FOLK-LORE AND LEGENDSSCOTLAND

W. W. GIBBINGS18 BURY ST. , LONDON, W. C. 1889

Contents:

 Prefatory Note Canobie Dick and Thomas of Ercildoun. Coinnach Oer. Elphin Irving. The Ghosts of Craig-Aulnaic. The Doomed Rider. Whippety Stourie. The Weird of the Three Arrows. The Laird of Balmachie's Wife. Michael Scott. The Minister and the Fairy. The Fisherman and the Merman. The Laird O' Co'. Ewen of the Little Head. Jock and his Mother. Saint Columba. The Mermaid Wife. The Fiddler and the Bogle of Bogandoran. Thomas the Rhymer. Fairy Friends. The Seal-Catcher's Adventure. The Fairies of Merlin's Craig. Rory Macgillivray. The Haunted Ships. The Brownie. Mauns' Stane. "Horse and Hattock. " Secret Commonwealth. The Fairy Boy of Leith. The Dracae. Lord Tarbat's Relations. The Bogle. Daoine Shie, or the Men of Peace. The Death "Bree. "

PREFATORY NOTE

The distinctive features of Scotch Folk-lore are such as might have beenexpected from a consideration of the characteristics of Scotch scenery. The rugged grandeur of the mountain, the solemn influence of thewidespreading moor, the dark face of the deep mountain loch, the babblingof the little stream, seem all to be reflected in the popular tales andsuperstitions. The acquaintance with nature in a severe, grand, andsomewhat terrible form must necessarily have its effect on the humanmind, and the Scotch mind and character bear the impress of their naturalsurroundings. The fairies, the brownies, the bogles of Scotland are thesame beings as those with whom the Irish have peopled the hills, thenooks, and the streams of their land, yet how different, howdistinguished from their counterparts, how clothed, as it were, in thenational dress!

CANOBIE DICK AND THOMAS OF ERCILDOUN. 

Now it chanced many years since that there lived on the Borders a jollyrattling horse-cowper, who was remarkable for a reckless and fearlesstemper, which made him much admired and a little dreaded amongst hisneighbours. One moonlight night, as he rode over Bowden Moor, on thewest side of the Eildon Hills, the scene of Thomas the Rhymer'sprophecies, and often mentioned in his history, having a brace of horsesalong with him, which he had not been able to dispose of, he met a man ofvenerable appearance and singularly antique dress, who, to his greatsurprise, asked the price of his horses, and began to chaffer with him onthe subject. To Canobie Dick, for so shall we call our Border dealer, achap was a chap, and he would have sold a horse to the devil himself, without minding his cloven hoof, and would have probably cheated Old Nickinto the bargain. The stranger paid the price they agreed on, and allthat puzzled Dick in the transaction was, that the gold which he receivedwas in unicorns, bonnet-pieces, and other ancient coins, which would havebeen invaluable to collectors, but were rather troublesome in moderncurrency. It was gold, however, and therefore Dick contrived to getbetter value for the coin than he perhaps gave to his customer. By thecommand of so good a merchant, he brought horses to the same spot morethan once; the purchaser only stipulating that he should always come bynight and alone. I do not know whether it was from mere curiosity, orwhether some hope of gain mixed with it, but after Dick had sold severalhorses in this way, he began to complain that dry bargains were unlucky, and to hint, that since his chap must live in the neighbourhood, heought, in the courtesy of dealing, to treat him to half a mutchkin. 

"You may see my dwelling if you will, " said the stranger; "but if youlose courage at what you see there, you will rue it all your life. "

Dickon, however, laughed the warning to scorn, and having alighted tosecure his horse, he followed the stranger up a narrow footpath, whichled them up the hills to the singular eminence stuck betwixt the mostsouthern and the centre peaks, and called, from its resemblance to suchan animal in its form, the Lucken Hare. At the foot of this eminence, which is almost as famous for witch-meetings as the neighbouring windmillof Kippilaw, Dick was somewhat startled to observe that his conductorentered the hillside by a passage or cavern, of which he himself, thoughwell acquainted with the spot, had never seen nor heard. 

"You may still return, " said his guide, looking ominously back upon him;but Dick scorned to show the white feather, and on they went. Theyentered a very long range of stables; in every stall stood a coal-blackhorse; by every horse lay a knight in coal-black armour, with a drawnsword in his hand; but all were as silent, hoof and limb, as if they hadbeen cut out of marble. A great number of torches lent a gloomy lustreto the hall, which, like those of the Caliph Vathek, was of largedimensions. At the upper end, however, they at length arrived, where asword and horn lay on an antique table. 

"He that shall sound that horn and draw that sword, " said the stranger, who now intimated that he was the famous Thomas of Ercildoun, "shall, ifhis heart fail him not, be king over all broad Britain. So speaks thetongue that cannot lie. But all depends on courage, and much on yourtaking the sword or horn first. "

Dick was much disposed to take the sword, but his bold spirit was quailedby the supernatural terrors of the hall, and he thought to unsheathe thesword first might be construed into defiance, and give offence to thepowers of the mountain. He took the bugle with a trembling hand, andblew a feeble note, but loud enough to produce a terrible answer. Thunderrolled in stunning peals through the immense hall; horses and men startedto life; the steeds snorted, stamped, ground their bits, and tossed theirheads; the warriors sprang to their feet, clashed their armour, andbrandished their swords. Dick's terror was extreme at seeing the wholearmy, which had been so lately silent as the grave, in uproar, and aboutto rush on him. He dropped the horn, and made a feeble attempt to seizethe enchanted sword; but at the same moment a voice pronounced aloud themysterious words--

 "Woe to the coward, that ever he was born, Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn!"

At the same time a whirlwind of irresistible fury howled through the longhall, bore the unfortunate horse-jockey clear out of the mouth of thecavern, and precipitated him over a steep bank of loose stones, where theshepherds found him the next morning, with just breath sufficient to tellhis fearful tale, after concluding which he expired. 

COINNACH OER. 

Coinnach Oer, which means Dun Kenneth, was a celebrated man in hisgeneration. He has been called the Isaiah of the North. The propheciesof this man are very frequently alluded to and quoted in various parts ofthe Highlands; although little is known of the man himself, except inRoss-shire. He was a small farmer in Strathpeffer, near Dingwall, andfor many years of his life neither exhibited any talents, nor claimed anyintelligence above his fellows. The manner in which he obtained theprophetic gift was told by himself in the following manner:--

As he was one day at work in the hill casting (digging) peats, he heard avoice which seemed to call to him out of the air. It commanded him todig under a little green knoll which was near, and to gather up the smallwhite stones which he would discover beneath the turf. The voiceinformed him, at the same time, that while he kept these stones in hispossession, he should be endued with the power of supernaturalforeknowledge. 

Kenneth, though greatly alarmed at this aerial conversation, followed thedirections of his invisible instructor, and turning up the turf on thehillock, in a little time discovered the talismans. From that dayforward, the mind of Kenneth was illuminated by gleams of unearthlylight; and he made many predictions, of which the credulity of thepeople, and the coincidence of accident, often supplied confirmation; andhe certainly became the most notable of the Highland prophets. The mostremarkable and well known of his vaticinations is thefollowing:--"Whenever a M'Lean with long hands, a Fraser with a blackspot on his face, a M'Gregor with a black knee, and a club-footed M'Leodof Raga, shall have existed; whenever there shall have been successivelythree M'Donalds of the name of John, and three M'Kinnons of the sameChristian name, --oppressors will appear in the country, and the peoplewill change their own land for a strange one. " All these personages haveappeared since; and it is the common opinion of the peasantry, that theconsummation of the prophecy was fulfilled, when the exaction of theexorbitant rents reduced the Highlanders to poverty, and the introductionof the sheep banished the people to America. 

Whatever might have been the gift of Kenneth Oer, he does not appear tohave used it with an extraordinary degree of discretion; and the lasttime he exercised it, he was very near paying dear for his divination. 

On this occasion he happened to be at some high festival of the M'Kenziesat Castle Braan. One of the guests was so exhilarated by the scene ofgaiety, that he could not forbear an eulogium on the gallantry of thefeast, and the nobleness of the guests. Kenneth, it appears, had noregard for the M'Kenzies, and was so provoked by this sally in theirpraise, that he not only broke out into a severe satire against theirwhole race, but gave vent to the prophetic denunciation of wrath andconfusion upon their posterity. The guests being informed (or havingoverheard a part) of this rhapsody, instantly rose up with one accord topunish the contumely of the prophet. Kenneth, though he foretold thefate of others, did not in any manner look into that of himself; for thisreason, being doubtful of debating the propriety of his prediction uponsuch unequal terms, he fled with the greatest precipitation. TheM'Kenzies followed with infinite zeal; and more than one ball hadwhistled over the head of the seer before he reached Loch Ousie. Theconsequences of this prediction so disgusted Kenneth with any furtherexercise of his prophetic calling, that, in the anguish of his flight, hesolemnly renounced all communication with its power; and, as he ran alongthe margin of Loch Ousie, he took out the wonderful pebbles, and castthem in a fury into the water. Whether his evil genius had now forsakenhim, or his condition was better than that of his pursuers, is unknown, but certain it is, Kenneth, after the sacrifice of the pebbles, outstripped his enraged enemies, and never, so far as I have heard, madeany attempt at prophecy from the hour of his escape. 

Kenneth Oer had a son, who was called Ian Dubh Mac Coinnach (Black John, the son of Kenneth), and lived in the village of Miltoun, near Dingwall. His chief occupation was brewing whisky; and he was killed in a fray atMiltoun, early in the present century. His exit would not have formedthe catastrophe of an epic poem, and appears to have been one of thoseevents of which his father had no intelligence, for it happened in thefollowing manner:--

Having fallen into a dispute with a man with whom he had previously beenon friendly terms, they proceeded to blows; in the scuffle, the boy, theson of Ian's adversary, observing the two combatants locked in a closeand firm gripe of eager contention, and being doubtful of the event, raninto the house and brought out the iron pot-crook, with which he salutedthe head of the unfortunate Ian so severely, that he not onlyrelinquished his combat, but departed this life on the ensuing morning. 

ELPHIN IRVING. 

 THE FAIRIES' CUPBEARER. 

 "The lady kilted her kirtle green A little aboon her knee, The lady snooded her yellow hair A little aboon her bree, And she's gane to the good greenwood As fast as she could hie. 

 And first she let the black steed pass, And syne she let the brown, And then she flew to the milk-white steed, And pulled the rider down: Syne out then sang the queen o' the fairies, Frae midst a bank of broom, She that has won him, young Tamlane, Has gotten a gallant groom. "

 _Old Ballad_. 

"The romantic vale of Corriewater, in Annandale, is regarded by theinhabitants, a pastoral and unmingled people, as the last border refugeof those beautiful and capricious beings, the fairies. Many old peopleyet living imagine they have had intercourse of good words and good deedswith the 'good folk'; and continue to tell that in the ancient days thefairies danced on the hill, and revelled in the glen, and showedthemselves, like the mysterious children of the deity of old, among thesons and daughters of men. Their visits to the earth were periods of joyand mirth to mankind, rather than of sorrow and apprehension. Theyplayed on musical instruments of wonderful sweetness and variety of note, spread unexpected feasts, the supernatural flavour of which overpoweredon many occasions the religious scruples of the Presbyterian shepherds, performed wonderful deeds of horsemanship, and marched in midnightprocessions, when the sound of their elfin minstrelsy charmed youths andmaidens into love for their persons and pursuits; and more than onefamily of Corriewater have the fame of augmenting the numbers of theelfin chivalry. Faces of friends and relatives, long since doomed to thebattle-trench or the deep sea, have been recognised by those who dared togaze on the fairy march. The maid has seen her lost lover, and themother her stolen child; and the courage to plan and achieve theirdeliverance has been possessed by, at least, one border maiden. In thelegends of the people of Corrievale, there is a singular mixture of elfinand human adventure, and the traditional story of the Cupbearer to theQueen of the Fairies appeals alike to our domestic feelings andimagination. 

"In one of the little green loops or bends on the banks of Corriewater, mouldered walls, and a few stunted wild plum-trees and vagrant roses, still point out the site of a cottage and garden. A well of pure spring-water leaps out from an old tree-root before the door; and here theshepherds, shading themselves in summer from the influence of the sun, tell to their children the wild tale of Elphin Irving and his sisterPhemie; and, singular as the story seems, it has gained full credenceamong the people where the scene is laid. "

"I ken the tale and the place weel, " interrupted an old Scottish woman, who, from the predominance of scarlet in her apparel, seemed to have beena follower of the camp, --"I ken them weel, and the tale's as true as abullet to its aim and a spark to powder. O bonnie Corriewater, athousand times have I pulled gowans on its banks wi' ane that lies stiffand stark on a foreign shore in a bloody grave;" and, sobbing audibly, she drew the remains of a military cloak over her face, and allowed thestory to proceed. 

"When Elphin Irving and his sister Phemie were in their sixteenth year, for tradition says they were twins, their father was drowned inCorriewater, attempting to save his sheep from a sudden swell, to whichall mountain streams are liable; and their mother, on the day of herhusband's burial, laid down her head on the pillow, from which, on theseventh day, it was lifted to be dressed for the same grave. Theinheritance left to the orphans may be briefly described: seventeen acresof plough and pasture land, seven milk cows, and seven pet sheep (manyold people take delight in odd numbers); and to this may be added sevenbonnet-pieces of Scottish gold, and a broadsword and spear, which theirancestor had wielded with such strength and courage in the battle ofDryfe Sands, that the minstrel who sang of that deed of arms ranked himonly second to the Scotts and Johnstones. 

"The youth and his sister grew in stature and in beauty. The brentbright brow, the clear blue eye, and frank and blithe deportment of theformer gave him some influence among the young women of the valley; whilethe latter was no less the admiration of the young men, and at fair anddance, and at bridal, happy was he who touched but her hand, or receivedthe benediction of her eye. Like all other Scottish beauties, she wasthe theme of many a song; and while tradition is yet busy with thesingular history of her brother, song has taken all the care that rusticminstrelsy can of the gentleness of her spirit and the charms of herperson. "

"Now I vow, " exclaimed a wandering piper, "by mine own honouredinstrument, and by all other instruments that ever yielded music for thejoy and delight of mankind, that there are more bonnie songs made aboutfair Phemie Irving than about all other dames of Annandale, and many ofthem are both high and bonnie. A proud lass maun she be if her spirithears; and men say the dust lies not insensible of beautiful verse; forher charms are breathed through a thousand sweet lips, and no furthergone than yestermorn I heard a lass singing on a green hillside what Ishall not readily forget. If ye like to listen, ye shall judge; and itwill not stay the story long, nor mar it much, for it is short, and aboutPhemie Irving. " And, accordingly, he chanted the following rude verses, not unaccompanied by his honoured instrument, as he called his pipe, which chimed in with great effect, and gave richness to a voice whichfelt better than it could express:--

 FAIR PHEMIE IRVING. 

 Gay is thy glen, Corrie, With all thy groves flowering; Green is thy glen, Corrie, When July is showering; And sweet is yon wood where The small birds are bowering, And there dwells the sweet one Whom I am adoring. 

 Her round neck is whiter Than winter when snowing; Her meek voice is milder Than Ae in its flowing; The glad ground yields music Where she goes by the river; One kind glance would charm me For ever and ever. 

 The proud and the wealthy To Phemie are bowing; No looks of love win they With sighing or suing; Far away maun I stand With my rude wooing, She's a flow'ret too lovely Too bloom for my pu'ing. 

