Luran, Luran Black,
Be take thee to the black stones of the shore.'
Below high \Vater mark, no Fairy, ghost, or demon can come, and,
acting on the friendly advice, Luran reached the shore, and keeping
belo\v tide mark made his way home in safety. He heard the outcries
393 Theories of fairy origins
of the person who had called out to him (probably a former acquaint-
ance who had been taken by 'the people') being belaboured by the
Fairies for his ill-timed officiousness. Next morning, the grey cow was
found lying dead with its feet in the air, at the foot of the Culver, and
Luran said that a needle would be found in its right shoulder. On this
proving to be the case, he allowed none of the flesh to be eaten, and
thre'v it out of the house.
One of the fields, tilled in common by Luran and two neighbours,
was every year, when ripe, reaped by the Fairies in one night, and the
benefit of the crop disappeared. An old man was consulted, and he
undertook to watch the crop. He saw the shian ofCorryvulin open, and
a troop of people coming out. There was an old man at their head,
who put the company in order, some to shear, some to bind the
sheaves, and some to make stooks. On the \Vord of command being
given, the field \vas reaped in a 'vonderfully short time. The watcher,
calling aloud, counted the reapers. The Fairies never troubled the
field again.
Their persecution of Luran did not, however, cease. While on his
way to Inveraray Castle, with his Fairy cup, he was lifted mysteriously
with his treasure out of the boat, in which he \vas taking his passage,
and was never seen or heard of after.
[Type: ML6o45. Motifs: F348.z; FJso; F352; F352.1]
Tiddy Ones, Tiddy Men, Tiddy People. The Tiddy Ones, the
YARTHKINS and the STRANGERS, these were the Lincolnshire fenmen's
nature spirits, graphically described by l\.1rs Balfour in her article,
'Legends of the Cars'. Ivlost of them were undifferentiated, a drifting
mass of influences and powers rather than individuals. 'T'hc one among
them personally known and almost beloved was the TIDDY ~1UN, who
was invoked in tin1cs of flood to \Vithdraw the waters. Even he did not
hesitate to call down pestilence on stock and children if he believed him-
self to be injured.
Time in Fairyland. The early fairy specialists had a vivid sense of the
relativity of time, founded, perhaps, on experiences of drcan1 or trance,
when a dream that covers several years may be experienced between
rolling out of bed and landing on the floor. Occasionally the dimension
is in this direction. HARTLAND, in his exhaustive study of'The Super-
natural Lapse of Time in Fairyland', contained in The Science of Fairy
Tales, gives a Pembrokeshire exan1ple of a visit to Fairyland (p. 199). A
young shepherd joined a fairy dance and found himself in a glittering
palace surrounded by n1ost beautiful gardens, \vhere he passed many
years in happiness among the fairy people. There \vas only one pro-
hibition: in the middle of the garden there was a fountain, filled with
gold and silver fish, and he was told he must on no account drink out of
it. He desired increasing!) to do so, and at last he plunged his hands into
the pool. At once the whole place vanished, and he found himself on the
cold hillside among his sheep. Only minutes had passed since he joined
the fairy dance. l\1ore often this trance-like experience is told in a more
theological setting, the journey of lahon1ct to Paradise, for instance, or
the experience of Brahmins or hermits. As a rule, however, time moves in
the other direction, both in VISITS TO FAIRYLAND and to other super-
natural worlds. A dance of a fe,v minutes takes a year and a day of
common time, as, in the tale of' Rhys and Llewellyn ', a fe,,: days of feast-
ing and merriment have consumed 200 years in the mortal world (see
KING HERLA). This is not always so, for nothing in folk tradition can be
contained in an exact and logical system. ELIDURUS could go backwards
and forwards between Fairyland and his home with no alteration of time,
human MID\VIVES TO THE FAIRIES can visit fairy homes and return the
same night, the man who borro\ved FAIRY OINTMENT from the fairy
hill was taken into it 'vith impunity, and I so bel Gowdie visited the fairy
hills in the same way to obtain ELF-SHOT. Yet, on the \vhole, it may be
said that the man who visits Fairyland does so at a grave risk of not
returning until long after his span of mortal life has been consumed.
Sometimes, as in the Rip Van Winkle tale, a broken TABOO, the par-
399 Time in Fairyland
taking ofF AIRY FOOD or drink in Fairyland, is followed by an enchanted
sleep during which time passes at a supernatural rate, but it is not always
so. Certainly King Herla and his companions feasted in Fairyland, but
there seems no suggestion that the passage of time was caused by this
communion. The effect of the visit was disastrous, but the intention does
not seem to have been unfriendly.
The OSSIAN story, in which the hero goes to live with a FAIRY BRIDE
and returns after some hundreds of years, is widespread and is even to be
found among the best-known of the Japanese fairy-tales, 'Urashima
Taro '. Here, as in many other versions, his bride is a sea-maiden. Fairy-
land is often under or across the sea, and MERMAIDS are amorous of
mortals. When Urashima tries to return home, his bride gives him a
casket in which his years are locked, and old age and death come on him
when he opens it. Hartland in The Science of Fairy Tales (p. 141) noted
an interesting Italian variant of the Ossian tale. In this, which begins as a
S\V AN MAIDEN tale, the hero'S bride is Fortune, and after once losing her,
he follows her to the Isle of Happiness, where he stays, as he thinks, for
two months, but it is really 200 years. When he insists on returning to
visit his mother, Fortune gives him a magnificent black horse to carry
him over the sea, and warns him not to dismount from it, but she is more
prudent than Niam of the Golden Locks, for she goes with him. They
ride over the sea together, and find a changed country. As they go to-
wards his mother's house they meet an old hag with a carriage-load of old
shoes behind her, which she has worn out looking for him. She slips and
falls to the ground, and he is bending down to lift her when Fortune calls
out: 'Beware! That is Death!' So they ride on. Next they meet a great
lord on a leg-weary horse, which founders at their side, but before the
hero can come to his aid, Fortune cries out again: 'Be careful! That is
the Devil!' And they ride on. But \vhen the hero finds that his mother is
dead and long since forgotten, he turns back with his bride to the Isle of
Happiness, and has lived there with her ever since. This is one of the
few stories of fairy brides and visits to Fairyland which ends happily.
One of the same motifs occurs in a Tyrolean story, also told by Hart-
land (p. 185). A peasant followed his herd under a stone and into a cave,
where a lady met him, gave him food and offered him a post as a gardener.
He worked in the country for some weeks, and then began to be home-
sick. They let him go home, but \vhen he got back everything was strange,
and no one recognized him except one old crone, who came up to him
and said, 'Where have you been? I have been looking for you for 200
years.' She took him by the hand, and he fell dead, for she was Death.
When people return in this way after long absence they often fall to
dust as soon as they eat human food. This is especially so in the Welsh
stories. In a Highland version two men \Vho had returned from Fairyland
on a Sunday went to church, and as soon as the scriptures were read they
crumbled into dust.
Tir Nan Og, or Tir Na N-og 400
Tir Nan Og, or Tir Na -og (leer na nogue), meaning the Land of the
Young. This, which lay west across the sea, was one of the lands into which
the TUATHA DE DANANN retreated when they had been conquered by
the Milesians. They had other habitations, under the sI D H, the green
mounds or tumuli of prehistoric Ireland, or the Land under the Waves,
Tirfo Thuinn, but Tir 1an Og was the earthly paradise where time, like
TIME IN FAIRYLAND, \Vas no longer reckoned by mortal measures, a
land of beauty, where the grass was always green and fruit and flowers
could be picked together, where feasting, music, love, hunting and joyous
fighting went on all day and death made no entry, for if in the fights men
were wounded and killed one day they came to life again none the worse
the next. Occasionally mortal men were invited to Tir Nan Og, as
OSSIAN was, and if they wanted to revisit earth they were put under a
401 Tolkien, J. R. R.
TABOO. When this was violated the weight of their mortal years came
upon them and they were unable to return. In Wales a comparable story
is that of KING HERLA.
If Tir Nan Og was the Celtic heaven, there are glimpses of a Celtic
hell. In Ireland it was Scathach, visited by CUCHULAIN, the hero of
the Ulster cycle, and in Wales Ysbaddaden, the land of the GIANTS
visited by Culhwch in the MABINOGION.
(Motifs: F172.1; F377; F378.1]
Tom Cockle. One of the travelling domestic FA 1 R n:s who follow their
families across the sea, like the I Iighland BAUCHAN and the other
AtvtERICAN I~tMIGRANT FAIRIES who crossed the Atlantic to America.
Tom Cockle had served an Irish fatnily for sornc hundreds of years, and
was called their 'luck'. At last ill-fortune forced the family to leave
Ireland, and move to the big, deserted Westmorland house which had
been the mother's hon1e in her girlhood. 'fhcy had never seen Tom
Cockle in their Irish home, but, however poor they were, he had always
had a fire lit and a mouthful of food for then1 in their need. It was there-
fore with sad hearts that they called out to hirn to tell hin1 that they had
to leave him and go to England. It was a disn1al journey, but at last it
was over, and they were driving their little pony cart through the rain,
down the steep \Vest1norland hills towards the en1pty, dreary house.
\\'hen they got near it they saw lights in the windows, and inside there
was a tire burning and food and drink on the table. 1'om Cockle had got
there before them. Ruth 'I'onguc found three versions of this talc, one
from Ireland, one fion \ csttnorland and one in \Varwickshirc. She
recorded it in l ,orgo/len Folk-Tales oj.the Euglish Counties.
('fypc: ML60J5 ~lot if: F346(a); F482.3. I)
Tom-Poker. One of theN RSER Y BOG 1ES who lives in dark cupboards,
holes under stairs, cn1pty cock lofts and other places appropriate to
BOG 1 ES. He is East Anglian and is mentioned by ~lrs \V right in her list
of cautionary nursery goblins in Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore.