 Oh were I yon violet On which she is walking; Oh were I yon small bird To which she is talking; Or yon rose in her hand, With its ripe ruddy blossom; Or some pure gentle thought To be blest with her bosom. 

This minstrel interruption, while it established Phemie Irving's claim tograce and to beauty, gave me additional confidence to pursue the story. 

"But minstrel skill and true love-tale seemed to want their usualinfluence when they sought to win her attention; she was only observed topay most respect to those youths who were most beloved by her brother;and the same hour that brought these twins to the world seemed to havebreathed through them a sweetness and an affection of heart and mindwhich nothing could divide. If, like the virgin queen of the immortalpoet, she walked 'in maiden meditation fancy free, ' her brother Elphinseemed alike untouched with the charms of the fairest virgins in Corrie. He ploughed his field, he reaped his grain, he leaped, he ran, andwrestled, and danced, and sang, with more skill and life and grace thanall other youths of the district; but he had no twilight and stoleninterviews; when all other young men had their loves by their side, hewas single, though not unsought, and his joy seemed never perfect savewhen his sister was near him. If he loved to share his time with her, she loved to share her time with him alone, or with the beasts of thefield, or the birds of the air. She watched her little flock late, andshe tended it early; not for the sordid love of the fleece, unless it wasto make mantles for her brother, but with the look of one who had joy inits company. The very wild creatures, the deer and the hares, seldomsought to shun her approach, and the bird forsook not its nest, norstinted its song, when she drew nigh; such is the confidence which maideninnocence and beauty inspire. 

"It happened one summer, about three years after they became orphans, that rain had been for a while withheld from the earth, the hillsidesbegan to parch, the grass in the vales to wither, and the stream ofCorrie was diminished between its banks to the size of an ordinary rill. The shepherds drove their flocks to moorlands, and marsh and tarn hadtheir reeds invaded by the scythe to supply the cattle with food. Thesheep of his sister were Elphin's constant care; he drove them to themoistest pastures during the day, and he often watched them at midnight, when flocks, tempted by the sweet dewy grass, are known to browseeagerly, that he might guard them from the fox, and lead them to thechoicest herbage. In these nocturnal watchings he sometimes drove hislittle flock over the water of Corrie, for the fords were hardly ankle-deep; or permitted his sheep to cool themselves in the stream, and tastethe grass which grew along the brink. All this time not a drop of rainfell, nor did a cloud appear in the sky. 

"One evening, during her brother's absence with the flock, Phemie sat ather cottage-door, listening to the bleatings of the distant folds and thelessened murmur of the water of Corrie, now scarcely audible beyond itsbanks. Her eyes, weary with watching along the accustomed line of roadfor the return of Elphin, were turned on the pool beside her, in whichthe stars were glimmering fitful and faint. As she looked she imaginedthe water grew brighter and brighter; a wild illumination presently shoneupon the pool, and leaped from bank to bank, and suddenly changing into ahuman form, ascended the margin, and, passing her, glided swiftly intothe cottage. The visionary form was so like her brother in shape andair, that, starting up, she flew into the house, with the hope of findinghim in his customary seat. She found him not, and, impressed with theterror which a wraith or apparition seldom fails to inspire, she uttereda shriek so loud and so piercing as to be heard at Johnstone Bank, on theother side of the vale of Corrie. "

An old woman now rose suddenly from her seat in the window-sill, theliving dread of shepherds, for she travelled the country with a brilliantreputation for witchcraft, and thus she broke in upon the narrative: "Ivow, young man, ye tell us the truth upset and down-thrust. I heard mydouce grandmother say that on the night when Elphin Irvingdisappeared--disappeared I shall call it, for the bairn can but be gonefor a season, to return to us in his own appointed time--she was seatedat the fireside at Johnstone Bank; the laird had laid aside his bonnet totake the Book, when a shriek mair loud, believe me, than a mere woman'sshriek--and they can shriek loud enough, else they're sair wranged--cameover the water of Corrie, so sharp and shrilling, that the pewter platesdinneled on the wall; such a shriek, my douce grandmother said, as rangin her ear till the hour of her death, and she lived till she was aughty-and-aught, forty full ripe years after the event. But there is anothermatter, which, doubtless, I cannot compel ye to believe: it was thecommon rumour that Elphin Irving came not into the world like the othersinful creatures of the earth, but was one of the kane-bairns of thefairies, whilk they had to pay to the enemy of man's salvation everyseventh year. The poor lady-fairy--a mother's aye a mother, be sheelves' flesh or Eve's flesh--hid her elf son beside the christened fleshin Marion Irving's cradle, and the auld enemy lost his prey for a time. Now, hasten on with your story, which is not a bodle the waur for me. Themaiden saw the shape of her brother, fell into a faint, or a trance, andthe neighbours came flocking in--gang on with your tale, young man, anddinna be affronted because an auld woman helped ye wi 't. "

"It is hardly known, " I resumed, "how long Phemie Irving continued in astate of insensibility. The morning was far advanced, when aneighbouring maiden found her seated in an old chair, as white asmonumental marble; her hair, about which she had always been solicitous, loosened from its curls, and hanging disordered over her neck and bosom, her hands and forehead. The maiden touched the one, and kissed theother; they were as cold as snow; and her eyes, wide open, were fixed onher brother's empty chair, with the intensity of gaze of one who hadwitnessed the appearance of a spirit. She seemed insensible of any one'spresence, and sat fixed and still and motionless. The maiden, alarmed ather looks, thus addressed her:--'Phemie, lass, Phemie Irving! Dear me, but this be awful! I have come to tell ye that seven of your pet sheephave escaped drowning in the water; for Corrie, sae quiet and sae gentleyestreen, is rolling and dashing frae bank to bank this morning. Dearme, woman, dinna let the loss of the world's gear bereave ye of yoursenses. I would rather make ye a present of a dozen mug-ewes of theTinwald brood myself; and now I think on 't, if ye'll send over Elphin, Iwill help him hame with them in the gloaming myself. So, Phemie, woman, be comforted. '

"At the mention of her brother's name she cried out, 'Where is he? Oh, where is he?' gazed wildly round, and, shuddering from head to foot, fellsenseless on the floor. Other inhabitants of the valley, alarmed by thesudden swell of the river, which had augmented to a torrent, deep andimpassable, now came in to inquire if any loss had been sustained, fornumbers of sheep and teds of hay had been observed floating down aboutthe dawn of the morning. They assisted in reclaiming the unhappy maidenfrom her swoon; but insensibility was joy compared to the sorrow to whichshe awakened. 'They have ta'en him away, they have ta'en him away, ' shechanted, in a tone of delirious pathos; 'him that was whiter and fairerthan the lily on Lyddal Lee. They have long sought, and they have longsued, and they had the power to prevail against my prayers at last. Theyhave ta'en him away; the flower is plucked from among the weeds, and thedove is slain amid a flock of ravens. They came with shout, and theycame with song, and they spread the charm, and they placed the spell, andthe baptised brow has been bowed down to the unbaptised hand. They haveta'en him away, they have ta'en him away; he was too lovely, and toogood, and too noble, to bless us with his continuance on earth; for whatare the sons of men compared to him?--the light of the moonbeam to themorning sun, the glowworm to the eastern star. They have ta'en him away, the invisible dwellers of the earth. I saw them come on him withshouting and with singing, and they charmed him where he sat, and awaythey bore him; and the horse he rode was never shod with iron, nor ownedbefore the mastery of human hand. They have ta'en him away over thewater, and over the wood, and over the hill. I got but ae look of hisbonnie blue ee, but ae; ae look. But as I have endured what never maidenendured, so will I undertake what never maiden undertook, I will win himfrom them all. I know the invisible ones of the earth; I have heardtheir wild and wondrous music in the wild woods, and there shall achristened maiden seek him, and achieve his deliverance. ' She paused, and glancing around a circle of condoling faces, down which the tearswere dropping like rain, said, in a calm and altered but still delirioustone: 'Why do you weep, Mary Halliday? and why do you weep, John Graeme?Ye think that Elphin Irving--oh, it's a bonnie, bonnie name, and dear tomany a maiden's heart, as well as mine--ye think he is drowned in Corrie;and ye will seek in the deep, deep pools for the bonnie, bonnie corse, that ye may weep over it, as it lies in its last linen, and lay it, amidweeping and wailing in the dowie kirkyard. Ye may seek, but ye shallnever find; so leave me to trim up my hair, and prepare my dwelling, andmake myself ready to watch for the hour of his return to upper earth. 'And she resumed her household labours with an alacrity which lessened notthe sorrow of her friends. 

"Meanwhile the rumour flew over the vale that Elphin Irving was drownedin Corriewater. Matron and maid, old man and young, collected suddenlyalong the banks of the river, which now began to subside to its naturalsummer limits, and commenced their search; interrupted every now and thenby calling from side to side, and from pool to pool, and by exclamationsof sorrow for this misfortune. The search was fruitless: five sheep, pertaining to the flock which he conducted to pasture, were found drownedin one of the deep eddies; but the river was still too brown, from thesoil of its moorland sources, to enable them to see what its deepshelves, its pools, and its overhanging and hazelly banks concealed. Theyremitted further search till the stream should become pure; and old mantaking old man aside, began to whisper about the mystery of the youth'sdisappearance; old women laid their lips to the ears of their coevals, and talked of Elphin Irving's fairy parentage, and his having beendropped by an unearthly hand into a Christian cradle. The young men andmaids conversed on other themes; they grieved for the loss of the friendand the lover, and while the former thought that a heart so kind and truewas not left in the vale, the latter thought, as maidens will, on hishandsome person, gentle manners, and merry blue eye, and speculated witha sigh on the time when they might have hoped a return for their love. They were soon joined by others who had heard the wild and deliriouslanguage of his sister: the old belief was added to the new assurance, and both again commented upon by minds full of superstitious feeling, andhearts full of supernatural fears, till the youths and maidens ofCorrievale held no more love trysts for seven days and nights, lest, likeElphin Irving, they should be carried away to augment the ranks of theunchristened chivalry. 

"It was curious to listen to the speculations of the peasantry. 'For mypart, ' said a youth, 'if I were sure that poor Elphin escaped from thatperilous water, I would not give the fairies a pound of hiplock wool fortheir chance of him. There has not been a fairy seen in the land sinceDonald Cargil, the Cameronian, conjured them into the Solway for playingon their pipes during one of his nocturnal preachings on the hip of theBurnswark hill. '

"'Preserve me, bairn, ' said an old woman, justly exasperated at theincredulity of her nephew, 'if ye winna believe what I both heard and sawat the moonlight end of Craigyburnwood on a summer night, rank after rankof the fairy folk, ye'll at least believe a douce man and a ghostlyprofessor, even the late minister of Tinwaldkirk. His only son--I mindthe lad weel, with his long yellow locks and his bonnie blue eyes--when Iwas but a gilpie of a lassie, _he_ was stolen away from off the horse athis father's elbow, as they crossed that false and fearsome water, evenLocherbriggflow, on the night of the Midsummer fair of Dumfries. Ay, ay, who can doubt the truth of that? Have not the godly inhabitants ofAlmsfieldtown and Tinwaldkirk seen the sweet youth riding at midnight, inthe midst of the unhallowed troop, to the sound of flute and of dulcimer, and though meikle they prayed, naebody tried to achieve his deliverance?'

"'I have heard it said by douce folk and sponsible, ' interrupted another, 'that every seven years the elves and fairies pay kane, or make anoffering of one of their children, to the grand enemy of salvation, andthat they are permitted to purloin one of the children of men to presentto the fiend--a more acceptable offering, I'll warrant, than one of theirown infernal brood that are Satan's sib allies, and drink a drop of thedeil's blood every May morning. And touching this lost lad, ye all kenhis mother was a hawk of an uncanny nest, a second cousin of Kate Kimmer, of Barfloshan, as rank a witch as ever rode on ragwort. Ay, sirs, what'sbred in the bone is ill to come out of the flesh. '

"On these and similar topics, which a peasantry full of ancient traditionand enthusiasm and superstition readily associate with the commonestoccurrences of life, the people of Corrievale continued to converse tillthe fall of evening, when each, seeking their home, renewed again thewondrous subject, and illustrated it with all that popular belief andpoetic imagination could so abundantly supply. 

"The night which followed this melancholy day was wild with wind andrain; the river came down broader and deeper than before, and thelightning, flashing by fits over the green woods of Corrie, showed theungovernable and perilous flood sweeping above its banks. It happenedthat a farmer, returning from one of the border fairs, encountered thefull swing of the storm; but mounted on an excellent horse, and mantledfrom chin to heel in a good grey plaid, beneath which he had the furthersecurity of a thick greatcoat, he sat dry in his saddle, and proceeded inthe anticipated joy of a subsided tempest and a glowing morning sun. Ashe entered the long grove, or rather remains of the old Galwegian forest, which lines for some space the banks of the Corriewater, the storm beganto abate, the wind sighed milder and milder among the trees, and here andthere a star, twinkling momentarily through the sudden rack of theclouds, showed the river raging from bank to brae. As he shook themoisture from his clothes, he was not without a wish that the day woulddawn, and that he might be preserved on a road which his imaginationbeset with greater perils than the raging river; for his superstitiousfeeling let loose upon his path elf and goblin, and the currenttraditions of the district supplied very largely to his apprehension theready materials of fear. 

"Just as he emerged from the wood, where a fine sloping bank, coveredwith short greensward, skirts the limit of the forest, his horse made afull pause, snorted, trembled, and started from side to side, stooped hishead, erected his ears, and seemed to scrutinise every tree and bush. Therider, too, it may be imagined, gazed round and round, and peered warilyinto every suspicious-looking place. His dread of a supernaturalvisitation was not much allayed when he observed a female shape seated onthe ground at the root of a huge old oak-tree, which stood in the centreof one of those patches of verdant sward, known by the name of 'fairyrings, ' and avoided by all peasants who wish to prosper. A long thingleam of eastern daylight enabled him to examine accurately the beingwho, in this wild place and unusual hour, gave additional terror to thishaunted spot. She was dressed in white from the neck to the knees; herarms, long and round and white, were perfectly bare; her head, uncovered, allowed her long hair to descend in ringlet succeeding ringlet, till thehalf of her person was nearly concealed in the fleece. Amidst the whole, her hands were constantly busy in shedding aside the tresses whichinterposed between her steady and uninterrupted gaze down a line of oldroad which wound among the hills to an ancient burial-ground. 

"As the traveller continued to gaze, the figure suddenly rose, and, wringing the rain from her long locks, paced round and round the tree, chanting in a wild and melancholy manner an equally wild and delirioussong. 

 THE FAIRY OAK OF CORRIEWATER. 

 The small bird's head is under its wing, The deer sleeps on the grass; The moon comes out, and the stars shine down, The dew gleams like the glass: There is no sound in the world so wide, Save the sound of the smitten brass, With the merry cittern and the pipe Of the fairies as they pass. But oh! the fire maun burn and burn, And the hour is gone, and will never return. 

 The green hill cleaves, and forth, with a bound, Comes elf and elfin steed; The moon dives down in a golden cloud, The stars grow dim with dread; But a light is running along the earth, So of heaven's they have no need: O'er moor and moss with a shout they pass, And the word is spur and speed-- But the fire maun burn, and I maun quake, And the hour is gone that will never come back. 