Merlin to find &ome \vay of obtaining one for them, even if he was no
bigger than the farmer's thumb. Merlin \Vas complaisant, and in an
unusually short time a minute baby \Vas born to the farmer's wife, who
in four minutes grew to the length of the farmer's thumb and then
stopped growing. This tiny size very much attracted the FA 1RI ES, for
the Qyeen of the Fairies attended his mother as a midwife and his
FAIRY GODl\tOTHER, and had a suit of fairy clothes made, in which he
ran out at once to play with the other children, for he never grew older
nor taller, but \Vas at once at the full development of his powers. He
played at pins and points with them, and when he lost all his pins or
counters he crept into his playmates' pockets and purloined some of theirs.
A playmate caught him at it and shut him up in a pin box without meat,
drink, air or light. But by a gift of his fairy godmother he needed none of
these, a faculty 'vhich was afterwards very useful to him, for he was
destined to be swallowed a great many times. He had another miraculous
art, which curiously enough he shared \Vith some of the saints, St Kenti-
gern among them; he could hang up pots and pans on a sunbeam. It was
by this art that he revenged himself on his playmates, for he hung up
his mother's pots on a sunbeam, and when they imitated him they got
into trouble. After that he became less popular 'vith the children and
stayed about the house with his mother. Even there he was not free from
adventure, for one day he fell into a bag pudding she was mixing, and
when it \Vas put in to boil he found the heat so disagreeable that he leapt
and banged about so that his mother thought the pudding \Vas enchanted,
and gave it to a passing tinker. When Tom began to bang about again,
the tinker thought the same and threw the pudding away, so Tom
struggled out and made his way home. Another time, when his mother
was out milking \Vith him, one of the cows ate the thistle to which he was
tethered and they had to give the CO\V a draught to rescue him. Mter that
he \Vas carried away by a raven, which landed with him on a GIANT's
chimney. He fell down it, and after evading the giant for some time he
was swallowed by him and kicked up such a rumpus in his belly that the
Tom Tit Tot
giant votded hin1 into the sea, where he was again swallowed by a salmon
and carried to K.ing Arthur's court, discovered by the cook when he was
gutting the fish, and presented to the king. He became a prime favourite
at court, but his career was chequered by various accidents. However,
some magical gifts bestowed on him by his fairy godmother made life
somewhat safer for hin1. The story becomes a series of incidents and stops
rather than ending. Some of the same incidents arc found in German,
Indian and ] apanese versions of the tale, and it is interesting that in
Hans Andersen's 'Thun1belina' her tiny size makes it natural for her to
be associated with the fairies.
[Type: 700. l\1otifs: FS3SI; F535.1.I; FSJ5.1.1.7; F5JS.I.I.I4; T553]
Tom Tit Tot. The Tom Tit Tot story is the liveliest English version of
the type that is best known in Grimm's 'Rumpelstiltskin '. Edward
CLODD published a monograph, Tont Tit Tot, founded on the Suffolk
version of the tale, which he reproduced in full. It is one of the best of
the English folk-tales., lively in style and dialect, and deserves to be
included here in its complete form:
Well, once upon a time there 'vere a 'voman and she baked five pies.
And \Vhen they come out of the oven, they \vas that overbaked, the
crust were too hard to eat. So she says to her dart er -
'Maw'r,' says she, 'put you them there pies on the shelf an' leave
'em there a little, an' they'll come agin' - she meant, you know, the
crust 'ud get soft.
But the gal, she says to herself, ''Veil, if they'll come agin, I'll ate
'em no'v.' And she set to \vork and ate 'em all, first and last.
Well, come supper time the woman she said, 'Goo you and git one
o' them there pies. I dare say they've came agin now.'
Tom Tit Tot
The gal she went an' she looked, and there warn't nothin' but the
dishes. So back she come and says she, 'Noo, they ain't come agin.'
'Not none on 'em?' says the mother.
'Not none on 'em,' says she.
'Well, come agin, or not come agin,' says the woman, 'I'll ha' one
for supper.'
'But you can't, if they ain't come,' says the gal.
'But I can,' says she. 'Goo you and bring the best of' em.'
'Best or worst,' says the gal, 'I've ate 'em all, and you can't ha' one
till that's come agin.'
Well, the woman she were wholly bate, and she took her spinnin'
to the door to spin, and as she span she sang -
'My darter ha' ate five, five pies to-day -
My darter ha' ate five, five pies to-day.'
The king he were a comin' down the street an he hard her sing, but
what she sang he couldn't hare, so he stopped and said-
'What were that you was a singun of, maw'r ?'
The woman, she \V ere ashamed to let him hare \Vhat her darter had
been a doin', so she sang, 'stids o' that-
'My darter ha' spun five, five skeins to-day-
My darter ha' spun five, five skeins to-day.'
'S'ars o' mine!' said the king, 'I never heerd tell of any on as could
do that.'
Then he said: 'Look you here, I want a wife, and I'll marry your
darter. But look you here,' says he, "leven months out o' the year she
shall have all the vittles she likes to eat, and all the gownds she likes to
git, and all the cumpny she likes to hev; but the last month o' the year
she'll ha' to spin five skeins iv'ry day, an, if she doon't, I shall kill
her.'
'All right,' says the woman: for she thowt what a grand marriage
that was. And as for them five skeins, when te come tew, there'd be
plenty o' ways of gettin' out of it, and likeliest, he'd ha' forgot about it.
Well, so they was married. An' for 'leven months the gal had all the
vittles she liked to ate, and all the gownds she liked to git, an' all the
cumpny she liked to hev.
But when the time was gettin' oover, she began to think about them
there skeins an' to \vonder if he had 'em in mind. But not one word did
he say about 'em, an' she whoolly thowt he'd forgot 'em.
Ho\vsivir, the last day o' the last month, he takes her to a room she'd
niver set eyes on afore. There worn't nothin' in it but a spinnin' wheel
and a stool. An' says he, 'Now, me dear, hare yo,v'll be shut in to-
morrow with some vittles and some flax, and if you hain't spun five
skeins by the night, yar hid'll goo off.'
Tom Tit Tot
An' awa' he went about his business.
\i eH, she were that frightened. She'd ailus been such a gatlcss
mawther, that she didn't se much as know how to spin, an' what were
she to dew to-rnorrer, with no one to con1e nigh her to help her. She sat
down on a stool in the kitchen, and lark! how she did cry!
Howsivir, all on a sudden she hard a sort of a knockin' low down on
the door. She upped and oped it, an' what should she sec but a small
little black thing with a long tail. 'fhat looked up at her right kcwrious,
an' that said -
'\V hat arc yew a cry in' for?'
'\Vha's that to yew?' says she.
' 1iver yew mind,' that said, 'but tell n1e what you're a cryin' for.'
'That oon't dew rne noo good if I dew,' says she.
'Yew doon't know that,' that said, an' t wirlcd that's tail round.
'\Veil,' says she, 'that oon't dew no harm, if that doon't dew no
good,' and she upped and told about the pies an' the skeins an' every-
thing.
'This is what I'll dew,' says the little black thing: 'I'll come to yar
winder iv'ry mornin' an' take the flax an' bring it spun at night.'
'\Vhat's your pay?' says she.
That looked out o' the corners o' that's eyes an' that said: 'I'll give
you three guesses every night to guess n1y nan1e, an' if you hain't
guessed it afore the month's up, yew shall be mine.'
\Yell, she thowt she'd be sure to guess that s narne afore the month
was up. 'All right,' says she,' I agree.'
'All right/ that says, an' lork! how that twirled that's tail.
\Veil, the next day, har husband he took her inter the room, an'
there was the flax an' the dav's vittles.
-
' 1\ow, there's the flax,' says he, 'an' if that ain't spun up this night
off goo yar hid.' An' then he went out an' locked the door.
He'd hardly goon, \vhen there was a knockin' agin the \Vinder.
She upped and she oped it, and there sure enough was the little oo'd
thing a settin' on the ledge.
'\Vhere's the flax?' says he.
'Here te be,' says she. And she gonned it to him.
\Veil, come the evenin', a knockin' come agin to the \vinder. She
upped an' she oped it, and there " ere the little oo'd thing, with five
skeins of flax on his arm.
'Here to be,' says he, an' he gonned it to her.
'Now, what's my name?' says he.
'\Vhat, is that Bill?' says she.
'Noo, that ain't,' says he. An' he twirled his tail.
'Is that Ned?' says she.
'Noo, that ain't,' says he. An' he twirled his tail.
'\Vell, is that l\1ark?' says she.
Tom Tit Tot
'Noo, that ain't,' says he. An' he twirled his tail harder, an' awa' he
flew.
Well, when har husban' he come in: there was the five skeins riddy
for him.' I see I shorn't hev for to kill you to-night, me dare,' says he.
'Yew'll hev yar vittles and yar flax in the mornin',' says he, an' away
he goes.
Well, ivery day the flax an' the vittles, they was browt, an' ivery day
that there little black impet used for to come mornin's and evenin's.
An' all the day the mawther she set a tryin' fur to think of names to say
to it when te come at night. But she niver hot on the right one. An' as
that got to-warts the ind o' the month, the impet that began for to look
soo maliceful, an' that twirled that's tail faster an' faster each time she
gave a guess.
At last te come to the last day but one. The impet that come at night
along o' the five skeins, an' that said-
'What, hain't yew got my name yet?'
'Is that Nicodemus?' says she.
'Noo, t'ain't,' that says.
'Is that Sammle?' says she.
'Noo, t'ain't,' that says.
'A-well, is that Methusalem?' says she.
'Noo, t'ain't that norther,' he says.
Then that looks at her with that's eyes like a cool o' fire, an' that
says, 'Woman, there's only to-morrer night, an' then yar'll be mine!'
An' a~ay te fle\v.
Well, she felt that horrud. Ho\vsomediver, she hard the king a
coming along the passage. In he came, an' when he see the five skeins,
he says, says he-
'Well, me dare,' says he, 'I don't see but what yew'll ha' your skeins
ready to-morrer night as \Veil, an' as I reckon I shorn't ha' to kill you,
I'll ha' supper in here to-night.' So they brought supper, an' another
stool for him, and down the tew they sat.