 And when they came to Craigyburnwood, The Queen of the Fairies spoke: "Come, bind your steeds to the rushes so green, And dance by the haunted oak: I found the acorn on Heshbon Hill, In the nook of a palmer's poke, A thousand years since; here it grows!" And they danced till the greenwood shook: But oh! the fire, the burning fire, The longer it burns, it but blazes the higher. 

 "I have won me a youth, " the Elf Queen said, "The fairest that earth may see; This night I have won young Elph Irving My cupbearer to be. His service lasts but seven sweet years, And his wage is a kiss of me. " And merrily, merrily, laughed the wild elves Round Corris's greenwood tree. But oh! the fire it glows in my brain, And the hour is gone, and comes not again. 

 The Queen she has whispered a secret word, "Come hither my Elphin sweet, And bring that cup of the charmed wine, Thy lips and mine to weet. " But a brown elf shouted a loud, loud shout, "Come, leap on your coursers fleet, For here comes the smell of some baptised flesh, And the sounding of baptised feet. " But oh! the fire that burns, and maun burn; For the time that is gone will never return. 

 On a steed as white as the new-milked milk, The Elf Queen leaped with a bound, And young Elphin a steed like December snow 'Neath him at the word he found. But a maiden came, and her christened arms She linked her brother around, And called on God, and the steed with a snort Sank into the gaping ground. But the fire maun burn, and I maun quake, And the time that is gone will no more come back. 

 And she held her brother, and lo! he grew A wild bull waked in ire; And she held her brother, and lo! he changed To a river roaring higher; And she held her brother, and he became A flood of the raging fire; She shrieked and sank, and the wild elves laughed Till the mountain rang and mire. But oh! the fire yet burns in my brain, And the hour is gone, and comes not again. 

 "O maiden, why waxed thy faith so faint, Thy spirit so slack and slaw? Thy courage kept good till the flame waxed wud, Then thy might begun to thaw; Had ye kissed him with thy christened lip, Ye had wan him frae 'mang us a'. Now bless the fire, the elfin fire, That made thee faint and fa'; Now bless the fire, the elfin fire, The longer it burns it blazes the higher. "

"At the close of this unusual strain, the figure sat down on the grass, and proceeded to bind up her long and disordered tresses, gazing alongthe old and unfrequented road. 'Now God be my helper, ' said thetraveller, who happened to be the laird of Johnstone Bank, 'can this be atrick of the fiend, or can it be bonnie Phemie Irving who chants thisdolorous sang? Something sad has befallen that makes her seek her seatin this eerie nook amid the darkness and tempest; through might fromaboon I will go on and see. ' And the horse, feeling something of theowner's reviving spirit in the application of spur-steel, bore him atonce to the foot of the tree. The poor delirious maiden uttered a yellof piercing joy as she beheld him, and, with the swiftness of a creaturewinged, linked her arms round the rider's waist, and shrieked till thewoods rang. 'Oh, I have ye now, Elphin, I have ye now, ' and she strainedhim to her bosom with a convulsive grasp. 'What ails ye, my bonnielass?' said the laird of Johnstone Bank, his fears of the supernaturalvanishing when he beheld her sad and bewildered look. She raised hereyes at the sound, and seeing a strange face, her arms slipped theirhold, and she dropped with a groan on the ground. 

"The morning had now fairly broke; the flocks shook the rain from theirsides, the shepherds hastened to inspect their charges, and a thin bluesmoke began to stream from the cottages of the valley into thebrightening air. The laird carried Phemie Irving in his arms, till heobserved two shepherds ascending from one of the loops of Corriewater, bearing the lifeless body of her brother. They had found him whirlinground and round in one of the numerous eddies, and his hands, clutchedand filled with wool, showed that he had lost his life in attempting tosave the flock of his sister. A plaid was laid over the body, which, along with the unhappy maiden in a half-lifeless state, was carried intoa cottage, and laid in that apartment distinguished among the peasantryby the name of the chamber. While the peasant's wife was left to takecare of Phemie, old man and matron and maid had collected around thedrowned youth, and each began to relate the circumstances of his death, when the door suddenly opened, and his sister, advancing to the corpse, with a look of delirious serenity, broke out into a wild laugh and said:'Oh, it is wonderful, it's truly wonderful! That bare and death-coldbody, dragged from the darkest pool of Corrie, with its hands filled withfine wool, wears the perfect similitude of my own Elphin! I'll tellye--the spiritual dwellers of the earth, the fairyfolk of our eveningtale, have stolen the living body, and fashioned this cold and inanimateclod to mislead your pursuit. In common eyes this seems all that ElphinIrving would be, had he sunk in Corriewater; but so it seems not to me. Ye have sought the living soul, and ye have found only its garment. Butoh, if ye had beheld him, as I beheld him to-night, riding among theelfin troop, the fairest of them all; had you clasped him in your arms, and wrestled for him with spirits and terrible shapes from the otherworld, till your heart quailed and your flesh was subdued, then would yeyield no credit to the semblance which this cold and apparent flesh bearsto my brother. But hearken! On Hallowmass Eve, when the spiritualpeople are let loose on earth for a season, I will take my stand in theburial-ground of Corrie; and when my Elphin and his unchristened troopcome past, with the sound of all their minstrelsy, I will leap on him andwin him, or perish for ever. '

"All gazed aghast on the delirious maiden, and many of her auditors gavemore credence to her distempered speech than to the visible evidencebefore them. As she turned to depart, she looked round, and suddenlysank upon the body, with tears streaming from her eyes, and sobbed out, 'My brother! Oh, my brother!' She was carried out insensible, and againrecovered; but relapsed into her ordinary delirium, in which shecontinued till the Hallow Eve after her brother's burial. She was foundseated in the ancient burial-ground, her back against a brokengravestone, her locks white with frost-rime, watching with intensity oflook the road to the kirkyard; but the spirit which gave life to thefairest form of all the maids of Annandale was fled for ever. "

Such is the singular story which the peasants know by the name of "ElphinIrving, the Fairies' Cupbearer"; and the title, in its fullest and mostsupernatural sense, still obtains credence among the industrious andvirtuous dames of the romantic vale of Corrie. 

THE GHOSTS OF CRAIG-AULNAIC. 

Two celebrated ghosts existed, once on a time, in the wilds ofCraig-Aulnaic, a romantic place in the district of Strathdown, Banffshire. The one was a male and the other a female. The male wascalled Fhuna Mhoir Ben Baynac, after one of the mountains of Glenavon, where at one time he resided; and the female was called ClashnichdAulnaic, from her having had her abode in Craig-Aulnaic. But althoughthe great ghost of Ben Baynac was bound by the common ties of nature andof honour to protect and cherish his weaker companion, ClashnichdAulnaic, yet he often treated her in the most cruel and unfeeling manner. In the dead of night, when the surrounding hamlets were buried in deeprepose, and when nothing else disturbed the solemn stillness of themidnight scene, oft would the shrill shrieks of poor Clashnichd burstupon the slumberer's ears, and awake him to anything but pleasantreflections. 

But of all those who were incommoded by the noisy and unseemly quarrelsof these two ghosts, James Owre or Gray, the tenant of the farm of Balbigof Delnabo, was the greatest sufferer. From the proximity of his abodeto their haunts, it was the misfortune of himself and family to be thenightly audience of Clashnichd's cries and lamentations, which theyconsidered anything but agreeable entertainment. 

One day as James Gray was on his rounds looking after his sheep, hehappened to fall in with Clashnichd, the ghost of Aulnaic, with whom heentered into a long conversation. In the course of it he took occasionto remonstrate with her on the very disagreeable disturbance she causedhimself and family by her wild and unearthly cries--cries which, he said, few mortals could relish in the dreary hours of midnight. PoorClashnichd, by way of apology for her conduct, gave James Gray a sadaccount of her usage, detailing at full length the series of crueltiescommitted upon her by Ben Baynac. From this account, it appeared thather living with the latter was by no means a matter of choice withClashnichd; on the contrary, it seemed that she had, for a long time, lived apart with much comfort, residing in a snug dwelling, as alreadymentioned, in the wilds of Craig-Aulnaic; but Ben Baynac havingunfortunately taken into his head to pay her a visit, took a fancy, notto herself, but her dwelling, of which, in his own name and authority, hetook immediate possession, and soon after he expelled poor Clashnichd, with many stripes, from her natural inheritance. Not satisfied withinvading and depriving her of her just rights, he was in the habit offollowing her into her private haunts, not with the view of offering herany endearments, but for the purpose of inflicting on her person everytorment which his brain could invent. 

Such a moving relation could not fail to affect the generous heart ofJames Gray, who determined from that moment to risk life and limb inorder to vindicate the rights and avenge the wrongs of poor Clashnichd, the ghost of Craig-Aulnaic. He, therefore, took good care to interrogatehis new _protegee_ touching the nature of her oppressor's constitution, whether he was of that _killable_ species of ghost that could be shotwith a silver sixpence, or if there was any other weapon that couldpossibly accomplish his annihilation. Clashnichd informed him that shehad occasion to know that Ben Baynac was wholly invulnerable to all theweapons of man, with the exception of a large mole on his left breast, which was no doubt penetrable by silver or steel; but that, from thespecimens she had of his personal prowess and strength, it were vain formere man to attempt to combat him. Confiding, however, in his expertnessas an archer--for he was allowed to be the best marksman of the age--JamesGray told Clashnichd he did not fear him with all his might, --that _he_was a man; and desired her, moreover, next time the ghost chose to repeathis incivilities to her, to apply to him, James Gray, for redress. 

It was not long ere he had an opportunity of fulfilling his promises. BenBaynac having one night, in the want of better amusement, entertainedhimself by inflicting an inhuman castigation on Clashnichd, she lost notime in waiting on James Gray, with a full and particular account of it. She found him smoking his _cutty_, for it was night when she came to him;but, notwithstanding the inconvenience of the hour, James needed no greatpersuasion to induce him to proceed directly along with Clashnichd tohold a communing with their friend, Ben Baynac, the great ghost. Clashnichd was stout and sturdy, and understood the knack of travellingmuch better than our women do. She expressed a wish that, for the sakeof expedition, James Gray would suffer her to bear him along, a motion towhich the latter agreed; and a few minutes brought them close to thescene of Ben Baynac's residence. As they approached his haunt, he cameforth to meet them, with looks and gestures which did not at all indicatea cordial welcome. It was a fine moonlight night, and they could easilyobserve his actions. Poor Clashnichd was now sorely afraid of the greatghost. Apprehending instant destruction from his fury, she exclaimed toJames Gray that they would be both dead people, and that immediately, unless James Gray hit with an arrow the mole which covered Ben Baynac'sheart. This was not so difficult a task as James had hithertoapprehended it. The mole was as large as a common bonnet, and yet nowisedisproportioned to the natural size of the ghost's body, for he certainlywas a great and a mighty ghost. Ben Baynac cried out to James Gray thathe would soon make eagle's meat of him; and certain it is, such was hisintention, had not the shepherd so effectually stopped him from theexecution of it. Raising his bow to his eye when within a few yards ofBen Baynac, he took deliberate aim; the arrow flew--it hit--a yell fromBen Baynac announced the result. A hideous howl re-echoed from thesurrounding mountains, responsive to the groans of a thousand ghosts; andBen Baynac, like the smoke of a shot, vanished into air. 

Clashnichd, the ghost of Aulnaic, now found herself emancipated from themost abject state of slavery, and restored to freedom and liberty, through the invincible courage of James Gray. Overpowered withgratitude, she fell at his feet, and vowed to devote the whole of hertime and talents towards his service and prosperity. Meanwhile, beinganxious to have her remaining goods and furniture removed to her formerdwelling, whence she had been so iniquitously expelled by Ben Baynac, thegreat ghost, she requested of her new master the use of his horses toremove them. James observing on the adjacent hill a flock of deer, andwishing to have a trial of his new servant's sagacity or expertness, toldher those were his horses--she was welcome to the use of them; desiringthat when she had done with them, she would inclose them in his stable. Clashnichd then proceeded to make use of the horses, and James Grayreturned home to enjoy his night's rest. 

Scarce had he reached his arm-chair, and reclined his cheek on his hand, to ruminate over the bold adventure of the night, when Clashnichdentered, with her "breath in her throat, " and venting the bitterestcomplaints at the unruliness of his horses, which had broken one-half ofher furniture, and caused her more trouble in the stabling of them thantheir services were worth. 

"Oh! they are stabled, then?" inquired James Gray. Clashnichd replied inthe affirmative. "Very well, " rejoined James, "they shall be tame enoughto-morrow. "

From this specimen of Clashnichd, the ghost of Craig-Aulnaic'sexpertness, it will be seen what a valuable acquisition her serviceproved to James Gray and his young family. They were, however, speedilydeprived of her assistance by a most unfortunate accident. From thesequel of the story, from which the foregoing is an extract, it appearsthat poor Clashnichd was deeply addicted to propensities which at thattime rendered her kin so obnoxious to their human neighbours. She wasconstantly in the habit of visiting her friends much oftener than she wasinvited, and, in the course of such visits, was never very scrupulous inmaking free with any eatables which fell within the circle of herobservation. 

One day, while engaged on a foraging expedition of this description, shehappened to enter the Mill of Delnabo, which was inhabited in those daysby the miller's family. She found his wife engaged in roasting a largegridiron of fine savoury fish, the agreeable smell proceeding from whichperhaps occasioned her visit. With the usual inquiries after the healthof the miller and his family, Clashnichd proceeded with the greatestfamiliarity and good-humour to make herself comfortable at their expense. But the miller's wife, enraged at the loss of her fish, and not relishingsuch unwelcome familiarity, punished the unfortunate Clashnichd rathertoo severely for her freedom. It happened that there was at the time alarge caldron of boiling water suspended over the fire, and this caldronthe enraged wife overturned in Clashnichd's bosom!

Scalded beyond recovery, she fled up the wilds of Craig-Aulnaic, utteringthe most melancholy lamentations, nor has she been ever heard of since. 

THE DOOMED RIDER. 

"The Conan is as bonny a river as we hae in a' the north country. There'smony a sweet sunny spot on its banks, an' mony a time an' aft hae I wadedthrough its shallows, whan a boy, to set my little scautling-line for thetrouts an' the eels, or to gather the big pearl-mussels that lie saethick in the fords. But its bonny wooded banks are places for enjoyingthe day in--no for passing the nicht. I kenna how it is; it's nane o'your wild streams that wander desolate through a desert country, like theAven, or that come rushing down in foam and thunder, ower broken rocks, like the Foyers, or that wallow in darkness, deep, deep in the bowels o'the earth, like the fearfu' Auldgraunt; an' yet no ane o' these rivershas mair or frightfuller stories connected wi' it than the Conan. Anecan hardly saunter ower half-a-mile in its course, frae where it leavesCoutin till where it enters the sea, without passing ower the scene o'some frightful auld legend o' the kelpie or the waterwraith. And ane o'the most frightful looking o' these places is to be found among the woodsof Conan House. Ye enter a swampy meadow that waves wi' flags an' rusheslike a corn-field in harvest, an' see a hillock covered wi' willowsrising like an island in the midst. There are thick mirk-woods on ilkaside; the river, dark an' awesome, an' whirling round an' round in mossyeddies, sweeps away behind it; an' there is an auld burying-ground, wi'the broken ruins o' an auld Papist kirk, on the tap. Ane can see amangthe rougher stanes the rose-wrought mullions of an arched window, an' thetrough that ance held the holy water. About twa hunder years ago--a weemair maybe, or a wee less, for ane canna be very sure o' the date o' thaeold stories--the building was entire; an' a spot near it, whar the woodnow grows thickest, was laid out in a corn-field. The marks o' thefurrows may still be seen amang the trees. 

"A party o' Highlanders were busily engaged, ae day in harvest, incutting down the corn o' that field; an' just aboot noon, when the sunshone brightest an' they were busiest in the work, they heard a voicefrae the river exclaim:--'The hour but not the man has come. ' Sureenough, on looking round, there was the kelpie stan'in' in what they ca'a fause ford, just fornent the auld kirk. There is a deep black poolbaith aboon an' below, but i' the ford there's a bonny ripple, thatshows, as ane might think, but little depth o' water; an' just i' themiddle o' that, in a place where a horse might swim, stood the kelpie. An' it again repeated its words:--'The hour but not the man has come, 'an' then flashing through the water like a drake, it disappeared in thelower pool. When the folk stood wondering what the creature might mean, they saw a man on horseback come spurring down the hill in hot haste, making straight for the fause ford. They could then understand her wordsat ance; an' four o' the stoutest o' them sprang oot frae amang the cornto warn him o' his danger, an' keep him back. An' sae they tauld himwhat they had seen an' heard, an' urged him either to turn back an' tak'anither road, or stay for an hour or sae where he was. But he just wadnahear them, for he was baith unbelieving an' in haste, an' wauld hae taenthe ford for a' they could say, hadna the Highlanders, determined onsaving him whether he would or no, gathered round him an' pulled him fraehis horse, an' then, to mak' sure o' him, locked him up in the auld kirk. Weel, when the hour had gone by--the fatal hour o' the kelpie--they flungopen the door, an' cried to him that he might noo gang on his journey. Ah! but there was nae answer, though; an' sae they cried a second time, an' there was nae answer still; an' then they went in, an' found himlying stiff an' cauld on the floor, wi' his face buried in the water o'the very stone trough that we may still see amang the ruins. His hourhad come, an' he had fallen in a fit, as 'twould seem, head-foremostamang the water o' the trough, where he had been smothered, --an' sae yesee, the prophecy o' the kelpie availed naething. "

WHIPPETY STOURIE. 

There was once a gentleman that lived in a very grand house, and hemarried a young lady that had been delicately brought up. In herhusband's house she found everything that was fine--fine tables andchairs, fine looking-glasses, and fine curtains; but then her husbandexpected her to be able to spin twelve hanks o' thread every day, besidesattending to her house; and, to tell the even-down truth, the lady couldnot spin a bit. This made her husband glunchy with her, and, before amonth had passed, she found hersel' very unhappy. 

One day the husband gaed away upon a journey, after telling her that heexpected her, before his return, to have not only learned to spin, but tohave spun a hundred hanks o' thread. Quite downcast, she took a walkalong the hillside, till she cam' to a big flat stane, and there she satdown and grat. By and by she heard a strain o' fine sma' music, comingas it were frae aneath the stane, and, on turning it up, she saw a cavebelow, where there were sitting six wee ladies in green gowns, ilk ane o'them spinning on a little wheel, and singing, "Little kens my dame at hame That Whippety Stourie is my name. "

The lady walked into the cave, and was kindly asked by the wee bodies totake a chair and sit down, while they still continued their spinning. Sheobserved that ilk ane's mouth was thrawn away to ae side, but she didnaventure to speer the reason. They asked why she looked so unhappy, andshe telt them that it was she was expected by her husband to be a goodspinner, when the plain truth was that she could not spin at all, andfound herself quite unable for it, having been so delicately brought up;neither was there any need for it, as her husband was a rich man. 

"Oh, is that a'?" said the little wifies, speaking out of their cheeksalike. 

"Yes, and is it not a very good a' too?" said the lady, her heart like toburst wi' distress. 

"We could easily quit ye o' that trouble, " said the wee women. "Just askus a' to dinner for the day when your husband is to come back. We'llthen let you see how we'll manage him. "

So the lady asked them all to dine with herself and her husband, on theday when he was to come back. 

When the gudeman came hame, he found the house so occupied withpreparations for dinner, that he had nae time to ask his wife about herthread; and, before ever he had ance spoken to her on the subject, thecompany was announced at the hall door. The six ladies all came in acoach-and-six, and were as fine as princesses, but still wore their gownsof green. The gentleman was very polite, and showed them up the stairwith a pair of wax candles in his hand. And so they all sat down todinner, and conversation went on very pleasantly, till at length thehusband, becoming familiar with them, said--

"Ladies, if it be not an uncivil question, I should like to know how ithappens that all your mouths are turned away to one side?"

"Oh, " said ilk ane at ance, "it's with our constant_spin-spin-spinning_. "

"Is that the case?" cried the gentleman; "then, John, Tam, and Dick, fie, go haste and burn every rock, and reel, and spinning-wheel in the house, for I'll not have my wife to spoil her bonnie face with_spin-spin-spinning_. "

And so the lady lived happily with her gudeman all the rest of her days. 

THE WEIRD OF THE THREE ARROWS. 

Sir James Douglas, the companion of Bruce, and well known by hisappellation of the "Black Douglas, " was once, during the hottest periodof the exterminating war carried on by him and his colleague Randolph, against the English, stationed at Linthaughlee, near Jedburgh. He wasresting, himself and his men after the toils of many days'fighting-marches through Teviotdale; and, according to his custom, hadwalked round the tents, previous to retiring to the unquiet rest of asoldier's bed. He stood for a few minutes at the entrance to his tentcontemplating the scene before him, rendered more interesting by a clearmoon, whose silver beams fell, in the silence of a night without a breathof wind, calmly on the slumbers of mortals destined to mix in the meleeof dreadful war, perhaps on the morrow. As he stood gazing, irresolutewhether to retire to rest or indulge longer in a train of thought notvery suitable to a warrior who delighted in the spirit-stirring scenes ofhis profession, his eye was attracted by the figure of an old woman, whoapproached him with a trembling step, leaning on a staff, and holding inher left hand three English cloth-shaft arrows. 

"You are he who is ca'ed the guid Sir James?" said the old woman. 

"I am, good woman, " replied Sir James. "Why hast thou wandered from thesutler's camp?"

"I dinna belang to the camp o' the hoblers, " answered the woman. "I haebeen a residenter in Linthaughlee since the day when King Alexanderpassed the door o' my cottage wi' his bonny French bride, wha wasterrified awa' frae Jedburgh by the death's-head whilk appeared to her onthe day o' her marriage. What I hae suffered sin' that day" (looking atthe arrows in her hand) "lies between me an' heaven. "

"Some of your sons have been killed in the wars, I presume?" said SirJames. 

"Ye hae guessed a pairt o' my waes, " replied the woman. "That arrow"(holding out one of the three) "carries on its point the bluid o' myfirst born; that is stained wi' the stream that poured frae the heart o'my second; and that is red wi' the gore in which my youngest weltered, ashe gae up the life that made me childless. They were a' shot by Englishhands, in different armies, in different battles. I am an honest woman, and wish to return to the English what belongs to the English; but thatin the same fashion in which they were sent. The Black Douglas has thestrongest arm an' the surest ee in auld Scotland; an' wha can execute mycommission better than he?"

"I do not use the bow, good woman, " replied Sir James. "I love the graspof the dagger or the battle-axe. You must apply to some other individualto return your arrows. "

"I canna tak' them hame again, " said the woman, laying them down at thefeet of Sir James. "Ye'll see me again on St. James' E'en. "

The old woman departed as she said these words. 

Sir James took up the arrows, and placed them in an empty quiver that layamongst his baggage. He retired to rest, but not to sleep. The figureof the old woman and her strange request occupied his thoughts, andproduced trains of meditation which ended in nothing but restlessness anddisquietude. Getting up at daybreak, he met a messenger at the entranceof his tent, who informed him that Sir Thomas de Richmont, with a forceof ten thousand men, had crossed the Borders, and would pass through anarrow defile, which he mentioned, where he could be attacked with greatadvantage. Sir James gave instant orders to march to the spot; and, withthat genius for scheming, for which he was so remarkable, commanded hismen to twist together the young birch-trees on either side of the passageto prevent the escape of the enemy. This finished, he concealed hisarchers in a hollow way, near the gorge of the pass. 

The enemy came on; and when their ranks were embarrassed by thenarrowness of the road, and it was impossible for the cavalry to act witheffect, Sir James rushed upon them at the head of his horsemen; and thearchers, suddenly discovering themselves, poured in a flight of arrows onthe confused soldiers, and put the whole army to flight. In the heat ofthe onset, Douglas killed Sir Thomas de Richmont with his dagger. 

Not long after this, Edmund de Cailon, a knight of Gascony, and Governorof Berwick, who had been heard to vaunt that he had sought the famousBlack Knight, but could not find him, was returning to England, loadedwith plunder, the fruit of an inroad on Teviotdale. Sir James thought ita pity that a Gascon's vaunt should be heard unpunished in Scotland, andmade long forced marches to satisfy the desire of the foreign knight, bygiving him a sight of the dark countenance he had made a subject ofreproach. He soon succeeded in gratifying both himself and the Gascon. Coming up in his terrible manner, he called to Cailon to stop, and, before he proceeded into England, receive the respects of the BlackKnight he had come to find, but hitherto had not met. The Gascon's vauntwas now changed; but shame supplied the place of courage, and he orderedhis men to receive Douglas's attack. Sir James assiduously sought hisenemy. He at last succeeded; and a single combat ensued, of a mostdesperate character. But who ever escaped the arm of Douglas when fairlyopposed to him in single conflict? Cailon was killed; he had met theBlack Knight at last. 

"So much, " cried Sir James, "for the vaunt of a Gascon!"

Similar in every respect to the fate of Cailon, was that of Sir RalphNeville. He, too, on hearing the great fame of Douglas's prowess, fromsome of Gallon's fugitive soldiers, openly boasted that he would fightwith the Scottish Knight, if he would come and show his banner beforeBerwick. Sir James heard the boast and rejoiced in it. He marched tothat town, and caused his men to ravage the country in front of thebattlements, and burn the villages. Neville left Berwick with a strongbody of men; and, stationing himself on a high ground, waited till therest of the Scots should disperse to plunder; but Douglas called in hisdetachment and attacked the knight. After a desperate conflict, in whichmany were slain, Douglas, as was his custom, succeeded in bringing theleader to a personal encounter, and the skill of the Scottish knight wasagain successful. Neville was slain, and his men utterly discomfited. 

Having retired one night to his tent to take some rest after so much painand toil, Sir James Douglas was surprised by the reappearance of the oldwoman whom he had seen at Linthaughlee. 

"This is the feast o' St. James, " said she, as she approached him. "Isaid I would see ye again this nicht, an' I'm as guid's my word. Hae yereturned the arrows I left wi' ye to the English wha sent them to thehearts o' my sons?"

"No, " replied Sir James. "I told ye I did not fight with the bow. Wherefore do ye importune me thus?"

"Give me back the arrows then, " said the woman. 

Sir James went to bring the quiver in which he had placed them. Ontaking them out, he was surprised to find that they were all brokenthrough the middle. 

"How has this happened?" said he. "I put these arrows in this quiverentire, and now they are broken. "

"The weird is fulfilled!" cried the old woman, laughing eldrichly, andclapping her hands. "That broken shaft cam' frae a soldier o'Richmont's; that frae ane o' Cailon's, and that frae ane o' Neville's. They are a' dead, an' I am revenged!"

The old woman then departed, scattering, as she went, the brokenfragments of the arrows on the floor of the tent. 

THE LAIRD OF BALMACHIE'S WIFE. 

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 homeill in bed. Riding home in the twilight, he had occasion to leave thehigh road, and when crossing between some little romantic knolls, calledthe Cur-hills, in the neighbourhood of Carlungy, he encountered a troopof fairies supporting a kind of litter, upon which some person seemed tobe borne. Being a man of dauntless courage, and, as he said, impelled bysome internal impulse, he pushed his horse close to the litter, drew hissword, 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 theground. The laird dismounted, and found that it contained his own wife, dressed in her bedclothes. Wrapping his coat around her, he placed heron 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, heimmediately went to the chamber where he had left his wife in themorning, and there to all appearance she still lay, very sick of a fever. She was fretful, discontented, and complained much of having beenneglected in his absence, at all of which the laird affected greatconcern, and pretending much sympathy, insisted upon her rising to haveher bed made. She said that she was unable to rise, but her husband wasperemptory, and having ordered a large wood fire to warm the room, helifted the impostor from the bed, and bearing her across the floor as ifto a chair, which 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. Hethen brought in his own wife, a little recovered from her alarm, whosaid, that sometime after sunset, the nurse having left her for thepurpose of preparing a little candle, a multitude of elves came in at thewindow, thronging like bees from a hive. They filled the room, andhaving lifted her from the bed carried her through the window, afterwhich she recollected nothing further, till she saw her husband standingover her on the Cur-hills, at the back of Carlungy. The hole in theroof, by which the female fairy made her escape, was mended, but couldnever be kept in repair, as a tempest of wind happened always once ayear, which uncovered that particular spot, without injuring any otherpart of the roof. 

MICHAEL SCOTT. 

In the early part of Michael Scott's life he was in the habit ofemigrating annually to the Scottish metropolis, for the purpose of beingemployed in his capacity of mason. One time as he and two companionswere journeying to the place of their destination for a similar object, they had occasion to pass over a high hill, the name of which is notmentioned, but which is supposed to have been one of the Grampians, andbeing fatigued with climbing, they sat down to rest themselves. They hadno sooner done so than they were warned to take to their heels by thehissing of a large serpent, which they observed revolving itself towardsthem with great velocity. Terrified at the sight, Michael's twocompanions fled, while he, on the contrary, resolved to encounter thereptile. The appalling monster approached Michael Scott with distendedmouth and forked tongue; and, throwing itself into a coil at his feet, was raising its head to inflict a mortal sting, when Michael, with onestroke of his stick, severed its body into three pieces. Having rejoinedhis affrighted comrades, they resumed their journey; and, on arriving atthe next public-house, it being late, and the travellers being weary, they took up their quarters at it for the night. In the course of thenight's conversation, reference was naturally made to Michael's recentexploit with the serpent, when the landlady of the house, who wasremarkable for her "arts, " happened to be present. Her curiosityappeared much excited by the conversation; and, after making someinquiries regarding the colour of the serpent, which she was told waswhite, she offered any of them that would procure her the middle piecesuch a tempting reward, as induced one of the party instantly to go forit. The distance was not very great; and on reaching the spot, he foundthe middle and tail piece in the place where Michael left them, but thehead piece was gone. 

The landlady on receiving the piece, which still vibrated with life, seemed highly gratified at her acquisition; and, over and above thepromised reward, regaled her lodgers very plentifully with the choicestdainties in her house. Fired with curiosity to know the purpose forwhich the serpent was intended, the wily Michael Scott was immediatelyseized with a severe fit of indisposition, which caused him to prefer therequest that he might be allowed to sleep beside the fire, the warmth ofwhich, he affirmed, was in the highest degree beneficial to him. 

Never suspecting Michael Scott's hypocrisy, and naturally supposing thata person so severely indisposed would feel very little curiosity aboutthe contents of any cooking utensils which might lie around the fire, thelandlady allowed his request. As soon as the other inmates of the housewere retired to bed, the landlady resorted to her darling occupation;and, in his feigned state of indisposition, Michael had a favourableopportunity of watching most scrupulously all her actions through thekeyhole of a door leading to the next apartment where she was. He couldsee the rites and ceremonies with which the serpent was put into theoven, along with many mysterious ingredients. After which theunsuspicious landlady placed the dish by the fireside, where lay thedistressed traveller, to stove till the morning. 