Well, he hadn't eat but a mouthful or so, when he stops and begins
to laugh.
'What is it ?' says she.
'A-\vhy,' says he, 'I was out a-huntin' to-day, an' I got away to a
place in the wood I'd never seen afore. An' there was an old chalk pit.
An' I heerd a sort of a hummin', kind o'. So I got off my hobby, an' I
went right quiet to the pit, an' I looked down. Well, what should there
be but the funniest little black thing yew iver set eyes on. An' what
was that a dewin' on, but that had a little spinnin' wheel, an' that were
a spinnin' wonnerful fast, an' a twirlin' that's tail. An' as that span, that
sang-
"Nimmy nimrny not,
My name's Tom Tit Tot.'"
Tom Tit Tot
I
\ ..1
I
I
\\Tell, "hen the mawthcr hccrd this, she fared as if she could ha'
jumped outer her skin for joy, but she di'n't say a word.
I\ext day, that there little thing looked soo maliccful when he come
for the flax. An' when night catnc, she hccrd that a knockin' agin the
\vinder panes. he opcd the \Vindcr, an' that come right in on the ledge.
That were grinnin' fron1 arc to arc, an' Oo! that's tail \Vere twirlin,
round so fast.
'\\"hat's my name?' that says, as that gonned her the skeins.
'Is that olomon?' she says, pretend in' to be afeard.
' Too, t'ain t,' that Sa)S, an' that come fuddcr inter the room.
'\\'ell, is that Zebedee ?' says she agin.
' Too, t'ain't,' says the impet. An' then that laughed an' twirled that's
tail till yew cou'n't hardly see it.
'Take time, \Voman,' that says; 'next guess, an' you're mine.' An'
that stretched out that's black hands at her.
\Veil, she backed a step or two, an' she looked at it, and then she
laughed out, an' says she, a pointin' of her finger at it-
'~immy nimmy not,
Yar name's Tom Tit Tot.'
\\Tell, when that hard her, that shruck awful an' awa' that flew into the
dark, an' she niver saw it noo more.
There is a gipsy sequel to this, recorded, as the first \vas, in the Ipswich
Journal, in \vhich the girl is rescued from the annual repetitions of the
feat by the help of a gipsy woman and a noxious mixture of axle-grease
and rotten eggs.
Traffic with the fairies
The Cornish version of Tom Tit Tot, 'Duffy and the Devil', has the
devil TERRYTOP as its villain and is recorded by HUNT as one of the last
of the Cornish drolls. In Scotland \Ve have WHUPPITY STOORIE and one
version of HABETROT. There is also the Orcadian PEERIFOOL and a
fragmentary version in Wales of TR WTYN-TRA TYN. It will be seen that
the tale is well represented in these islands. There are many variants also
in Europe. In Austria there is 'Kruzimi.igeli ', in France 'Robiquet ', in
Hungary 'Winterkolbe' and 'Panczumanczi ', in Iceland 'Gilitrutt ', in
Italy 'Rosania ', in Russia 'Kinkach Martinko ', and various others, some
of the 'Tom Tit Tot' type and some more like 'Habetrot'.
[Type 500. Motifs: C432.1; 02183; F271.4.3; F346; F)8I.I; F451.5.2;
H521; H914; H1092; M242; N475]
Traffic with the fairies. Among the Puritans in Britain, by whom the
FAIRIES were generally thought of as minor devils, intercourse with the
fairies was looked on with the gravest suspicion, though the country
people looked on it more leniently and the Irish regarded a certain
amount of homage paid to the fairies as a very justifiable piece of pro-
tection payment, though some of them at least took a darker view of the
transaction. It was widely said that the witches, the fairies and the dead
danced together on Hallowe'en. In the North of England, people accused
of witchcraft sometimes claimed to \vork through the fairies rather than
the Devil. Durant Hotham and Webster described how a man brought
into court as a \Vitch offered to lead the judge to see the fairy hill from
which he received the medicine he used. The judge treated his plea
harshly, but the jury refused to convict him. Durant Hotham in the
introduction to his Life ofJacob Behmen is the first to mention the case
in 1654=
There was (as I have heard the story credibly reputed in this
Country) a man apprehended of suspition of Witchcraft, he was of
that sort we call white-\vitches, which are such as do Cures beyond
the Ordinary reasons and deducing of our usual Practitioners, and are
supposed (and most part of them truly) to do the same by the ministra-
tions of Spirits (from whence, under their noble favour, most Sciences
first grew) and therefore are upon good reason provided against by our
Civil Laws as being \Vaies full of danger and deceit, and scarce ever
otherwise obtain'd than by a devilish Compact of the Exchange of ones
Soul to that assistant Spirit for the honour of its Mountebankery.
What this man did was with a white powder, \vhich he said, hereceiv'd
from the Fayries, and that going to a hill he knocked three times, and
the hill opened, and he had access to, and converse with, a visible
people; and offer'd, that if any Gentleman present \vould either go
himself in person, or send his servant, he would conduct them thither,
and show them the place and persons from whence he had his skill.
Traffic with the fairies 410
To this I shall only add thus much, that the man was accused for
invoking and calling upon evil spirits, and was a very simple and
illiterate person to any n1ans judgment, and had been formerly very
poor, but had got ten some pretty little meanes to maintain himself, his
Wife and diverse srnall children, by his cures done with this white
powder, of 'vhich there were sufficient proof.c;, and the Judge asl;ing
him how he came by the powder, he told a story to this effect. "fhat
one night before the day was gone, as he was going home from his
labour, being very sad and full of heavy thoughts, not knowing how to
get meat and drink for his \Vife and Children, he n1ct a fair \Voman in
fine cloaths, who asked hin1 why he was so sad, and he told her that it
\vas by reason of his poverty, to which she said, that if he would follow
her counsel she would help hitn to that which would serve to get hin1
a good living; to which he said he would consent with all his heart, so
it\\ ere not by unlawful ways: she told hin1 that it should nor be by any
such ways, but by doing of good and curing of sick people; and so
warning hin1 strictly to n1ect her there the next night at the same time,
she departed fron1 hin1, and he went hon1e. And the next night at the
time appointed he duly waited, and she (according to promise) came
and told hin1 that it was well he came so duly, otherwise he had missed
of that benefit, that she intended to do unto him, and so bade him
follow her and not be afraid. Thereupon she led him to a little Hill
and she knocked three times, and the Hill opened, and they went in,
and can1e to a fair hall, wherein was a Queen sitting in great state, and
many people about her, and the Gentlewoman that brought him, pre-
sented him to the Queen, and she said he "as welcom, and bid the
Gentlewoman give him some of the white powder, and teach him how
to use it; which she did, and gave him a little wood box full of the
\vhite powder, and bad him give 2 or 3 grains of it to any that were
sick, and it \vould heal them, and so she brought him forth of the Hill,
and so they parted. And being asked by the Judge whether the place
\Vithin the Hill, which he called a Hall, were light or dark, he said
indifferent, as it is with us in the twilight; and being asked how he got
more powder, he said when he wanted he went to that Hill, and
knocked three times, and said every time I am coming, I am coming,
\vhereupon it opened, and he going in was conducted by the aforesaid
\Voman to the Qleen, and so had more powder given him.' This was
the plain and simple story (however it may be judged of) that he told
before the Judge, the \vhole Court and the Jury, and there being no
411 Traffic with the fairies
proof, but what cures he had done to very many, the Jury did acquit
him: and I remember the Judge said, when all the evidence \vas heard,
that if he were to assign his punishment, he should be whipped thence
to Fairy-hall, and did seem to judge it to be a delusion or Imposture.
This seems to have been a gentler fairyland than that believed in by
the Scottish witches, who evidently regarded their fairies as the SLUAGH,
who employed them to shoot passers-by, a feat which the fairies seem
unable to perform for themselves; this at least is the belief of Isobel
Gowdie, who, apparently suffering from some form of nervous break-
down, made a voluntary confession of her witchcraft practices and her
association with the fairies. It is to be found in Pitcairn's Criminal Trials
(vol. 111, Part Two). Of the ELF-SHOT she says:
As for Elf-arrow heidis, THE DIVELL shapes them \Vith his awin
hand, (and syne deliveris thame) to Elf-boyes, who whyttis and dightis
them with a sharp thing lyk a paking neidle; bot (quhan I \ves in Elf-
land?) I saw them whytting and dighting them ... Thes that dightis
thaim ar litle ones, hollow and boss-baked. They speak gowstie lyk.
Qyhnn THE DIVELL ghves them to ws, he sayes,
'SHOOT thes in my name,
And they sail not goe heall hame.'
In an earlier examination she had explained how she experienced
FAIRY LE v 1TAT IoN after using the 'Horse and hattock! ' invocation
mentioned by AUBREY.
I haid a little horse, and wold say, 'HORSE AND HATTOCK, IN
THE DIVILLIS NAME!' And then ve void flie away quhair ve void,
be ewin as strawes wold flie wpon an hieway. We will flie lyk strawes
quhan we pleas; wild-strawes and corne-strawes wilbe horses to ws,
and ve put thaim betwixt our foot, and say, 'HORSE AND
HATTOCK, IN THE DIVELLIS nam!' An quhan any sies thes
strawes in a whirlewind, and doe not then sanctifie them selves, we
may shoot them dead at owr pleasour. Any that ar shot be vs, their
sowell will goe to Hevin, bot their bodies remains with ws and \vill flie
as horsis to ws, als small as strawes.
There are a number of confessions of visits to elf-hills scattered through
the Scottish witch-trials, and fragments of the belief are found all over
England. As for normal and neighbourly associations, we can mention
the putting out of BREAD and CLEAR wATER, the making up of a good
fire and leaving the kitchen clean and a state of NEATNESS for their
visits, often receiving a piece of money in exchange; putting flowers on
stones sacred to the fairies and pouring milk into the holes of the cupped
stones, and other observances half-way bet\veen acts of neighbourliness
and of worship. All these can be counted as part of the normal traffic with
Trash 412
the fairies, as well as occasional practices of borrowing and l"A1RYLOANS.
[Motifs: D1500.1.20; F282.2; F3443]
Trooping fairies. \V. B. YEATS, in his delightful Irish Fairy and Folk
Tales, divides the FA 1R 1ES into two main classes: trooping fairies and
SOLITARY FAIRIES. .i\1uch the same distinction is made by James
lvtacdougall in J,olk Tales and Fairy Lore. It is a distinction that holds
good throughout the British Isles, and is indeed valid wherever fairy
beliefs arc held. Oue n1ight, however, add a third division, the domesticated
fairies, who live in sn1all farnily groups, but these presun1ably \VOuld join
other fairies for FAIRY ~tARKJ:TS and n1erry-making.
The trooping fairies can be large or srnall, friendly or sinister. They
tend to wear green jackets, while the solitary fairies wear red jackets. They
can range from the HERo 1 c FA 1 R1 ES to the dangerous and malevolent
SLUAGH or those DI~liN TIVE FAIRIES \Vho include the tiny nature
fairies that n1akc the fairy rings with their DANCI ~G and speed the
growth of flow<;rs. Among the trooping fairies mentioned by Y cats are
some so ~mall that a heather bell is the size of their caps. Some are small
people three to four feet in height, the fairies who dance and sing inside
the fairy hills, those \vho are responsible for CH \"\GELI:\GS and FAIRY
BRIDES. He also includes the ~tERRO\\ s, hideous, genial MER~1EN of
Ireland.
l\1acdougall's fairies range through Yery small to those of human size
suitable for intercourse with mankind. In England it is the same. The
tiny fairies, so small that the " 'hole royal dais can be caught under a
miser's hat, and the little fellows to whom a single grain of wheat is a
heavy burden, are as clearly trooping fairies as \VILD EDRIC's ominous
rade. In \\'ales, the fairies love hunting and are great herdsmen. On the
whole, the characteristics and habits of the trooping fairies are alike,
though there are regional differences. The Irish fairies are particularly
fond of faction fights and HCRLING matches, the Scots use ELF-SHOTS
and carry human beings with them through the air to operate them,
which they are apparently incapable of doing themselves. Throughout
the land they resemble each other more closely than the solitary fairies do.
[Motif: F241. 1.0. I]
413 Trows
Trows. The trows of Shetland seem to be connected in some way with
the Scandinavian trolls. Some of the trolls are gigantic and monstrous,
often many-headed, like some of the British GIANTS, and others of
human size and in many ways like ordinary rustic FA 1R: Es clothed in
grey, and similar in many ways to the fairies and ELVES of other parts of
Britain. The gigantic trolls, it will be remembered, could not live in the
light of the sun, but turned into stone. This trait has been made familiar
to many readers by its introduction into J. R. R. TOLKIEN's The Hobbit.
The Shetland trows also found the light of the sun dangerous, but not
fatal. A trow who is above-ground at sunrise is earthbound and cannot
return to its underground dwelling until sunset. KEIGHTLEY draws his
information about the trows from Hibbert's Description of the Shetland
Islands (1822) and from Edmonston's View o[Zetland Islands (1799), but
some of the most interesting details about them are to be found in Jessie
M. E. Saxby's Shetland Traditional Lore. Jessie Saxby was herself
a Shetlander, a ninth child of a ninth child, and thus having from child-
hood unusual access to Shetland lore. This \vas hard to get, for the
TABOO against any INFRINGEMENT OF FAIRY PRIVACY was strongly
enforced in the Islands. However, she was privileged by right of her
birth, and tells us much, as, for instance ~ the knowledge handed on by an
old boat-builder about the Kunal-Trow or King-Tro\v, who had never
before been described :
One sort ofTrow this old man called Kunal-Trows, very human sort
of creatures, but their nature was morbid and sullen. They wandered
in lonely places after the sun had set, and were seen at times to weep
and wave their arms about. We cease to wonder at that when we learn
that there are no female King-Trows. They marry human wives, and
as soon as the baby-Trow is born the mother dies. No Kunal-Trow
marries twice, so their period of matrimonial bliss is brief. It seems a
wise arrangement that there should never be more than one son to
inherit the questionable character of a Kunal-Trow.
A Kunal-Trow can't die till his son is grown up, but some philo-
sophers of the race have tried to live a bachelor life under the pleasing
impression that thus they might become immortal; but the laws of
this people have a statute for even such an emergency as that. The Trow
who postpones matrimony beyond reasonable limits is outlawed until
he brings to Trow-land an earthly bride. One Trow-King braved all
consequences, and took up his abode in a ruined Broch, and for
centuries he was the terror of the Isles. His only food was earth formed
into perfect models of fish, birds, babies, and it was said that those
images had the 'goo' (smell and taste) of what they represented in
form.
He seems to have found his solitary life unendurable, and met the
advances of some humans with a certain amount of pleasure, but his
Tro\VS
love of mischief usually brought all friendly overtures to an abrupt
conclusion.
A witch who craved to know the secrets ofT'row-Jand was assiduous
in courting the bachelor, and persuaded hin1 to 1narry her on the
assurance that her art would show hin1 how to prevent the c.lcat h he
dreaded. I lis history broke off at his n1arriagc; but it was said that
fron1 this union sprang the Ganfer and the 1 in is.
The Finis is the being who appears before a death, personating the
dying person. 1"hc Ganfcr is what we - in n1odern days - would call
the Astral, who (so say son1c spiritualists) is ever waiting to enter into
son1c hun1a.n being and ally itscJf to the physical life.
1'he witch whose channs proved irresistible to the bachelor 1''ro\V
\vas said to have paid a clandestine visit to her n1ot her and told her
many secret things. She had created (her rnothcr said) a sensation
arnong the Trews; but we 1nay suppose she had not found the life
agreeable, for she gave her n1othcr n1any instructions how to provide
against the cnchantn1ent of all Trews who try to decoy unsuspecting
girls into their unhallowed don1ain. I-I er parting words were: ' 1 1oo,
~lan1, mind he hac the puir tings o' lasses well kcust-aboot when the
grey wumn1an-stealcrs arc oot upon dcr pranks.'
Other trews \Vcrc as often fen1ale as 1nale., and exhibit manv of the
-
traits of ordinary fairies, though they have peculiarities of their own.
Jcssie Saxby tells us tnany interesting things about them in a rather
randon1 and disorganized way:
Our Shetland fairies arc very unlike Shakespeare's dainty little
creatures and Lover's Irish 'good people'. They are sn1all grey-clad
men. They always walk backwards when under observation, facing the
person \vho is illluckit enough to spy them. They are so fond of music
they play the fiddle continually. Their melodies arc peculiarly wild and
sweet, and have a lilt of Gaelic as well as Icelandic tunes. Their homes
are located under green knowcs or sunny hillsides. They can visit the
upper air only after sunset, and if, by any evil chance, one remains
above ground a second after sunrise, there he must stay till the Gliider
(the sun) disappears again!
There \\as a Trow called the Booner who came after dark and
threshed the corn required during the Yules.
\\yhen once the eye is on a Trow, and kept there, he can't get a"ay.
It is lucky to hear a Tro\v speak to another, and very unlucky for the
person who sees one.
\Vhen a bairn 'vas Trow-stricken the mother begged three kinds of
meal from nine mothers of healthy children, and with that fare the
child was fed. If the cure failed, the child died! 'Yea, my lamb, what
can a body do when a bairn has had the grey man's web about it?'
A steel blade, a holy Book, a bit of silver, a good word, could
True Thomas
protect one from the Tro\vs, and 'to sain' was an important duty. To
sain means very much the same as sprinkling and consecration, and
other ceremonies connected with religion in modern days. I daresay
the saining was as effectual as the others!
When a Tro\v took a fancy to a family or district, these prospered.
Broonie \vas a Tro\v \veil known in one locality. He took the 'yards'
into his care; and often yarfasted the screws of corn and desses of hay
against a storm, but if anyone interfered he resented that by laying both
screws and desses 'in Herd a' (in utter confusion).
Broonie once took a \Vhole neighbourhood into his protection, and he
was often seen gliding from yard to yard casting his spell upon them.
The \vomen felt sorry for Broonie exposed to the chill winter \Vinds
in his thin grey suit, so they made a cloak and a hood for him, and laid
it in a yard \vhich he frequented. Broonie took the well-intentioned
gift as an offence, and he was never seen again.
The Trows were permitted freedom on the earth at one time of the
year. That was during the Yules, therefore extra care was taken against
their mischief at that season.
The folk strove at all times to propitiate the Trows, and were said
to live sometimes on good terms with them. But on the whole they
were feared and disliked even more than they seem to have deserved.
Truth. The tricksiest FAIRIES, like the Devil, \Vere not above equivoca-
tion, but they expected strict truth in the dealings of mortals. ELIDOR's
fairies in the story told by GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS were accustomed to
reprehend the deceitfulness of mortals. Theirs appeared to be a real
moral scruple, but anyone dealing with the Devil would have to be care-
ful to speak the exact truth, because otherwise it gives the Devil power
against the mortal. Fairies, however, seem to have a disinterested love of
it. See also FAIRY MORALITY; VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE FAIRIES.
Tulman. A Gaelic name for the house inside a fairy KNOWE. It seems
to be a single dwelling. ]. F. CA~tPBELL in Popular Tales of the ~Vest
Highlands (vol. n, p. 49) gives a brief anecdote of a tulman which illus-
trates the use of GOOD ~tANNERS in dealing \Vith the FAIRIES, and
sho\vs them in a benevolent light. The fairy woman had been given
nothing but politeness and respect:
There was a " 'Oman in Baile Thangusdail, and she was out seeking
a couple of calves; and the night and lateness caught her, and there
Unseelie Court, the
came rain and tempest, and she was seeking shelter. She went to a
knoll with the couple of calves, and she was striking a tether-peg into
it. The knoll opened. She heard a gleegashing as if a pot-hook were
clashing beside a pot. She took wonder, and she stopped striking the
tether-peg. A woman put out her head and all above her middle, and
she said, 'What business hast thou to be troubling this tulman in which
I make my dwelling?' 'I am taking care of this couple of calves, and I
am but weak. Where shall I go with them?' 'Thou shalt go with them
to that breast down yonder. Thou wilt see a tuft of grass. If thy couple
of calves eat that tuft of grass, thou wilt not be a day without a milk
CO\V as long as thou art alive, because thou hast taken my counsel.'