Once or twice in the course of the night the "wife of the change-house, "under the pretence of inquiring for her sick lodger, and administering tohim some renovating cordials, the beneficial effects of which hegratefully acknowledged, took occasion to dip her finger in her saucepan, upon which the cock, perched on his roost, crowed aloud. All Michael'ssickness could not prevent him considering very inquisitively thelandlady's cantrips, and particularly the influence of the sauce upon thecrowing of the cock. Nor could he dissipate some inward desires he feltto follow her example. At the same time, he suspected that Satan had ahand in the pie, yet he thought he would like very much to be at thebottom of the concern; and thus his reason and his curiosity clashedagainst each other for the space of several hours. At length passion, asis too often the case, became the conqueror. Michael, too, dipped hisfinger in the sauce, and applied it to the tip of his tongue, andimmediately the cock perched on the _spardan_ announced the circumstancein a mournful clarion. Instantly his mind received a new light to whichhe was formerly a stranger, and the astonished dupe of a landlady nowfound it her interest to admit her sagacious lodger into a knowledge ofthe remainder of her secrets. 

Endowed with the knowledge of "good and evil, " and all the "secondsights" that can be acquired, Michael left his lodgings in the morning, with the philosopher's stone in his pocket. By daily perfecting hissupernatural attainments, by new series of discoveries, he became morethan a match for Satan himself. Having seduced some thousands of Satan'sbest workmen into his employment, he trained them up so successfully tothe architective business, and inspired them with such industrioushabits, that he was more than sufficient for all the architectural workof the empire. To establish this assertion, we need only refer to someremains of his workmanship still existing north of the Grampians, some ofthem, stupendous bridges built by him in one short night, with no othervisible agents than two or three workmen. 

On one occasion work was getting scarce, as might have been naturallyexpected, and his workmen, as they were wont, flocked to his doors, perpetually exclaiming, "Work! work! work!" Continually annoyed by theirincessant entreaties, he called out to them in derision to go and make adry road from Fortrose to Arderseir, over the Moray Firth. Immediatelytheir cry ceased, and as Scott supposed it wholly impossible for them toexecute his order, he retired to rest, laughing most heartily at thechimerical sort of employment he had given to his industrious workmen. Early in the morning, however, he got up and took a walk at the break ofday down to the shore to divert himself at the fruitless labours of hiszealous workmen. But on reaching the spot, what was his astonishment tofind the formidable piece of work allotted to them only a few hoursbefore already nearly finished. Seeing the great damage the commercialclass of the community would sustain from the operation, he ordered theworkmen to demolish the most part of their work; leaving, however, thepoint of Fortrose to show the traveller to this day the wonderful exploitof Michael Scott's fairies. 

On being thus again thrown out of employment, their former clamour wasresumed, nor could Michael Scott, with all his sagacity, devise a plan tokeep them in innocent employment. He at length discovered one. "Go, "says he, "and manufacture me ropes that will carry me to the back of themoon, of these materials--_miller's-sudds_ and sea-sand. " Michael Scotthere obtained rest from his active operators; for, when other work failedthem, he always despatched them to their rope manufactory. But thoughthese agents could never make proper ropes of those materials, theirefforts to that effect are far from being contemptible, for some of theirropes are seen by the sea-side to this day. 

We shall close our notice of Michael Scott by reciting one anecdote ofhim in the latter part of his life. 

In consequence of a violent quarrel which Michael Scott once had with aperson whom he conceived to have caused him some injury, he resolved, asthe highest punishment he could inflict upon him, to send his adversaryto that evil place designed only for Satan and his black companions. Heaccordingly, by means of his supernatural machinations, sent the poorunfortunate man thither; and had he been sent by any other means thanthose of Michael Scott, he would no doubt have met with a warm reception. Out of pure spite to Michael, however, when Satan learned who was hisbillet-master, he would no more receive him than he would receive theWife of Beth; and instead of treating the unfortunate man with theharshness characteristic of him, he showed him considerable civilities. Introducing him to his "Ben Taigh, " he directed her to show the strangerany curiosities he might wish to see, hinting very significantly that hehad provided some accommodation for their mutual friend, Michael Scott, the sight of which might afford him some gratification. The politehousekeeper accordingly conducted the stranger through the principalapartments in the house, where he saw fearful sights. But the bed ofMichael Scott!--his greatest enemy could not but feel satiated withrevenge at the sight of it. It was a place too horrid to be described, filled promiscuously with all the awful brutes imaginable. Toads andlions, lizards and leeches, and, amongst the rest, not the leastconspicuous, a large serpent gaping for Michael Scott, with its mouthwide open. This last sight having satisfied the stranger's curiosity, hewas led to the outer gate, and came away. He reached his friends, and, among other pieces of news touching his travels, he was not backward inrelating the entertainment that awaited his friend Michael Scott, as soonas he would "stretch his foot" for the other world. But Michael did notat all appear disconcerted at his friend's intelligence. He affirmedthat he would disappoint all his enemies in their expectations--in proofof which he gave the following signs: "When I am just dead, " says he, "open my breast and extract my heart. Carry it to some place where thepublic may see the result. You will then transfix it upon a long pole, and if Satan will have my soul, he will come in the likeness of a blackraven and carry it off; and if my soul will be saved it will be carriedoff by a white dove. "

His friends faithfully obeyed his instructions. Having exhibited hisheart in the manner directed, a large black raven was observed to comefrom the east with great fleetness, while a white dove came from the westwith equal velocity. The raven made a furious dash at the heart, missingwhich, it was unable to curb its force, till it was considerably past it;and the dove, reaching the spot at the same time, carried off the heartamidst the rejoicing and ejaculations of the spectators. 

THE MINISTER AND THE FAIRY. 

Not long since, a pious clergyman was returning home, after administeringspiritual consolation to a dying member of his flock. It was late of thenight, and he had to pass through a good deal of _uncanny_ land. He was, however, a good and a conscientious minister of the Gospel, and fearednot all the spirits in the country. On his reaching the end of a lakewhich stretched along the roadside for some distance, he was a good dealsurprised at hearing the most melodious strains of music. Overcome bypleasure and curiosity, the minister coolly sat down to listen to theharmonious sounds, and try what new discoveries he could make with regardto their nature and source. He had not sat many minutes before he coulddistinguish the approach of the music, and also observe a light in thedirection from whence it proceeded gliding across the lake towards him. Instead of taking to his heels, as any faithless wight would have done, the pastor fearlessly determined to await the issue of the phenomenon. Asthe light and music drew near, the clergyman could at length distinguishan object resembling a human being walking on the surface of the water, attended by a group of diminutive musicians, some of them bearing lights, and others instruments of music, from which they continued to evoke thosemelodious strains which first attracted his attention. The leader of theband dismissed his attendants, landed on the beach, and afforded theminister the amplest opportunities of examining his appearance. He was alittle primitive-looking grey-headed man, clad in the most grotesquehabit the clergyman had ever seen, and such as led him at once to suspecthis real character. He walked up to the minister, whom he saluted withgreat grace, offering an apology for his intrusion. The pastor returnedhis compliments, and, without further explanation, invited the mysteriousstranger to sit down by his side. The invitation was complied with, uponwhich the minister proposed the following question:--"Who art thou, stranger, and from whence?"

To this question the fairy, with downcast eye, replied that he was one ofthose sometimes called _Doane Shee_, or men of peace, or good men, thoughthe reverse of this title was a more fit appellation for them. Originallyangelic in his nature and attributes, and once a sharer of theindescribable joys of the regions of light, he was seduced by Satan tojoin him in his mad conspiracies; and, as a punishment for histransgression, he was cast down from those regions of bliss, and was nowdoomed, along with millions of fellow-sufferers, to wander through seasand mountains, until the coming of the Great Day. What their fate wouldbe then they could not divine, but they apprehended the worst. "And, "continued he, turning to the minister, with great anxiety, "the object ofmy present intrusion on you is to learn your opinion, as an eminentdivine, as to our final condition on that dreadful day. " Here thevenerable pastor entered upon a long conversation with the fairy, touching the principles of faith and repentance. Receiving ratherunsatisfactory answers to his questions, the minister desired the"sheech" to repeat after him the Paternoster, in attempting to do which, it was not a little remarkable that he could not repeat the word "art, "but said "_wert_, " in heaven. Inferring from every circumstance thattheir fate was extremely precarious, the minister resolved not to puffthe fairies up with presumptuous, and, perhaps, groundless expectations. Accordingly, addressing himself to the unhappy fairy, who was all anxietyto know the nature of his sentiments, the reverend gentleman told himthat he could not take it upon him to give them any hopes of pardon, astheir crime was of so deep a hue as scarcely to admit of it. On this theunhappy fairy uttered a shriek of despair, plunged headlong into theloch, and the minister resumed his course to his home. 

THE FISHERMAN AND THE MERMAN. 

Of mermen and merwomen many strange stories are told in the ShetlandIsles. Beneath the depths of the ocean, according to these stories, anatmosphere exists adapted to the respiratory organs of certain beings, resembling, in form, the human race, possessed of surpassing beauty, oflimited supernatural powers, and liable to the incident of death. Theydwell in a wide territory of the globe, far below the region of fishes, over which the sea, like the cloudy canopy of our sky, loftily rolls, andthey possess habitations constructed of the pearl and coral productionsof the ocean. Having lungs not adapted to a watery medium, but to thenature of atmospheric air, it would be impossible for them to passthrough the volume of waters that intervenes between the submarine andsupramarine world, if it were not for the extraordinary power theyinherit of entering the skin of some animal capable of existing in thesea, which they are enabled to occupy by a sort of demoniacal possession. One shape they put on, is that of an animal human above the waist, yetterminating below in the tail and fins of a fish, but the most favouriteform is that of the larger seal or Haaf-fish; for, in possessing anamphibious nature, they are enabled not only to exist in the ocean, butto land on some rock, where they frequently lighten themselves of theirsea-dress, resume their proper shape, and with much curiosity examine thenature of the upper world belonging to the human race. Unfortunately, however, each merman or merwoman possesses but one skin, enabling theindividual to ascend the seas, and if, on visiting the abode of man, thegarb be lost, the hapless being must unavoidably become an inhabitant ofthe earth. 

A story is told of a boat's crew who landed for the purpose of attackingthe seals lying in the hollows of the crags at one of the stacks. Themen stunned a number of the animals, and while they were in this statestripped them of their skins, with the fat attached to them. Leaving thecarcasses on the rock, the crew were about to set off for the shore ofPapa Stour, when such a tremendous swell arose that every one flewquickly to the boat. All succeeded in entering it except one man, whohad imprudently lingered behind. The crew were unwilling to leave acompanion to perish on the skerries, but the surge increased so fast, that after many unsuccessful attempts to bring the boat close in to thestack the unfortunate wight was left to his fate. A stormy night cameon, and the deserted Shetlander saw no prospect before him but that ofperishing from cold and hunger, or of being washed into the sea by thebreakers which threatened to dash over the rocks. At length, heperceived many of the seals, who, in their flight had escaped the attackof the boatmen, approach the skerry, disrobe themselves of theiramphibious hides, and resume the shape of the sons and daughters of theocean. Their first object was to assist in the recovery of theirfriends, who having been stunned by clubs, had, while in that state, beendeprived of their skins. When the flayed animals had regained theirsensibility, they assumed their proper form of mermen or merwomen, andbegan to lament in a mournful lay, wildly accompanied by the storm thatwas raging around, the loss of their sea-dress, which would prevent themfrom again enjoying their native azure atmosphere, and coral mansionsthat lay below the deep waters of the Atlantic. But their chieflamentation was for Ollavitinus, the son of Gioga, who, having beenstripped of his seal's skin, would be for ever parted from his mates, andcondemned to become an outcast inhabitant of the upper world. Their songwas at length broken off, by observing one of their enemies viewing, withshivering limbs and looks of comfortless despair, the wild waves thatdashed over the stack. Gioga immediately conceived the idea of renderingsubservient to the advantage of the son the perilous situation of theman. She addressed him with mildness, proposing to carry him safe on herback across the sea to Papa Stour, on condition of receiving the seal-skin of Ollavitinus. A bargain was struck, and Gioga clad herself in heramphibious garb; but the Shetlander, alarmed at the sight of the stormymain that he was to ride through, prudently begged leave of the matron, for his better preservation, that he might be allowed to cut a few holesin her shoulders and flanks, in order to procure, between the skin andthe flesh, a better fastening for his hands and feet. The request beingcomplied with, the man grasped the neck of the seal, and committinghimself to her care, she landed him safely at Acres Gio in Papa Stour;from which place he immediately repaired to a skeo at Hamna Voe, wherethe skin was deposited, and honourably fulfilled his part of thecontract, by affording Gioga the means whereby her son could againrevisit the ethereal space over which the sea spread its green mantle. 

THE LAIRD O' CO'. 

In the days of yore, the proprietors of Colzean, in Ayrshire (ancestorsof the Marquis of Ailsa), were known in that country by the title ofLairds o' Co', a name bestowed on Colzean from some co's (or coves) inthe rock beneath the castle. 

One morning, a very little boy, carrying a small wooden can, addressedthe Laird near the castle gate, begging for a little ale for his mother, who was sick. The Laird directed him to go to the butler and get his canfilled; so away he went as ordered. The butler had a barrel of ale ontap, but about half full, out of which he proceeded to fill the boy'scan; but to his extreme surprise he emptied the cask, and still thelittle can was not nearly full. The butler was unwilling to broachanother barrel, but the little fellow insisted on the fulfilment of theLaird's order, and a reference was made to the Laird by the butler, whostated the miraculous capacity of the tiny can, and received instantorders to fill it if all the ale in the cellar would suffice. Obedientto this command, he broached another cask, but had scarcely drawn a dropwhen the can was full, and the dwarf departed with expressions ofgratitude. 

Some years afterwards the Laird being at the wars in Flanders was takenprisoner, and for some reason or other (probably as a spy) condemned todie a felon's death. The night prior to the day for his execution, beingconfined in a dungeon strongly barricaded, the doors suddenly flew open, and the dwarf reappeared, saying--

 "Laird o' Co', Rise an' go. "

a summons too welcome to require repetition. 

On emerging from prison, the boy caused him to mount on his shoulders, and in a short time set him down at his own gate, on the very spot wherethey had formerly met, saying--

 "Ae gude turn deserves anither-- Tak' ye that for being sae kin' to my auld mither, "

and vanished. 

EWEN OF THE LITTLE HEAD. 

About three hundred years ago, Ewen Maclaine of Lochbuy, in the island ofMull, having been engaged in a quarrel with a neighbouring chief, a daywas fixed for determining the affair by the sword. Lochbuy, before theday arrived, consulted a celebrated witch as to the result of the feud. The witch declared that if Lochbuy's wife should on the morning of thatday give him and his men food unasked, he would be victorious, but ifnot, the result would be the reverse. This was a disheartening responsefor the unhappy votary, his wife being a noted shrew. 