As she said, she never \Vas without a milk cow after that, and she
was alive fourscore and fifteen years after the night that was there.
[Motif; FJJO)
Turning clothes. A method of protecting oneself against fairy enchant-
ment, not invariably successful. See also PROTECTION AGAINST
FAIRIES.
(Motif; F385.1]
Tylwyth Teg (terlooeth teig), or the Fair Family. The most usual
name for the \Velsh FA 1R 1E s, though they are sometimes called BEN o 1T H
Y MAMA U, the Mother's Blessing, in an attempt to avert their kidnapping
activities by invoking a EUPHE~1ISTIC NAME FOR THE FAIRIES. There
seems no distinction benveen the types of fairies named. They are fair-
haired, love GOLDEN HAIR and hence covet fair-haired human children.
They dance and make the fairy rings. Their habitation is under the
ground or under the \Vater. The fairy maidens are easily won as \Vives
and will live with human husbands for a time. The danger of visiting
them in their own country lies in the miraculous passage of TIME IN
FAIRYLAND. They give riches to their favourites, but these gifts vanish
if they are spoken of. In fact, they have all the characteristics of the
ordinary fairy people.
[Motifs: C433; F2335]
Wee Folk, the. One of the Scottish and Irish EUPHEMISTIC NAMES
FOR THE FAIRIES. \Ve find it in Allingham's poem 'The Fairies':- 'Wee
folk, good folk, trooping all together'. The Manx equivalent is 'The
LIL' FELLAS'.
[Motif: C433]
White ladies. The use of' \Vhite Ladies' for both ghosts and FA 1 R IES
is an indication of close connection between fairies and the dead. I~ vans
Wentz in The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, tracing the supernatural
elements in the early Arthurian MATTER OF BRITAIN legends, points out
that 'Gwcnhwyvar' or Guincverc originally meant '' hitc phantom',
which has the same meaning as the Irish 'Bean 1 hionn ', or \ hite Lady
1
of Lough Gur, \vho claims a hun1an life every seven years. J)oug]as
HYDE, in his introduction to the Irish section of the san1c book, speaks
in passing of the \Vhitc Ladies of raths and 1noats as direct descendants
ofthc TUATHA DE OANA~~.
Wife of Bath's Talc, The. Chauccr's The 1ife of Bath's Tale is \VOrthy
of comment for two reasons. First, it is an early and excellent example of
a fairy-talc, and secondly it contains a n1edieval example of the complaint
of the DEPARTURE OF THE FAIRIES after the manner of Corbet's
'Farewell, Re,s.ards and Fairies'. It seems that from the earliest times the
FA 1R 1ES have always been leaving us, and yet son1ctimcs they never
qutte go.
In th'olde dayes of the King 1\rthour,
Of which that Britons speken greet honour,
Al was this land fulfild of faicric.
The clf-queene, with hir joly compaignie,
Daunccd ful oftc in many a grcnc n1cde.
This was the olde opinion, as I rcdc;
I spckc of n1anie hundred ycrcs ago.
But now kan no man se none elves mo,
For no\V the gretc charitcc and praycres
Of limitours and othcrc hooly frercs,
That scrchen every lond and every strcem,
As thikkc as motes in the sonnc-bccm,
Blcssingc hallcs, chambrcs, kichcncs, boures,
Citees, burghe , castcls, hyc toures,
Thropcs, bcrncs, shipncs, daicries -
This makcth that thcr ben no faicrics.
For thcr as wont to walkcn \\as an elf,
Ther wal.leth no\v the limitour himself,
In undermcles and in morweninges,
And SC) th his matins and his hooly thinges
As he gooth in his limitacioun.
\Vommen may go no\\ saufly up and doun.
In every bussh or under every tree
Ther is noon oother incubus but he,
And he ne \Vol doon hem but dishonour.
In this passage the 'Vife of Bath takes her sly fling at the churchmen who
were of the company, going as far as 'There is none other incubus but
he.' The wanton friar is a common figure in folk tradition. One notices
here that she identifies the fairies with the devils, for an INCUBUS is a
devil \Vho lies with a " 'Oman, though the Loathly Lady in the story is
really a good fairy.
The tale itself is one that is a good deal used at that time. Gower used
it at the same time as Chaucer in Confessio A mantis, and a 15th-century
poem, 'The Weddyinge of Sr Gawen and Dame Ragnell ', is printed in
Madden's Syr Gawayne. There is a mutilated ballad 'The Marriage of
433 Wife of Bath's Tale
Sir Gawain' reprinted by Child from the Percy Manuscript. There is
also a ballad of' King Henry ~ (No. 32 of the Child ballads) with the same
theme of courtesy and compliance to a hideous woman-creature. The
story is attached to the Finne Fein in J. F. CAMPBELL's Gaelic tale, 'The
Daughter of King Under-Waves', with Diarmid as its hero. Child cites a
parallel from an Icelandic saga.
Chaucer's version of the tale differs a little from most of the others,
though the plot is the same. An unnamed knight of Arthur's court, 'a
lusty bachelor', riding back from hawking one day, raped a maiden and
was condemned to die at first, but Guinevere begged that she might dispose
of him. She set him a question - what is it that women desire most? -
and gave him a year and a day to find the answer. If he failed his life was
forfeit. He rode high and low and received a variety of answers, but none
seemed better than the others. At length the time came to ride back to
the court, but as he passed through a forest he came on an open green
on which four-and-twenty ladies were dancing, and went eagerly up to
them in the hope of getting the answer to his riddle, but before he
reached them they all vanished into air, and when he came to the green
he saw only one old \voman, hideous beyond description, who hailed him
and asked him what he sought there. He told her his plight, and she said
that she knew the answer to his riddle, and would tell him if in return he
would promise to grant a request she would make to him, provided it was
within his power. He promised, and she whispered the answer into his
ear. Then they \vent along together to the tribunal. The judges were
maidens, wives and widows, presided over by the queen. The whole of
King Arthur's court attended. The question was posed and the knight
stepped forward boldly:
'My lige lady, generally,' quod he,
'Wommen desiren to have sovereintee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
And for to been in maistrie him above.
This is youre mooste desir, thogh ye me kill e.
Dooth as yow list; I am heer at youre wille.'
And no one, maid, wife or widow, could gainsay him, so that he was
judged to have fairly won his life. Then the old, foul woman started up,
and claimed that she had taught him that answer and that he had promised
to return to grant her any request that was in his power. So now she
demanded that he should marry her. The young man admitted the truth
of what she said, but begged that she would take some other recompense,
but no other would do for her, so he wedded her, in haste and shame,
and at night they went to bed together. As they lay she began to remon-
strate with him because he would do nothing but groan and toss about.
What had offended him? she asked. What had she done wrong? He
answered that she was old and foul and poor, and of low estate. She
Wight 434
answered him gently point by point, and at last said that she could arncnd
it. lie could choose if he would have her old and ugly, but gentle and
loving, serving him in every way like a true wife, or beautiful and young,
but fro\vard and false, \Vith a great resort of lovers to her door. lie
thought deeply, and at length asked her to take her choice herself, for
she knew best. 'l'hen you give me the tnastcry ,' she said. 'Ycs,' he said,
'I think it best.' 'Con1c, kiss me,' she said, 'for I will be both to you, fair
and good. Come, lift the curtain and sec.' 1'hcn, when he saw her as fair
as any lady in the world, and ready to pleasure hirn in any way he would,
he kissed her a hundred times, and all their days were spent in love and
gentleness.
Chaucer's story is different from the ballads and folk-talcs in n1aking
the knight suffer for his own fault. In the other tales, the heroes under-
take the quest on behalf of their king or leader, and the lady is suffering
fron1 an cnchantn1cnt laid on her by a wicked stcprnothcr, con1parable to
that of 'The Laidly \Vorm of Spindlestonc I Icugh '. 'J'his lady is a fairy,
in con1plctc control of the situation, \V hi le the others arc victi1ns, seeking
disenchantment. It is perhaps a gentler prettier talc than one would
expect from the \Vifc of Bath, but it enforces her moral that husbands
should be obedient to their wives.
[~lotifs: D621.3; 0732; 11541)
Wild Edric. Our earliest tale of the FAIRY BRIDE is that of'\Vild Edric',
for among the MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES it \\'as told in some detail by
Waiter Map in the 12th century. It is re-told by Burne and Jackson in
Shropshire Folk-Lore (pp. 59-61):
Shropshire men must have been well acquainted with the fairies five
hundred years ago. It was reported then, that our famous champion
Wild Edric had had an Elf-maiden for his wife. One day, we are told,
when he was returning from hunting in the forest of Clun, he lost his
435 Wild Edric
\vay and wandered about till nightfall, alone, save for one young page.
At last he sa\v the lights of a very large house in the distance, towards
\vhich he turned his steps, and when he had reached it, he beheld
within a large company of noble ladies dancing. They \V ere exceedingly
beautiful, taller and larger than women of the human race, and dressed
in gracefully-shaped linen garments. They circled round \vith smooth
and easy motion, singing a soft low song of \V hich the hunter could not
understand the \vords. Among them was one maiden \vho excelled a11
the others in beauty, at the sight of \Vhom our hero's heart \Vas inflamed
\Vith love. Forgetting the fears of enchantment, \Vhich at the first
moment had seized him, he hurried round the house, seeking an
entrance, and having found it, he rushed in, and snatched the maiden
\vho was the object of his passion from her place in the moving circle.
The dancers assailed him with teeth and nails, but backed by his page,
he escaped at length from their hands, and succeeded in carrying off his
fair captive.