The fatal morning arrived, and the hour for meeting the enemy approached, but there appeared no symptoms of refreshment for Lochbuy and his men. Atlength the unfortunate man was compelled to ask his wife to supply themwith food. She set down before them curds, but without spoons. When thehusband inquired how they were to eat them, she replied they shouldassume the bills of hens. The men ate the curds, as well as they could, with their hands; but Lochbuy himself ate none. After behaving with thegreatest bravery in the bloody conflict which ensued, he fell coveredwith wounds, leaving his wife to the execration of the people. She isstill known in that district under the appellation of Corr-dhu, or theBlack Crane. 

But the miseries brought on the luckless Lochbuy by his wife did not endwith his life, for he died fasting, and his ghost is frequently seen tothis day riding the very horse on which he was mounted when he waskilled. It was a small, but very neat and active pony, dun ormouse-coloured, to which the Laird was much attached, and on which he hadridden for many years before his death. Its appearance is as accuratelydescribed in the island of Mull as any steed is at Newmarket. The printsof its shoes are discerned by connoisseurs, and the rattling of its curbis recognised in the darkest night. It is not particular with regard toroads, for it goes up hill and down dale with equal velocity. Its hard-fated rider still wears the same green cloak which covered him in hislast battle; and he is particularly distinguished by the small size ofhis head, a peculiarity which, we suspect, the learned disciples ofSpurzheim have never yet had the sagacity to discover as indicative of anextraordinary talent and incomparable perseverance in horsemanship. 

It is now above three hundred years since Ewen-a-chin-vig (_Anglice_, Hugh of the Little Head) fell in the field of honour; but neither thevigour of the horse nor of the rider is yet diminished. His mournfulduty has always been to attend the dying moments of every member of hisown tribe, and to escort the departed spirit on its long and arduousjourney. He has been seen in the remotest of the Hebrides; and he hasfound his way to Ireland on these occasions long before steam navigationwas invented. About a century ago he took a fancy for a young man of hisown race, and frequently did him the honour of placing him behind himselfon horseback. He entered into conversation with him, and foretold manycircumstances connected with the fate of his successors, which haveundoubtedly since come to pass. 

Many a long winter night have I listened to the feats of Ewen-a-chin-vig, the faithful and indefatigable guardian of his ancient family, in thehour of their last and greatest trial, affording an example worthy theimitation of every chief, --perhaps not beneath the notice of Glengarryhimself. 

About a dozen years since some symptoms of Ewen's decay gave very generalalarm to his friends. He accosted one of his own people (indeed he neverhas been known to notice any other), and, shaking him cordially by thehand, he attempted to place him on the saddle behind him, but theuncourteous dog declined the honour. Ewen struggled hard, but the clownwas a great, strong, clumsy fellow, and stuck to the earth with all hismight. He candidly acknowledged, however, that his chief would haveprevailed, had it not been for a birch-tree which stood by, and which hegot within the fold of his left arm. The contest became very warmindeed, and the tree was certainly twisted like an osier, as thousandscan testify who saw it as well as myself. At length, however, Ewen losthis seat for the first time, and the instant the pony found he was hisown master, he set off with the fleetness of lightning. Ewen immediatelypursued his steed, and the wearied rustic sped his way homeward. It wasthe general opinion that Ewen found considerable difficulty in catchingthe horse; but I am happy to learn that he has been lately seen ridingthe old mouse-coloured pony without the least change in either the horseor the rider. Long may he continue to do so!

Those who from motives of piety or curiosity have visited the sacredisland of Iona, must remember to have seen the guide point out the tombof Ewen, with his figure on horseback, very elegantly sculptured in alto-relievo, and many of the above facts are on such occasions related. 

JOCK AND HIS MOTHER. 

Ye see, there was a wife had a son, and they called him Jock; and shesaid to him, "You are a lazy fellow; ye maun gang awa' and do somethingfor to help me. " "Weel, " says Jock, "I'll do that. " So awa' he gangs, and fa's in wi' a packman. Says the packman, "If you carry my pack a'day, I'll gie you a needle at night. " So he carried the pack, and gotthe needle; and as he was gaun awa' hame to his mither, he cuts a burdeno' brackens, and put the needle into the heart o' them. Awa' he gaeshame. Says his mither, "What hae ye made o' yoursel' the day?" SaysJock, "I fell in wi' a packman, and carried his pack a' day, and he gaeme a needle for't, and ye may look for it amang the brackens. " "Hout, "quo' she, "ye daft gowk, you should hae stuck it into your bonnet, man. ""I'll mind that again, " quo' Jock. 

Next day he fell in wi' a man carrying plough socks. "If ye help me tocarry my socks a' day, I'll gie ye ane to yersel' at night. " "I'll dothat, " quo' Jock. Jock carried them a' day, and got a sock, which hestuck in his bonnet. On the way hame, Jock was dry, and gaed away totake a drink out o' the burn; and wi' the weight o' the sock, his bonnetfell into the river, and gaed out o' sight. He gaed hame, and his mithersays, "Weel, Jock, what hae you been doing a' day?" And then he tellsher. "Hout, " quo' she, "you should hae tied the string to it, andtrailed it behind you. " "Weel, " quo' Jock, "I'll mind that again. "

Awa' he sets, and he fa's in wi' a flesher. "Weel, " says the flesher, "if ye'll be my servant a' day, I'll gie ye a leg o' mutton at night. ""I'll be that, " quo' Jock. He got a leg o' mutton at night. He ties astring to it, and trails it behind him the hale road hame. "What hae yebeen doing?" said his mither. He tells her. "Hout, you fool, ye shouldhae carried it on your shouther. " "I'll mind that again, " quo' Jock. 

Awa' he gaes next day, and meets a horse-dealer. He says, "If you willhelp me wi' my horses a' day, I'll give you ane to yoursel' at night. ""I'll do that, " quo' Jock. So he served him, and got his horse, and heties its feet; but as he was not able to carry it on his back, he left itlying on the roadside. Hame he comes, and tells his mither. "Hout, yedaft gowk, ye'll ne'er turn wise! Could ye no hae loupen on it, andridden it?" "I'll mind that again, " quo' Jock. 

Aweel, there was a grand gentleman, wha had a daughter wha was verysubject to melancholy; and her father gae out that whaever should mak'her laugh would get her in marriage. So it happened that she was sittingat the window ae day, musing in her melancholy state, when Jock, according to the advice o' his mither, cam' flying up on a cow's back, wi' the tail over his shouther. And she burst out into a fit o'laughter. When they made inquiry wha made her laugh, it was found to beJock riding on the cow. Accordingly, Jock was sent for to get his bride. Weel, Jock was married to her, and there was a great supper prepared. Amongst the rest o' the things, there was some honey, which Jock was veryfond o'. After supper, they all retired, and the auld priest thatmarried them sat up a' night by the kitchen fireside. So Jock waukens inthe night-time, and says, "Oh, wad ye gie me some o' yon nice sweet honeythat we got to our supper last night?" "Oh ay, " says his wife, "rise andgang into the press, and ye'll get a pig fou o 't. " Jock rose, andthrust his hand into the honey-pig for a nievefu' o 't, and he could notget it out. So he cam' awa' wi' the pig in his hand, like a mason'smell, and says, "Oh, I canna get my hand out. " "Hoot, " quo' she, "gangawa' and break it on the cheek-stane. " By this time, the fire was dark, and the auld priest was lying snoring wi' his head against the chimney-piece, wi' a huge white wig on. Jock gaes awa', and gae him a whack wi'the honey-pig on the head, thinking it was the cheek-stane, and knocks ita' in bits. The auld priest roars out, "Murder!" Jock tak's doun thestair as hard as he could bicker, and hides himsel' amang the bees'skeps. 

That night, as luck wad have it, some thieves cam' to steal the bees'skeps, and in the hurry o' tumbling them into a large grey plaid, theytumbled Jock in alang wi' them. So aff they set, wi' Jock and the skepson their backs. On the way, they had to cross the burn where Jock losthis bonnet. Ane o' the thieves cries, "Oh, I hae fand a bonnet!" andJock, on hearing that, cries out, "Oh, that's mine!" They thocht theyhad got the deil on their backs. So they let a' fa' in the burn; andJock, being tied in the plaid, couldna get out; so he and the bees werea' drowned thegither. 

If a' tales be true, that's nae lee. 

SAINT COLUMBA. 

Soon after Saint Columba established his residence in Iona, traditionsays that he paid a visit to a great seminary of Druids, then in thevicinity, at a place called Camusnan Ceul, or Bay of Cells, in thedistrict of Ardnamurchan. Several remains of Druidical circles are stillto be seen there, and on that bay and the neighbourhood many places arestill named after their rites and ceremonies; such as _Ardintibert_, theMount of Sacrifice, and others. The fame of the Saint had been for sometime well known to the people, and his intention of instructing them inthe doctrines of Christianity was announced to them. The ancientpriesthood made every exertion to dissuade the inhabitants from hearingthe powerful eloquence of Columba, and in this they were seconded by theprincipal man then in that country, whose name was Donald, a son ofConnal. 

The Saint had no sooner made his appearance, however, than he wassurrounded by a vast multitude, anxious to hear so celebrated a preacher;and after the sermon was ended, many persons expressed a desire to bebaptized, in spite of the remonstrances of the Druids. Columba had madechoice of an eminence centrally situated for performing worship; butthere was no water near the spot, and the son of Connal threatened withpunishment any who should dare to procure it for his purpose. The Saintstood with his back leaning on a rock; after a short prayer, he struckthe rock with his foot, and a stream of water issued forth in greatabundance. The miracle had a powerful effect on the minds of hishearers, and many became converts to the new religion. This fountain isstill distinguished by the name of Columba, and is considered of superiorefficacy in the cure of diseases. When the Catholic form of worshipprevailed in that country it was greatly resorted to, and old persons yetremember to have seen offerings left at the fountain in gratitude forbenefits received from the benignant influence of the Saint's blessing onthe water. At length it is said that a daughter of Donald, the son ofConnal, expressed a wish to be baptized, and the father restrained her byviolence. He also, with the aid of the Druids, forced Columba to takerefuge in his boat, and the holy man departed for Iona, after warning theinhospitable Caledonian to prepare for another world, as his life wouldsoon terminate. 

The Saint was at sea during the whole night, which was stormy; and whenapproaching the shores of his own sacred island the following morning, avast number of ravens were observed flying over the boat, chasing anotherof extraordinary large size. The croaking of the ravens awoke the Saint, who had been sleeping; and he instantly exclaimed that the son of Connalhad just expired, which was afterwards ascertained to be true. 

A very large Christian establishment appears to have been afterwardsformed in the Bay of Cells; and the remains of a chapel, dedicated toSaint Kiaran, are still to be seen there. It is the favourite place ofinterment among the Catholics of this day. Indeed, Columba and many ofhis successors seem to have adopted the policy of engrafting theirinstitutions on those which had formerly existed in the country. Of thisthere are innumerable instances, at least we observe the ruins of bothstill visible in many places; even in Iona we find the burying-ground ofthe Druids known at the present day. This practice may have hadadvantages at the time, but it must have been ultimately productive ofmany corruptions; and, in a great measure, accounts for manysuperstitious and absurd customs which prevailed among that people to avery recent period, and which are not yet entirely extinct. In a veryancient family in that country two round balls of coarse glass have beencarefully preserved from time immemorial, and to these have been ascribedmany virtues--amongst others, the cure of any extraordinary disease amongcattle. The balls were immersed in cold water for three days and nights, and the water was afterwards sprinkled over all the cattle; this wasexpected to cure those affected, and to prevent the disease in the rest. From the names and appearance of these balls, there is no doubt that theyhad been symbols used by the Archdruids. 

Within a short distance of the Bay of Cells there is a cave veryremarkable in its appearance, and still more so from the purposes towhich it has been appropriated. Saint Columba, on one of his manyvoyages among the Hebrides, was benighted on this rocky coast, and themariners were alarmed for their own safety. The Saint assured them thatneither he nor his crew would ever be drowned. They unexpectedlydiscovered a light at no great distance, and to that they directed theircourse. Columba's boat consisted of a frame of osiers, which was coveredwith hides of leather, and it was received into a very narrow creek closeto this cave. After returning thanks for their escape, the Saint and hispeople had great difficulty in climbing up to the cave, which is elevatedconsiderably above sea. They at length got sight of the fire which hadfirst attracted their attention. Several persons sat around it, andtheir appearance was not much calculated to please the holy man. Theiraspects were fierce, and they had on the fire some flesh roasting overthe coals. The Saint gave them his benediction; and he was invited tosit down among them and to share their hurried repast, with which hegladly complied. They were freebooters, who lived by plunder androbbery, and this Columba soon discovered. He advised them to forsakethat course, and to be converted to his doctrines, to which they allassented, and in the morning they accompanied the Saint on his voyagehomeward. This circumstance created a high veneration for the cave amongthe disciples and successors of Columba, and that veneration stillcontinues, in some degree. In one side of it there was a cleft of therock, where lay the water with which the freebooters had been baptized;and this was afterwards formed by art into a basin, which is suppliedwith water by drops from the roof of the cave. It is alleged never to beempty or to overflow, and the most salubrious qualities are ascribed toit. To obtain the benefit of it, however, the votaries must undergo avery severe ordeal. They must be in the cave before daylight; they standon the spot where the Saint first landed his boat, and nine waves mustdash over their heads; they must afterwards pass through nine openings inthe walls of the cave; and, lastly, they must swallow nine mouthfuls outof the holy basin. After invoking the aid of the Saint, the votarieswithin three weeks are either relieved by death or by recovery. Offeringsare left in a certain place appropriated for that purpose; and these aresometimes of considerable value, nor are they ever abstracted. Strangersare always informed that a young man, who had wantonly taken away some ofthese not many years since, broke his leg before he got home, and thisaffords the property of the Saint ample protection. 

THE MERMAID WIFE. 

A story is told of an inhabitant of Unst, who, in walking on the sandymargin of a voe, saw a number of mermen and mermaids dancing bymoonlight, and several seal-skins strewed beside them on the ground. Athis approach they immediately fled to secure their garbs, and, takingupon themselves the form of seals, plunged immediately into the sea. Butas the Shetlander perceived that one skin lay close to his feet, hesnatched it up, bore it swiftly away, and placed it in concealment. Onreturning to the shore he met the fairest damsel that was ever gazed uponby mortal eyes, lamenting the robbery, by which she had become an exilefrom her submarine friends, and a tenant of the upper world. Vainly sheimplored the restitution of her property; the man had drunk deeply oflove, and was inexorable; but he offered her protection beneath his roofas his betrothed spouse. The merlady, perceiving that she must become aninhabitant of the earth, found that she could not do better than acceptof the offer. This strange attachment subsisted for many years, and thecouple had several children. The Shetlander's love for his merwife wasunbounded, but his affection was coldly returned. The lady would oftensteal alone to the desert strand, and, on a signal being given, a largeseal would make his appearance, with whom she would hold, in an unknowntongue, an anxious conference. Years had thus glided away, when ithappened that one of the children, in the course of his play, foundconcealed beneath a stack of corn a seal's skin; and, delighted with theprize, he ran with it to his mother. Her eyes glistened with rapture--shegazed upon it as her own--as the means by which she could pass throughthe ocean that led to her native home. She burst forth into an ecstasyof joy, which was only moderated when she beheld her children, whom shewas now about to leave; and, after hastily embracing them, she fled withall speed towards the sea-side. The husband immediately returned, learned the discovery that had taken place, ran to overtake his wife, butonly arrived in time to see her transformation of shape completed--to seeher, in the form of a seal, bound from the ledge of a rock into the sea. The large animal of the same kind with whom she had held a secretconverse soon appeared, and evidently congratulated her, in the mosttender manner, on her escape. But before she dived to unknown depths, she cast a parting glance at the wretched Shetlander, whose despairinglooks excited in her breast a few transient feelings of commiseration. 