For three \V hole days, not his utmost caresses and persuasions could
prevail on her to utter a single word, but on the fourth day she suddenly
broke the silence. 'Good luck to you, my dear!' said she, 'and you will
be lucky too, and enjoy health and peace and plenty, as long as you do
not reproach me on account of my sisters, or the place from which you
snatched me away, or anything connected with it. For on the day \Vhen
you do so you will lose both your bride and your good fortune; and
\vhcn I am taken away from you, you will pine away quickly to an
early death.'
He pledged himself by all that \Vas most sacred to be ever faithful
and constant in his love for her: and they \Vere solemnly wedded in the
presence of all the nobles from far and near, whom Edric invited to
their bridal feast. At that time \Villiam the Norman \Vas ne\vly made
king of England, who, hearing of this \\'onder, desired both to see the
lady, and to test the truth of the tale; and bade the newly-married pair
to London, \vhere he \Vas then holding his court. Thither then they
went, and many \Vitnesses from their own country \Vith them, \vho
brought with them the testimony of others \Vho could not present them-
selves to the king. But the marvellous beauty of the lady was the best
of all proofs of her superhuman origin. And the king let them return
in peace, \Vondering greatly.
Many years passed happily by, till one evening Edric returned late
from hunting, and could not find his wife. He sought for her and called
her for some time in vain. At last she appeared. 'I suppose,' began he,
\Vith angry looks, 'it is your sisters who have detained you such a long
time, have they not?'
The rest of his upbraiding was addressed to thin air, for the moment
her sisters \vere mentioned she vanished. Edric's grief \vas over-
whelming. He sought the place \V here he had found her at first, but no
Wild Edric
tears, no latncnts of his could ca11 her back. I le cried out day and night
against his own folly, and pined away and died of sorrow, as his wife
had long before foretold.
It is very curious to find that \Vild Edric \Vas already the centre of
n1yth and legend within scarcely more than a century of his own life-
tunc.
\Valter Map tells us about the piety ofWild Edric's son, but there is a
sequel \vhich he does not record, for \Vild Edric, like K 1 N G HER LA, rode
after his death. 'fradition restored him to his wife, and they rode together
over the \Vclsh Dorder country for many centuries after his death.
Shropshire Folk-Lore (pp. 28-<;) records an eye-witness account of the
Rade in the 19th century:
For it is not n1any years since, in the \Vest Shropshire hills, in the
very neighbourhood where Edric's estates Jay, and where also lay the
greater nurnber of the very few Shropshire n1anors retained after the
Conquest by Englishmen (no doubt Edric's old friends and comrades,
perhaps his kindred), there were people to be found, if there are not
son1e now, who believed \Vild Edric to be still alive, imprisoned in the
mines of that wild west country. He cannot die, they say, till all the
\\'rong has been tnade right, and England has returned to the same
state as it was in before the troubles of his days. Meantime he is con-
demned to inhabit the Iead-n1ines as a punishment for having allowed
himself to be deceived by the Conqueror's fait words into submitting
to hin1. So there he dwells with his wife and his whole train. The miners
call them the 'Old l\lcn,' and sometin1es hear them knocking, and
wherever they knock, the best lodes are to be found. row and then
the} arc permitted to show themselves. \Vhenever war is going to
break out, they ride over the hills in the direction of the enemy's
country, and if they appear, it is a sign that the war \vill be serious.
Such, in substance, \vas the account given some years ago by a young
'Woman from Rorrington to her mistress, who repeated it to me. The
lady, wishing to draw out the girl's knowledge, professed not to under-
stand \Vhom she meant by the 'Cong-kerry,' as she called him. 'What!
did you never hear of the Cong-kerry, ma'am ?' exclaimed the maid,
\vho, by the \vay, could neither read nor write. '\Vhy, he used to hang
up men by the heels because they were English! Oh, he was a bad man!'
She declared that she had herself seen \Vild Edric and his men. It
"as in 1853 or 1854, just before the Crirnean war broke out. She \Vas
with her father, a miner, at l\1insterley, and she heard the blast of a
horn. Her father bade her cover her face, all but her eyes, and on no
account speak, lest she should go mad. Then they all came by; Wild
Edric himself on a white horse at the head of the band, and the Lady
Godda his wife, riding at full speed over the hills. Edric had short dark
curly hair and very bright black eyes. He wore a green cap and white
437 Wilde, Lady, Jane Frances
feather, a short green coat and cloak, a horn and a short sword hanging
from his golden belt, 'and something zig-zagged here' (touching her
leg below the knee). The lady had wavy golden hair falling loosely to
her waist, and round her forehead a band of white linen, with a golden
ornament in it. The rest of her dress was green, and she had a short
dagger at her \vaist. The girl watched them pass out of sight over the
hills towards the north. It was the second time her father had seen
them. The former time they were going southwards. 'And then
Napoleon Bonaparte came.'
'Many people say,' added our authority, 'that the miners always do
seem to know when a \Var is going to be desperate!'
[Type: 400 (variant). Motifs: C31.2; C932; ESOI.I.7.3; F24I.I.o.I;
FJ02.2]
Wild Hunt, the. One name given to the GABRIEL RATCHETS, to the
DEVIL's DANDY DOGS, the SLUAGH, or 'The Host', and other soul-
ravening hunts. Some of these, like the Gabriel Ratchets and the Host,
are supposed to fly through the air, others, like the Devil's Dandy Dogs
and the Wild Hunt, course along the ground, or only just above it. It
was presumably the Wild Hunt that was described in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle of 1127, quoted by Brian Branston in The Lost Gods ofEngland:
Let no one be surprised at \vhat we are about to relate, for it was
common gossip up and do,vn the countryside that after February 6th
many people both saw and heard a whole pack of huntsmen in full cry.
They straddled black horses and black bucks while their hounds were
pitch black \Vith staring hideous eyes. This \vas seen in the very deer
park of Peterborough town, and in all the wood stretching from that
same spot as far as Stamford. All through the night monks heard them
sounding and \Vinding their horns. Reliable witnesses who kept watch
in the night declared that there might well have been twenty or even
thirty of them in this wild tantivy as near as they could tell.
The Wild Hunt has been long lived. In the 1940s it was said to be heard
going through West Coker near Taunton on Hallow's E'en at night.
[Motifs: ESOI.I; ESOI.1.7.3; ESOI.IJ.I.4; ESOI.IJ.4]
Wilde, Lady, Jane Frances (18264)6). The wife of Sir William Wilde-
famous for his advancement of aural and ophthalmic science and for his
antiquarian knowledge- and the mother of Oscar Wilde. She was an
ardent Irish nationalist and contributed, under the pseudonym of
'Speranza ', many articles to the nationalist magazine The Nation. As is
not unusual, her patriotism led her to study the folklore of her nation,
and she became a friend of W. B. YEATS. Her most notable contribution
to fairy-lore is Ancient Legends, Mystic Chartns and Superstitions of
Wilkie
Ireland (2 vols., 1 857). It. is notable for the many instances she gives of
the confusion between the FAIRIJ:S and the dead which is a common
ingredient in the Celtic beliefs on the ORIGIN OF FAIRIES in many parts
of the British Isles.
Wilkic. At \Vestray in Orkney there \Vere two burial mounds which were
called '\Vilkie's Knolls'. Offerings of milk were said to be made to
Wilkic, though nobody seems very clear about him. It is at leat;t obvious
that, like quite a nun1bcr of other fairy types, \Vilkie \Vas closely con-
nected with the dead.
\\'ill o' the \\'isp. The commonest and most widespread traditional
name for IGNIS FATU S. Also \Vill-with-the-\Visp, \Villy \Visp, \\' ILL
0' THE \\'Y K ES.
(i\,1otifs: F369. 7; F402. I. I ; F491 ; F491. I)
\Vizards. All wizards were not necessarily bad, though they were exposed
to the temptations of power and tended rather to make use of it. l'vlcrlin
is an example of a good wizard, though he was admittedly unscrupulous
in the affair of Ut her and Igrainc, when he disguised Ut her as the Duke
of Tintagel, so that he begot Arthur on Igraine in the very hour in which
the real duke \\'as killed in battle. 1\lcrlin might almost count as a SUPER-
NATURAL \VIZARD, for he was the child of an INCUBUS, who lay with a
princess, and was therefore described as 'a child without a father'. He
studied magic, however, under the famous !\tAG ICI AN Blaise of Brittany.
~1ichael Scot, the famous Scottish wizard, O\ved his introduction to
magic, much as FI~~ had done, to having the first taste of a magical fish
of knowledge, in his case a '\Vhite Snake' which he had been set to watch
as it cooked. He had burnt his fingers on it, and had put them to his
mouth, so having the first potent taste. i\lany " idespread stories are
attached to ~1ichael Scot, such as the magical flight to Rome, of which
there are many versions, including one in the Faust legend. One collected
in the rgth century is to be found in 1Vaifs and Stra)'s of Celtic Tradition
(vol. I, PP 47-53):
\Vhen the country of Scotland was ruled by the Pope, the inhabitants
\vere very ignorant, and nothing could be done or said by them until
they \vould obtain the consent of the Pope. The Feast of Shrove-tide
regulated all the feasts that followed it, during the whole year. So, when
Wizards
the date of Shrove-tide would be known, the date of every feast during
the year was known. On Shrove-tide, Lent began; six weeks after that
was Easter; and so on unto the end of the year.
A man left each country every year for Rome for the purpose of
ascertaining the knowledge of the date of Shrove-tide, and on his
arrival home, and on his telling the date of Shrove-tide in that year, an
intelligent, clever, fearless, prudent, and well-bred man was selected
to proceed to Rome on the following year to ascertain it.
On a certain year, Michael Scot, a learned man and famous, was
chosen to proceed to Rome to obtain the knowledge of Shrove-tide;
but, because of the many other matters he had to attend to, he forgot
his duty until all the feasts of the year \V ere over at Candlemas. There
was not a minute to lose. He betook himself to one of the fairy riding-
fillies, and said to her,' How swift are you?'' I am as fleet as the wind,'
replied she. 'You will not do,' says Michael. He reached the second
one. 'Ho\v swift are you?' 'I am as swift as that I can outspeed the
wind that comes behind me, and overtake the wind that goes before
me.' 'You will not do,' answered Michael. The third one \vas as fleet
as the 'black blast of March'. 'Scarcely will you do,' says Michael. He
arrived at the fourth one, and put his question to her. 'I am as swift
as the thought of a maiden between her two lovers.' 'You will be of
service,' says Michael; 'make ready.' 'I am always ready if the man
\vere in accord \vith me,' says she.
They started. Sea and land \vere alike to them. While they \Vere
above the sea, the witch said to him, 'What say the women of Scotland
\Vhen they quench the fire ? ' 'You ride,' says Michael, 'in your
master's name, and never mind that.' 'Blessing to thyself, but a curse
on thy teacher,' replied she. 'What,' says she again, 'say the \Vives of
Scotland \vhen they put the first weanling to bed, and a suckling at
their breast?' 'Ride you in your master's name, and let the wives of
Scotland sleep,' responded Michael. 'Forward \vas the woman who
put the first finger in your mouth,' says she.
Michael arrived at Rome. It was the morning. He sent swift message
to the Pope that the messenger from Scotland was at the door seeking
knowledge of Shrove-tide, lest Lent would go away. The Pope came
at once to the audience-room. 'Whence art thou ?' he said to Michael.
'I am from thy faithful children of Scotland, seeking the knowledge of
Shrove-tide, lest Lent \vill go away,' says Michael. 'You \V ere too late
in coming.' 'Early that leases me,' replied Michael. 'You have ridden
somewhat high.'' Neither high nor low, but right ahead,' says Michael.
'I see,' says the Pope, 'snow on your bonnet.' 'Yes, by your leave, the
snow of Scotland.' 'What proof,' says the Pope, 'can you give me of
that? likewise, that you have come from Scotland to seek knowledge of
Shrove-tide?' 'That,' says Michael, 'a shoe is on your foot that is not
your own.' The Pope looked, and on his right foot was a woman's shoe.
Wodcn
'You will get what you " 'ant,' says he to Michael, 'and begone. The
first Tuesday of the first n1oon of .. pring is Shrove-tide.'
Thus 1\.~Iichael Scot obtained knowledge of the secret that the Pope
kept to himself. Before that time the messenger obtained but the
knowledge that this day or that day \Vas the day of hrove-tide in the
coming year; but lvlichael obtained knowledge of how the Pope him-
self came to ascertain the day. l-Iow A1ichacl returned, history does not
tell.
SHAPE-SHIFTING, " 'hich was a native power to all the more dis-
tinguished FA 1R IES, could be acquired by wizards, as several stories of
boys trained by wizards to transforrnation show. One is to be found in
McKay's hiore IVes/ llighlaud Tales (vol. 1), 'The \Vizard's Gillie ', in
which a boy is hired fron1 his father by a wh..ard and fina1Jy acquired as a
permanent slave by trickery. His father manages to find hin1. Every day
he transforms himself into a saleable form and is bought by the wizard,
but so long as his father retains the strap that led him he can return in
his own shape. \Vhen the father dated by the large price paid, forgets to
remove it, he is a prisoner. Dut he manages to make his escape and is
pursued. A transformation conflict ensues in 'vhich the gillic finally out-
wits the wizard and destroys hirn. Powers of indestructibility and of
externalizing their souls, making then1 SEPARAULE so LS, can also be
acquired by mortal wizards.
TH0~1AS THE RHY~n: R is an exan1plc of the acquisition of supernatural
knowledge by means of the fairies. He was more fortunate than Merlin,
for when he left ~1iddle Earth he went into Fairyland, while ~lerlin was
spell-bound under a rock. on1e wizards acquired power over fairies, like
the '!\1aster-1\1an' reported by Katherine Carey at her trial in 161o. But
whether this 'vas a magician or a wizard may be left to conjecture, since
it "as probably an illusion in any case.
(!\1otifs: B217.1.1; 02122; GJOJ.J.J.I.J)
heart, wakes to find himself transformed into a dragon. The only trace
of this motif in English dragon traditions is in the half-farcical gipsy tale
'The Long, Long Worm', reported by Ruth Tongue in Forgotten Folk-
Tales of the E11glislz Counties, in which the mile-long worm lightly buried
under leaves is lying covering a long lair of golden treasure. Two typical
British \vorm-dragons are the LAMBTON WORM from Yorkshire which
is in the form of an 'eft' or newt, which grows monstrously after being
pulled from the river Wear by the prodigal heir of Lambton, \vho is
sacrilegiously fishing on a Sunday, and thrown into a neighbouring well.
When it emerges it is in the form of an enormous lizard which ravages the
countryside, sometimes curling round a neighbouring hill and some-
times round a great rock in the river. It possesses the quality, super-
stitiously attributed to serpents, of re-joining if it is cut in two, and its
breath is poisonous rather than fiery. The Orcadian M ester Stoorworm
in the story of ASSIPATTLE is a sea-serpent of monstrous size, for its
burning body was screwed up in its last agony into the island of Iceland.
\Vorms
It was destroyed by thrusting a burning peat down its throat which
ignited its internal fat.
The J)ragon of Loschy Hill, \vhose story is quoted in County Folk-
Lore (vol. n), was self-joining like the l.an1bton \Vorn1, and was con-
quered by the help of the hcro,s dog, who carried it away pieccn1eal to
prevent the reunion of the parts. The poisonous fumes of the monster
proved fatal to both the master and the dog. The LINTON \VORM, which
was comparatively dwarfish, rather less than twelve feet in length, was
conquered by Somerville ofLariston, a.c; the 1 1ester Stoorworm had been,
by thrusting a burning peat on a long lance down its throat.
The Highland worms \\'ere generally closely connected \Vith the sea or
rivers. In J. F. CA!\iPBELL's 'The Sea-.Lvlaiden ', a three-headed sea
monster comes up to claim the princess as its prey, as the Atlester Stoor-
worm claimed Gemdelo' ely.
There are a few Highland water creatures \vhich might qualify as
worms. J. G. CA~fPBELL mentions the Big Beast of Lochave (Beathach
mor Loch Odha), but not very explicitly, only saying that it had twelve
legs and was to be heard in "inter breaking the ice. He adds that some
say it was like a horse, others like a large eel. The notorious Loch Ness
l\1onster is usually described as having a serpent-like head and bumps
which appear above the water as it moves. Among the monsters described
by J. G. Campbell in Superstitions of tlze Highlands and Islands ofScotland
(p. 220) is the Sea Serpent (Cirein Croin). He says of it:
This was the largest animal in the world, as may be inferred from a
popular Caithness rhyme:
445 Wulver, the
'Seven herring are a salmon's fill,
Seven salmon are a seal's fill,
Seven seals are a \vhale's fill,
And seven whales the fill of a Cirein Croin.'
To this is sometimes added, 'seven Cirein Croin are the fill of the big
devil himself.' This immense sea-animal is also called Mialtnhor a
chuain, the great beast of the ocean, cuartag mhor a chuain, the great
whirlpool of the ocean, and uile-bheisd a chuain, the monster of the
ocean. It was originally a whirlpool, or the sea-snake of the Edda, that
encircled the whole world.
There is a curious shortage of dragons or \vorms in the Irish fairy-tales
or heroic legends. The main adversaries are GIANTS, of which there are
a great number, and supernatural HAGS. Patrick Kennedy, however, in
Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts (p. I I), says that there are a number
of traditions of conflicts with worms or serpents:
We have more than one large pool deriving its name from having
been infested by a worm or a serpent in the days of the heroes. Fion
M'Cumhaill killed several of these. A Munster champion slew a
terrible specimen in the Duffrey (Co. Wexford), and the pool in which
it S\veltered is yet called Loch-na-Piastha.
It sounds as if these creatures might be something like the Welsh
AFANC.
(Motifs: B I I. I I ; B9 I]
.
\
447 Yarthkins
what he would like for a gift, a fine wife or a pot of gold. Tom said he
didn't care much for either, but the work of the farm was too hard for
him and he'd thank the little man for help with his work. 'Now mind
you, never thank me,' said the little thing with an ugly look. 'I'll do the
work for you and welcome, but if you give me a word of thanks you'll
never get a band's turn more from me. If you want me just call, ''Yallery
Brown, from out of the mools come to help me", and I'll be there.' And
with that he picked a dandelion clock, ble\v it into Tom's eyes, and
was gone.
In the morning Tom found all his work done, and he had no need to
do a single stroke. At first he thought he was in Paradise, but after a
while things did not go so \Vell, for if his \Vork was done all the other men's
work was undone and destroyed, and his fellow workmen began to blame
him for it. He thought he \vould do the work himself, and not be beholden
to Yallery Bro\vn, but not a band's turn could he do, and at last, when
the men had complained of him and the master had given him the sack,
he called out, 'Yallery Brown, from out of the mools come to me!'
Yallery Brown was there on the instant and Tom said to him, 'It's an ill
you've done to me and no good. I'll thank you to go away and leave me
to work for myself.' At that Yallery Brown burst out laughing, and piped
out: 'You've thanked me you fool! You've thanked me and I warned you
not. You'll get no more help from me; but if I can't help I'll hinder.'
And he burst out singing:
'Work as thou \Vill
Thou'lt never do \Veil;
Work as thou may'st
Thou 'It never gain grist;
For harm and mischance and Yallery Brown
Thou'st let out thyself from under the stone.'
And ever after that nothing went well \Vith poor Tom Tiver, and however
he worked he could never do good, and there was ill-fortune on \vhatever
he touched, and till the day of his death Yallery Brown never stopped
troubling him.
[Type: 331 (variant). Motifs: c46; F346; F348.s.z; F4o2; F451.5.2;
RI8I; RI88]
la..:.,
I \
'
I l
449 Young Tam Lin, or Tamlane
'Have you ever seen a fairy or such like?' I asked an old man in
County Sligo. 'Amn't I annoyed with them,' was the answer.