"Farewell!" said she to him, "and may all good attend you. I loved youvery well when I resided upon earth, but I always loved my first husbandmuch better. "

THE FIDDLER AND THE BOGLE OF BOGANDORAN. 

"Late one night, as my grand-uncle, Lachlan Dhu Macpherson, who was wellknown as the best fiddler of his day, was returning home from a ball, atwhich he had acted as a musician, he had occasion to pass through theonce-haunted Bog of Torrans. Now, it happened at that time that the bogwas frequented by a huge bogle or ghost, who was of a most mischievousdisposition, and took particular pleasure in abusing every traveller whohad occasion to pass through the place betwixt the twilight at night andcock-crowing in the morning. Suspecting much that he would also come infor a share of his abuse, my grand-uncle made up his mind, in the courseof his progress, to return the ghost any _civilities_ which he mightthink meet to offer him. On arriving on the spot, he found hissuspicions were too well grounded; for whom did he see but the ghost ofBogandoran apparently ready waiting him, and seeming by his ghastly grinnot a little overjoyed at the meeting. Marching up to my grand-uncle, the bogle clapped a huge club into his hand, and furnishing himself withone of the same dimensions, he put a spittle in his hand, anddeliberately commenced the combat. My grand-uncle returned the salutewith equal spirit, and so ably did both parties ply their batons that fora while the issue of the combat was extremely doubtful. At length, however, the fiddler could easily discover that his opponent's vigour wasmuch in the fagging order. Picking up renewed courage in consequence, heplied the ghost with renewed force, and after a stout resistance, in thecourse of which both parties were seriously handled, the ghost ofBogandoran thought it prudent to give up the night. 

"At the same time, filled no doubt with great indignation at this signaldefeat, it seems the ghost resolved to re-engage my grand-uncle on someother occasion, under more favourable circumstances. Not long after, asmy grand-uncle was returning home quite unattended from another ball inthe Braes of the country, he had just entered the hollow of Auldichoish, well known for its 'eerie' properties, when, lo! who presented himself tohis view on the adjacent eminence but his old friend of Bogandoran, advancing as large as the gable of a house, and putting himself in themost threatening and fighting attitudes. 

"Looking at the very dangerous nature of the ground where they had met, and feeling no anxiety for a second encounter with a combatant of hisweight, in a situation so little desirable, the fiddler would havewillingly deferred the settlement of their differences till a moreconvenient season. He, accordingly, assuming the most submissive aspectin the world, endeavoured to pass by his champion in peace, but in vain. Longing, no doubt, to retrieve the disgrace of his late discomfiture, thebogle instantly seized the fiddler, and attempted with all his might topull the latter down the precipice, with the diabolical intention, it issupposed, of drowning him in the river Avon below. In this pious designthe bogle was happily frustrated by the intervention of some trees whichgrew on the precipice, and to which my unhappy grand-uncle clung with thezeal of a drowning man. The enraged ghost, finding it impossible toextricate him from those friendly trees, and resolving, at all events, tobe revenged upon him, fell upon maltreating the fiddler with his handsand feet in the most inhuman manner. 

"Such gross indignities my worthy grand-uncle was not accustomed to, andbeing incensed beyond all measure at the liberties taken by Bogandoran, he resolved again to try his mettle, whether life or death should be theconsequence. Having no other weapon wherewith to defend himself but his_biodag_, which, considering the nature of his opponent's constitution, he suspected much would be of little avail to him--I say, in the absenceof any other weapon, he sheathed the _biodag_ three times in the ghost ofBogandoran's body. And what was the consequence? Why, to the greatastonishment of my courageous forefather, the ghost fell down cold deadat his feet, and was never more seen or heard of. "

THOMAS THE RHYMER. 

Thomas, of Ercildoun, in Lauderdale, called the Rhymer, on account of hisproducing a poetical romance on the subject of Tristrem and Yseult, whichis curious as the earliest specimen of English verse known to exist, flourished in the reign of Alexander III. Of Scotland. Like other men oftalent of the period, Thomas was suspected of magic. He was also said tohave the gift of prophecy, which was accounted for in the followingpeculiar manner, referring entirely to the Elfin superstition. 

As Thomas lay on Huntly Bank (a place on the descent of the Eildon Hills, which raise their triple crest above the celebrated monastery ofMelrose), he saw a lady so extremely beautiful that he imagined she mustbe the Virgin Mary herself. Her appointments, however, were those ratherof an amazon, or goddess of the woods. Her steed was of the highestbeauty, and at its mane hung thirty silver bells and nine, which weremusic to the wind as she paced along. Her saddle was of "royal bone"(ivory), laid over with "orfeverie" (goldsmith's work). Her stirrups, her dress, all corresponded with her extreme beauty and the magnificenceof her array. The fair huntress had her bow in hand, and her arrows ather belt. She led three greyhounds in a leash, and three raches, orhounds of scent, followed her closely. 

She rejected and disclaimed the homage which Thomas desired to pay her;so that, passing from one extremity to the other, Thomas became as boldas he had at first been humble. The lady warned him he must become herslave if he wished to prosecute his suit. Before their interviewterminated, the appearance of the beautiful lady was changed into that ofthe most hideous hag in existence. A witch from the spital or almshousewould have been a goddess in comparison to the late beautiful huntress. Hideous as she was, Thomas felt that he had placed himself in the powerof this hag, and when she bade him take leave of the sun, and of the leafthat grew on the tree, he felt himself under the necessity of obeyingher. A cavern received them, in which, following his frightful guide, hefor three days travelled in darkness, sometimes hearing the booming of adistant ocean, sometimes walking through rivers of blood, which crossedtheir subterranean path. At length they emerged into daylight, in a mostbeautiful orchard. Thomas, almost fainting for want of food, stretchedout his hand towards the goodly fruit which hung around him, but wasforbidden by his conductress, who informed him that these were the fatalapples which were the cause of the fall of man. He perceived also thathis guide had no sooner entered this mysterious ground and breathed itsmagic air than she was revived in beauty, equipage, and splendour, asfair or fairer than he had first seen her on the mountain. She thenproceeded to explain to him the character of the country. 

"Yonder right-hand path, " she says, "conveys the spirits of the blest toparadise. Yon downward and well-worn way leads sinful souls to the placeof everlasting punishment. The third road, by yonder dark brake, conducts to the milder place of pain, from which prayer and mass mayrelease offenders. But see you yet a fourth road, sweeping along theplain to yonder splendid castle? Yonder is the road to Elfland, to whichwe are now bound. The lord of the castle is king of the country, and Iam his queen; and when we enter yonder castle, you must observe strictsilence, and answer no question that is asked you, and I will account foryour silence by saying I took your speech when I brought you from middleearth. "

Having thus instructed him, they journeyed on to the castle, and, entering by the kitchen, found themselves in the midst of such a festivescene as might become the mansion of a great feudal lord or prince. 

Thirty carcasses of deer were lying on the massive kitchen board, underthe hands of numerous cooks, who toiled to cut them up and dress them, while the gigantic greyhounds which had taken the spoil lay lapping theblood, and enjoying the sight of the slain game. They came next to theroyal hall, where the king received his loving consort; knights andladies, dancing by threes, occupied the floor of the hall; and Thomas, the fatigue of his journey from the Eildon Hills forgotten, went forwardand joined in the revelry. After a period, however, which seemed to hima very short one, the queen spoke with him apart, and bade him prepare toreturn to his own country. 

"Now, " said the queen, "how long think you that you have been here?"

"Certes, fair lady, " answered Thomas, "not above these seven days. "

"You are deceived, " answered the queen; "you have been seven years inthis castle, and it is full time you were gone. Know, Thomas, that thearchfiend will come to this castle to-morrow to demand his tribute, andso handsome a man as you will attract his eye. For all the world would Inot suffer you to be betrayed to such a fate; therefore up, and let us begoing. "

This terrible news reconciled Thomas to his departure from Elfinland; andthe queen was not long in placing him upon Huntly Bank, where the birdswere singing. She took leave of him, and to ensure his reputationbestowed on him the tongue which _could not lie_. Thomas in vainobjected to this inconvenient and involuntary adhesion to veracity, whichwould make him, as he thought, unfit for church or for market, for king'scourt or for lady's bower. But all his remonstrances were disregarded bythe lady; and Thomas the Rhymer, whenever the discourse turned on thefuture, gained the credit of a prophet whether he would or not, for hecould say nothing but what was sure to come to pass. 

Thomas remained several years in his own tower near Ercildoun, andenjoyed the fame of his predictions, several of which are current amongthe country people to this day. At length, as the prophet wasentertaining the Earl of March in his dwelling, a cry of astonishmentarose in the village, on the appearance of a hart and hind, which leftthe forest, and, contrary to their shy nature, came quietly onward, traversing the village towards the dwelling of Thomas. The prophetinstantly rose from the board, and acknowledging the prodigy as thesummons of his fate, he accompanied the hart and hind into the forest, and though occasionally seen by individuals to whom he has chosen to showhimself, he has never again mixed familiarly with mankind. 

FAIRY FRIENDS. 

It is a good thing to befriend the fairies, as the following storiesshow:--

There have been from time immemorial at Hawick, during the two or threelast weeks of the year, markets once a week, for the disposal of sheepfor slaughter, at which the greater number of people, both in the middleand poorer classes of life, have been accustomed to provide themselveswith their _marts_. A poor man from Jedburgh who was on his way toHawick for the purpose of attending one of these markets, as he waspassing over that side of Rubislaw which is nearest the Teviot, wassuddenly alarmed by a frightful and unaccountable noise. The sound, ashe supposed, proceeded from an immense number of female voices, but noobjects whence it could come were visible. Amidst howling and wailingwere mixed shouts of mirth and jollity, but he could gather nothingarticulate except the following words--

"O there's a bairn born, but there's naething to pit on 't. "

The occasion of this elfish concert, it seemed, was the birth of a fairychild, at which the fairies, with the exception of two or three who werediscomposed at having nothing to cover the little innocent with, wereenjoying themselves with that joviality usually characteristic of such anevent. The astonished rustic finding himself amongst a host of invisiblebeings, in a wild moorland place, and far from any human assistance, should assistance be required, full of the greatest consternation, immediately on hearing this expression again and again vociferated, stripped off his plaid, and threw it on the ground. It was instantlysnatched up by an invisible hand, and the wailings immediately ceased, but the shouts of mirth were continued with increased vigour. Being ofopinion that what he had done had satisfied his invisible friends, helost no time in making off, and proceeded on his road to Hawick, musingon his singular adventure. He purchased a sheep, which turned out aremarkably good bargain, and returned to Jedburgh. He had no cause toregret his generosity in bestowing his plaid on the fairies, for everyday afterwards his wealth multiplied, and he continued till the day ofhis death a rich and prosperous man. 

* * * * *

About the beginning of harvest, there having been a want of meal for_shearers_' bread in the farmhouse of Bedrule, a small quantity of barley(being all that was yet ripe) was cut down, and converted into meal. Mrs. Buckham, the farmer's wife, rose early in the morning to bake the bread, and, while she was engaged in baking, a little woman in green costumecame in, and, with much politeness, asked for a loan of a capful of meal. Mrs. Buckham thought it prudent to comply with her request. In a shorttime afterwards the woman in green returned with an equal quantity ofmeal, which Mrs. Buckham put into the _meal-ark_. This meal had such alasting quality, that from it alone the gudewife of Bedrule baked as muchbread as served her own family and the reapers throughout the harvest, and when harvest was over it was not exhausted. 

THE SEAL-CATCHER'S ADVENTURE. 

There was once upon a time a man who lived upon the northern coasts, notfar from "Taigh Jan Crot Callow" (John-o'-Groat's House), and he gainedhis livelihood by catching and killing fish, of all sizes anddenominations. He had a particular liking for the killing of thosewonderful beasts, half dog half fish, called "Roane, " or seals, no doubtbecause he got a long price for their skins, which are not less curiousthan they are valuable. The truth is, that the most of these animals areneither dogs nor cods, but downright fairies, as this narration willshow; and, indeed, it is easy for any man to convince himself of the factby a simple examination of his _tobacco-spluichdan_, for the dead skinsof those beings are never the same for four-and-twenty hours together. Sometimes the _spluichdan_ will erect its bristles almostperpendicularly, while, at other times, it reclines them even down; onetime it resembles a bristly sow, at another time a _sleekit cat_; andwhat dead skin, except itself, could perform such cantrips? Now, ithappened one day, as this notable fisher had returned from theprosecution of his calling, that he was called upon by a man who seemed agreat stranger, and who said he had been despatched for him by a personwho wished to contract for a quantity of seal-skins, and that the fishermust accompany him (the stranger) immediately to see the person whowished to contract for the skins, as it was necessary that he should beserved that evening. Happy in the prospect of making a good bargain, andnever suspecting any duplicity, he instantly complied. They both mounteda steed belonging to the stranger, and took the road with such velocitythat, although the direction of the wind was towards their backs, yet thefleetness of their movement made it appear as if it had been in theirfaces. On reaching a stupendous precipice which overhung the sea, hisguide told him they had now reached their destination. 

"Where is the person you spoke of!" inquired the astonished seal-killer. 

"You shall see that presently, " replied the guide. With that theyimmediately alighted, and, without allowing the seal-killer much time toindulge the frightful suspicions that began to pervade his mind, thestranger seized him with irresistible force, and plunged headlong withhim into the sea. After sinking down, down, nobody knows how far, theyat length reached a door, which, being open, led them into a range ofapartments, filled with inhabitants--not people, but seals, who couldnevertheless speak and feel like human folk; and how much was the seal-killer surprised to find that he himself had been unconsciouslytransformed into the like image. If it were not so, he would probablyhave died from the want of breath. The nature of the poor fisher'sthoughts may be more easily conceived than described. Looking at thenature of the quarters into which he had landed, all hopes of escape fromthem appeared wholly chimerical, whilst the degree of comfort, and lengthof life which the barren scene promised him were far from beingflattering. The "Roane, " who all seemed in very low spirits, appeared tofeel for him, and endeavoured to soothe the distress which he evinced bythe amplest assurances of personal safety. Involved in sad meditation onhis evil fate, he was quickly roused from his stupor by his guide'sproducing a huge gully or joctaleg, the object of which he supposed wasto put an end to all his earthly cares. Forlorn as was his situation, however, he did not wish to be killed; and, apprehending instantdestruction, he fell down, and earnestly implored for mercy. The poorgenerous animals did not mean him any harm, however much his formerconduct deserved it, and he was accordingly desired to pacify himself, and cease his cries. 

"Did you ever see that knife before?" said the stranger to the fisher. 

The latter instantly recognised his own knife, which he had that daystuck into a seal, and with which it had escaped, and acknowledged it wasformerly his own, for what would be the use of denying it?