Young Tam Lin, or Tamlane. The subject of the ballad 'Young Tarn
Lin ', of which there are many versions, both in the Border country and
in Aberdeenshire. It is perhaps the most important of all the supernatural
ballads because of the many fairy beliefs incorporated in it. The fullest
version is No. 39A in Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
At the beginning the king warns the maidens in his court not to go to
Carterhaugh Wood, which is haunted by Young Tarn Lin who exacts a
pledge from every maiden who visits it, most likely her maidenhood. In
spite of his warning his own daughter Janet goes to the well of Carter-
haugh, summons Young Tarn Lin by plucking a rose, and loses her
maidenhood to him. The rest of the ballad is so vivid and so full of
important detail that it would be a pity only to summarize it.
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she has snooded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she is to her father's ha,
As fast as she can hie.
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the ba,
And out then cam the fair Janet,
Ance the flower amang them a'.
Four and nventy ladies fair
Were playing at the chess,
And out then cam the fair Janet,
As green as onie glass.
Out then spak an auld grey knight,
Lay oer the castle wa,
And says, Alas, fair Janet, for thee
But 've'll be blamed a'.
'Haud your tongue, ye auld fac'd knight,
Some ill death may ye die!
Father my bairn on whom I 'vill,
I'll father nane on thee.'
Out then spak her father dear,
And he spak meek and mild;
'And ever alas, sweet Janet,' he says,
'I think thou gaes wi child.'
Young Tan1 Lin, or 1'\an1lanc 450
'1ft hat I gae \Vi child, f: ther,
lysel n1aun bear the blarnc;
There's ncer a laird about your h
Shall get the bairn's narne.
he had na pu d a double ro e,
ro e but only t\\ a,
Till up then started young Tarn Lin,
ays Lady, thou pu's nae n1ac.
A. Index of Types
Type 300: The dragon-slayer. ASSIPATTLE; LAMBTON \VORM.
Type 311: Rescue by the sister. PEERIFOOL.
Type 313: The girl as helper in the hero's flight. GREEN SLEEVES; NICHT
NOUGHT NOTHING.
Type 331 (variant): The spirit in the bottle. YALLERY BROWN.
Type 400 (variant): The man in quest for his lost wife. WILD EDRIC.
Type 425 (variant): Search for lost husband. YOUNG TAM LIN; GREEN
SLEEVES.
Type 500: The name of the helper. FOUL-WEATHER; PEERIFOOL;
SECRET NAMES OF THE FAIRIES; SILl FFRIT AND SILI-GQ-DWT;
TERRYTOP; TOM TIT TOT; WHUPPITY STOORIE.
Type 501: The three old women helpers. HABETROT.
Type 503 Ill: The companion punished. MISER ON THE FAIRY GUMP.
Type 507C: The serpent maiden. LAM I A.
Type 673: The \vhite serpent's flesh. \V IZARDS.
Type 700: Tom Thumb. TOM THUMB.
Type 766: The sleeping warriors. SLEEPING WARRIORS; LEGEND OF
MULLAGHMAST.
Type 766 (variant): The seven sleepers. BRAN SON OF FEBAL; KING
HERLA; OISIN.
Type 1030: The crop division. BOGIES.
Type xogo: Mowing contest. BOGIES.
Type 1137: The ogre blinded. AINSEL; MEG MOLOCH.
Type 1187: Meleager. GREEN MIST.
Type 1415 (distant variant): Lucky Hans. HEDLEY KO\V.
Type ML.4071* (KMB): Malevolent mermaid. MERMAIDS.
Type ML.4075: Visits to fairy dwellings. CHERRY OF ZENNOR; FAIRY
D\VELLING ON SELENA MOOR; FAIRY WIDOWER; VISITS TO
FAIRYLAND.
Type ML.4077*: Caught in Fairyland. CAPTIVES IN FAIRYLAND.
Type ML.4o8o: The seal wife. LUTEY AND THE MERMAID; MERMAIDS;
ROANE; SELKIES.
Type ML.4o81 *:The \vounded seal. SELK IES.
Type ML.4083*: The mermaid and the selkie. SELKIES.
Type ML.5oo6*: The ride with the fairies. FAIRY LEVITATION.
Type ML.5o2o: Troll legends. GIANTS.
Type ML.5076*: Fairy grateful. VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE FAIRIES.
Type ML.so8o: Food from the fairies. BROKEN PED.
lndc of1"ypcs and 1otifs 464
'] ypc 1J... so81 : Jtairics steal food. T CKS 1 OF A CliRIACBA '.
1")pC 1L.5085: 1"'hc changcling. CliA ' GI: LI ' GS; FAIRY 1HEFTS.
'} ypc 1J.....6oJo: 1 he C1pture of a fairy. UR011iLR liKE; CAPTURED
FAIRIES;COLI: 1A ' GRAY;SKJLLY\\IDJ>E.
1"ypc 1L.6o35: ]~airies as it a fanner in his \\Ork. BODACJJAN
SABHAILL; BRO\\' ' lE; PIXIES; TO 1 COCKLE.
'fypc 1L.6045: J)rinking-cup stolen frotn the fairies. FA 1 R Y c P;
SPRJGGA ' S; TJIEFTS FRO 1 THE FAIRIES.
1'ypc 1J...6o6o: 'fhe fairy bull. EI..F-D LL; TARROO- SllTEY; \\'ATJ: R-
IIORSE AND THE \VATER-JJ LL.
T ype 1L.7010: Revenge for being teased. HOGGART; IJRO\\' ' lE;
U\\'BACiiOD; U\\'CA.
1"') pc L.701 5: l''hc new suit. B ROO ' I E; BRO\V ' I E.
1"')pc 1L.7o2o: \ 1ain attcn1pt to escape fron1 the i se. BOGGART.
B. lt1de.\ of A1otifs
A 1 o6.2. I .1 : Bani hed devil appear on earth only on day of dark moon.
J)EAD 100 a ' .
A125.1: Goddc s of,var in shape of hag. BLACK A ' ' IS; HAGS.
A132.6.2: Goddess in fonn ofbird. DADn; 1ACHA; ' E tAN.
A132.7: \\ine-god. s 1
' A ' so ' OF LIR.
A141: God as craCt man. L G.
A I 5 J.t.I : 1 on1c of gods in idc hill. L G.
A300: God of the under\\ orld. AR \V '
A421: ea-god. 1A ' ' NA ' so OF I..IR; SHO ' l'.
1
]51: Sight of deformed witches causes man to release wife from spinning
duty. HABETROT.
]346: Better be content " rith what you have. HEDLEY KOW.
}1050: Attention to \vamings. HOOPER OF SENNEN COVE.
K42.2: !\r1o,ving contest won by trickery. BoGIES.
Kr71.1: Deceptive crop division. BOGIES.
Index of Types and Motifs
K6o2. 1 : Fairy child is injured by man who says his name is 'Self'. The
fairy mother is told by child that 'Self did it'. Takes no revenge.
AINSEL; MEG MULLACH.
K1987: Devil disguised as man goes to church. FRIAR RUSH.
L1or: Male Cinderella. ASSIPATTLE.
LIJI.I: Ashes as hero's abode. ASSIPATTLE.
Mroi: Punishment for broken oaths. LAMBTON WORM.
M219.2.4: Devil carries off hunt-loving priest. DANDO AND HIS DOGS.
M242: Bargaining between mortals and supernatural beings. KNOCKERS;
TERRYTOP; TOM TIT TOT; 'VHUPPITY STOORIE.
M3oi.6.I: Banshees as portents of misfortune. BEAN-NIGHE; BEAN-
SITH; CAOID-HEAG (Welsh); CAOINEAG (Highland); CAOINTEAGH
(Argyllshire); CYHRAETH; G\VRACH Y RHIBYN.
N2.o.r: Play for unnamed stakes. GREEN SLEEVES.
NIOI.2: Death from violating taboo. BRO\VN MAN OF THE MUIRS.
N471: Foolish attempt of second man to overhear secrets from animals.
APPLE-TREE MAN.
N475: Secret name overheard by eavesdropper.
FOUL-WEATHER;
PEERIFOOL; TERRYTOP; TOM TIT TOT; \VHUPPITY STOORIE.
N541. r: Treasure reveals itself only on Christmas Eve at midnight.
APPLE-TREE MAN.
N812: Giant as helper. GIANTS.
P284: Step-sister. KATE CRACKERNUTS.
Q552.ro: Plague as a punishment. TIDDY MUN.
RI I2.3: Rescue of prisoners from fairy stronghold. NELSON, MAR Y;
YOUNG TAM LIN.
RIJI.I2: Fairy rescues abandoned child. GHILLIE DHU.
R156: Brother rescues sister. NELSON, MARY.
R18I: Demon enclosed in bottle (under stone) released. YALLERY
BRO\VN.
RI88: Rescued person horrifies rescuers. YALLERY BROWN.
R227: Wife flees husband. ASSIPATTLE.
S3I: Cruel stepmother. KATE CRACKERNUTS.
S24I: Jephthah's vow. LAMBTON WORM.
S262: Periodic sacrifices to a monster (giant fomorian). F o M oR 1 AN s.
T68. I : Princess offered as prize to rescuer. ASS 1P A TTLE.
T553: Thumbling born as a result of hasty \\iish of parents. TOM THUMB.
T591: Barrenness induced by magic. HARD DELIVERY OR BARRENNESS.
V12.9: Libations. AUSTRALIAN FAIRY IMMIGRANTS; BUCCA; FRID;
SHONY;STRANGERS;YARTHKINS.
V229.2.12: Extraordinary longevity of saints. LIB AN.
K AT ii RJN E is one of ]~ngland'
B RIGG
. in 1
I
r I
I
r r1 h
- li
-
r h r i h I
l r I
. i 1
I I lz :. r ont~ :.J
of
h 11 to , of uck olkt I I -
l n lz
ITI
,,
n tl
ra-
-I n r
h -li h
1 r I I
I I 1 r1
tn h
J I 1 . itania . _1 on . o
11 , o n.
I .