"Well, " rejoined the guide, "the apparent seal which made away with it ismy father, who has lain dangerously ill ever since, and no means can stayhis fleeting breath without your aid. I have been obliged to resort tothe artifice I have practised to bring you hither, and I trust that myfilial duty to my father will readily excuse me. "

Having said this, he led into another apartment the tremblingseal-killer, who expected every minute to be punished for his own ill-treatment of the father. There he found the identical seal with which hehad had the encounter in the morning, suffering most grievously from atremendous cut in its hind-quarter. The seal-killer was then desired, with his hand, to cicatrise the wound, upon doing which it immediatelyhealed, and the seal arose from its bed in perfect health. Upon this thescene changed from mourning to rejoicing--all was mirth and glee. Verydifferent, however, were the feelings of the unfortunate seal-catcher, who expected no doubt to be metamorphosed into a seal for the remainderof his life. However, his late guide accosting him, said--

"Now, sir, you are at liberty to return to your wife and family, to whomI am about to conduct you; but it is on this express condition, to whichyou must bind yourself by a solemn oath, viz. That you will never maim orkill a seal in all your lifetime hereafter. "

To this condition, hard as it was, he joyfully acceded; and the oathbeing administered in all due form, he bade his new acquaintance mostheartily and sincerely a long farewell. Taking hold of his guide, theyissued from the place and swam up, till they regained the surface of thesea, and, landing at the said stupendous pinnacle, they found theirformer steed ready for a second canter. The guide breathed upon thefisher, and they became like men. They mounted their horse, and fleet ashad been their course towards the precipice, their return from it wasdoubly swift; and the honest seal-killer was laid down at his own door-cheek, where his guide made him such a present as would have almostreconciled him to another similar expedition, such as rendered his lossof profession, in so far as regarded the seals, a far less intolerablehardship than he had at first considered it. 

THE FAIRIES OF MERLIN'S CRAIG. 

Early in the seventeenth century, John Smith, a barn-man at a farm, wassent by his master to cast divots (turf) on the green immediately behindMerlin's Craig. After having laboured for a considerable time, therecame round from the front of the rock a little woman, about eighteeninches in height, clad in a green gown and red stockings, with longyellow hair hanging down to her waist, who asked the astonished operatorhow he would feel were she to send her husband to _tir_ (uncover) hishouse, at the same time commanding him to place every _divot_ he had cast_in statu quo_. John obeyed with fear and trembling, and, returning tohis master, told what had happened. The farmer laughed at his credulity, and, anxious to cure him of such idle superstition, ordered him to take acart and fetch home the _divots_ immediately. 

John obeyed, although with much reluctance. Nothing happened to him inconsequence till that day twelve months, when he left his master's workat the usual hour in the evening, with a small _stoup_ of milk in hishand, but he did not reach home, nor was he ever heard of for years (Ihave forgotten how many), when, upon the anniversary of that unfortunateday, John walked into his house at the usual hour, with the milk-stoup inhis hand. 

The account that he gave of his captivity was that, on the evening ofthat eventful day, returning home from his labour, when passing Merlin'sCraig, he felt himself suddenly taken ill, and sat down to rest a little. Soon after he fell asleep, and awoke, as he supposed, about midnight, when there was a troop of male and female fairies dancing round him. Theyinsisted upon his joining in the sport, and gave him the finest girl inthe company as a partner. She took him by the hand; they danced threetimes round in a fairy ring, after which he became so happy that he feltno inclination to leave his new associates. Their amusements wereprotracted till he heard his master's cock crow, when the whole troopimmediately rushed forward to the front of the craig, hurrying him alongwith them. A door opened to receive them, and he continued a prisoneruntil the evening on which he returned, when the same woman who had firstappeared to him when casting _divots_ came and told him that the grasswas again green on the roof of her house, which he had _tirred_, and ifhe would swear an oath, which she dictated, never to discover what he hadseen in fairyland, he should be at liberty to return to his family. Johntook the oath, and observed it most religiously, although sadly teasedand questioned by his helpmate, particularly about the "bonnie lassie"with whom he danced on the night of his departure. He was also observedto walk a mile out of his way rather than pass Merlin's Craig when thesun was below the horizon. 

On a subsequent occasion the tiny inhabitants of Merlin's Craig surpriseda shepherd when watching his fold at night; he was asleep, and his bonnethad fallen off and rolled to some little distance. He was awakened bythe fairies dancing round him in a circle, and was induced to join them;but recollecting the fate of John Smith, he would not allow his femalecompanion to take hold of his hands. In the midst of their gambols theycame close to the hillock where the shepherd's bonnet lay, --he affectedto stumble, fell upon his bonnet, which he immediately seized, clappingit on his head, when the whole troop instantly vanished. This exorcismwas produced by the talismanic power of a Catechism containing the Lord'sPrayer and the Apostles' Creed, which the shepherd most fortunatelyrecollected was deposited in the crown of his bonnet. 

RORY MACGILLIVRAY. 

Once upon a time a tenant in the neighbourhood of Cairngorm, inStrathspey, emigrated with his family and cattle to the forest ofGlenavon, which is well known to be inhabited by many fairies as well asghosts. Two of his sons being out late one night in search of some oftheir sheep which had strayed, had occasion to pass a fairy turret, ordwelling, of very large dimensions; and what was their astonishment onobserving streams of the most refulgent light shining forth throughinnumerable crevices in the rock--crevices which the sharpest eye in thecountry had never seen before. Curiosity led them towards the turret, when they were charmed by the most exquisite sounds ever emitted by afiddle-string, which, joined to the sportive mirth and glee accompanyingit, reconciled them in a great measure to the scene, although they knewwell enough the inhabitants of the nook were fairies. Nay, overpoweredby the enchanting jigs played by the fiddler, one of the brothers hadeven the hardihood to propose that they should pay the occupants of theturret a short visit. To this motion the other brother, fond as he wasof dancing, and animated as he was by the music, would by no meansconsent, and he earnestly desired his brother to restrain his curiosity. But every new jig that was played, and every new reel that was danced, inspired the adventurous brother with additional ardour, and at length, completely fascinated by the enchanting revelry, leaving all prudencebehind, at one leap he entered the "Shian. " The poor forlorn brother wasnow left in a most uncomfortable situation. His grief for the loss of abrother whom he dearly loved suggested to him more than once thedesperate idea of sharing his fate by following his example. But, on theother hand, when he coolly considered the possibility of sharing verydifferent entertainment from that which rang upon his ears, andremembered, too, the comforts and convenience of his father's fireside, the idea immediately appeared to him anything but prudent. After a longand disagreeable altercation between his affection for his brother andhis regard for himself, he came to the resolution to take a middlecourse, that is, to shout in at the window a few remonstrances to hisbrother, which, if he did not attend to, let the consequences be upon hisown head. Accordingly, taking his station at one of the crevices, andcalling upon his brother three several times by name, as use is, heuttered the most moving pieces of elocution he could think of, imploringhim, as he valued his poor parents' life and blessing, to come forth andgo home with him, Donald Macgillivray, his thrice affectionate andunhappy brother. But whether it was the dancer could not hear thiseloquent harangue, or, what is more probable, that he did not choose toattend to it, certain it is that it proved totally ineffectual toaccomplish its object, and the consequence was that Donald Macgillivrayfound it equally his duty and his interest to return home to his familywith the melancholy tale of poor Rory's fate. All the prescribedceremonies calculated to rescue him from the fairy dominion were resortedto by his mourning relatives without effect, and Rory was supposed lostfor ever, when a "wise man" of the day having learned the circumstance, discovered to his friends a plan by which they might deliver him at theend of twelve months from his entry. 

"Return, " says the _Duin Glichd_ to Donald, "to the place where you lostyour brother a year and a day from the time. You will insert in yourgarment a _Rowan Cross_, which will protect you from the fairies'interposition. Enter the turret boldly and resolutely in the name of theHighest, claim your brother, and, if he does not accompany youvoluntarily, seize him and carry him off by force--none dare interferewith you. "

The experiment appeared to the cautious contemplative brother as one thatwas fraught with no ordinary danger, and he would have most willinglydeclined the prominent character allotted to him in the performance butfor the importunate entreaty of his friends, who implored him, as hevalued their blessing, not to slight such excellent advice. Theirentreaties, together with his confidence in the virtues of the _RowanCross_, overcame his scruples, and he at length agreed to put theexperiment in practice, whatever the result might be. 

Well, then, the important day arrived, when the father of the two sonswas destined either to recover his lost son, or to lose the only son hehad, and, anxious as the father felt, Donald Macgillivray, the intendedadventurer, felt no less so on the occasion. The hour of midnightapproached when the drama was to be acted, and Donald Macgillivray, loaded with all the charms and benedictions in his country, took mournfulleave of his friends, and proceeded to the scene of his intendedenterprise. On approaching the well-known turret, a repetition of thatmirth and those ravishing sounds, that had been the source of so muchsorrow to himself and family, once more attracted his attention, withoutat all creating in his mind any extraordinary feelings of satisfaction. On the contrary, he abhorred the sounds most heartily, and felt muchgreater inclination to recede than to advance. But what was to be done?Courage, character, and everything dear to him were at stake, so that toadvance was his only alternative. In short, he reached the "Shian, " and, after twenty fruitless attempts, he at length entered the place withtrembling footsteps, and amidst the brilliant and jovial scene the notleast gratifying spectacle which presented itself to Donald was hisbrother Rory earnestly engaged at the Highland fling on the floor, atwhich, as might have been expected, he had greatly improved. Withoutlosing much time in satisfying his curiosity by examining the quality ofthe company, Donald ran to his brother, repeating, most vehemently, thewords prescribed to him by the "wise man, " seized him by the collar, andinsisted on his immediately accompanying him home to his poor afflictedparents. Rory assented, provided he would allow him to finish his singlereel, assuring Donald, very earnestly, that he had not been half an hourin the house. In vain did the latter assure him that, instead of half anhour, he had actually remained twelve months. Nor would he have believedhis overjoyed friends when his brother at length got him home, did notthe calves, now grown into stots, and the new-born babes, now travellingthe house, at length convince him that in his single reel he had dancedfor a twelvemonth and a day. 

THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 

 "Though my mind's not Hoodwinked with rustic marvels, I do think There are more things in the grove, the air, the flood, Yea, and the charnelled earth, than what wise man, Who walks so proud as if his form alone Filled the wide temple of the universe, Will let a frail mind say. I'd write i' the creed O' the sagest head alive, that fearful forms, Holy or reprobate, do page men's heels; That shapes, too horrid for our gaze, stand o'er The murderer's dust, and for revenge glare up, Even till the stars weep fire for very pity. "

Along the sea of Solway, romantic on the Scottish side, with itswoodland, its bays, its cliffs, and headlands; and interesting on theEnglish side, with its many beautiful towns with their shadows on thewater, rich pastures, safe harbours, and numerous ships, there stilllinger many traditional stories of a maritime nature, most of themconnected with superstitions singularly wild and unusual. To the curiousthese tales afford a rich fund of entertainment, from the manydiversities of the same story; some dry and barren, and stripped of allthe embellishments of poetry; others dressed out in all the riches of asuperstitious belief and haunted imagination. In this they resemble theinland traditions of the peasants; but many of the oral treasures of theGalwegian or the Cumbrian coast have the stamp of the Dane and theNorseman upon them, and claim but a remote or faint affinity with thelegitimate legends of Caledonia. Something like a rude prosaic outlineof several of the most noted of the northern ballads, the adventures anddepredations of the old ocean kings, still lends life to the eveningtale; and, among others, the story of the Haunted Ships is still popularamong the maritime peasantry. 

One fine harvest evening I went on board the shallop of Richard Faulder, of Allanbay, and, committing ourselves to the waters, we allowed a gentlewind from the east to waft us at its pleasure towards the Scottish coast. We passed the sharp promontory of Siddick, and, skirting the land withina stonecast, glided along the shore till we came within sight of theruined Abbey of Sweetheart. The green mountain of Criffel ascendedbeside us; and the bleat of the flocks from its summit, together with thewinding of the evening horn of the reapers, came softened into somethinglike music over land and sea. We pushed our shallop into a deep andwooded bay, and sat silently looking on the serene beauty of the place. The moon glimmered in her rising through the tall shafts of the pines ofCaerlaverock; and the sky, with scarce a cloud, showered down on wood andheadland and bay the twinkling beams of a thousand stars, rendering everyobject visible. The tide, too, was coming with that swift and silentswell observable when the wind is gentle; the woody curves along the landwere filling with the flood, till it touched the green branches of thedrooping trees; while in the centre current the roll and the plunge of athousand pellocks told to the experienced fisherman that salmon wereabundant. 

As we looked, we saw an old man emerging from a path that wound to theshore through a grove of doddered hazel; he carried a halve-net on hisback, while behind him came a girl, bearing a small harpoon, with whichthe fishers are remarkably dexterous in striking their prey. The seniorseated himself on a large grey stone, which overlooked the bay, laidaside his bonnet, and submitted his bosom and neck to the refreshing seabreeze, and, taking his harpoon from his attendant, sat with the gravityand composure of a spirit of the flood, with his ministering nymph behindhim. We pushed our shallop to the shore, and soon stood at their side. 

"This is old Mark Macmoran the mariner, with his granddaughter Barbara, "said Richard Faulder, in a whisper that had something of fear in it; "heknows every creek and cavern and quicksand in Solway; has seen theSpectre Hound that haunts the Isle of Man; has heard him bark, and atevery bark has seen a ship sink; and he has seen, too, the Haunted Shipsin full sail; and, if all tales be true, he has sailed in themhimself;--he's an awful person. "

Though I perceived in the communication of my friend something of thesuperstition of the sailor, I could not help thinking that common rumourhad made a happy choice in singling out old Mark to maintain herintercourse with the invisible world. His hair, which seemed to haverefused all intercourse with the comb, hung matted upon his shoulders; akind of mantle, or rather blanket, pinned with a wooden skewer round hisneck, fell mid-leg down, concealing all his nether garments as far as apair of hose, darned with yarn of all conceivable colours, and a pair ofshoes, patched and repaired till nothing of the original structureremained, and clasped on his feet with two massy silver buckles. If thedress of the old man was rude and sordid, that of his granddaughter wasgay, and even rich. She wore a bodice of fine wool, wrought round thebosom with alternate leaf and lily, and a kirtle of the same fabric, which, almost touching her white and delicate ankle, showed her snowyfeet, so fairy-light and round that they scarcely seemed to touch thegrass where she stood. Her hair, a natural ornament which woman seeksmuch to improve, was of bright glossy brown, and encumbered rather thanadorned with a snood, set thick with marine productions, among which thesmall clear pearl found in the Solway was conspicuous. Nature had nottrusted to a handsome shape and a sylph-like air for young Barbara'sinfluence over the heart of man, but had bestowed a pair of large brightblue eyes, swimming in liquid light, so full of love and gentleness andjoy, that all the sailors from Annanwater to far Saint Bees acknowledgedtheir power, and sang songs about the bonnie lass of Mark Macmoran. Shestood holding a small gaff-hook of polished steel in her hand, and seemednot dissatisfied with the glances I bestowed on her from time to time, and which I held more than requited by a single glance of those eyeswhich retained so many capricious hearts in subjection. 

The tide, though rapidly augmenting, had not yet filled the bay at ourfeet. The moon now streamed fairly over the tops of Caerlaverock pines, and showed the expanse of ocean dimpling and swelling, on which sloopsand shallops came dancing, and displaying at every turn their extent ofwhite sail against the beam of the moon. I looked on old Mark themariner, who, seated motionless on his grey stone, kept his eye fixed onthe increasing waters with a look of seriousness and sorrow, in which Isaw little of the calculating spirit of a mere fisherman. Though helooked on the coming tide, his eyes seemed to dwell particularly on theblack and decayed hulls of two vessels, which, half immersed in thequicksand, still addressed to every heart a tale of shipwreck anddesolation. The tide wheeled and foamed around them, and, creeping inchby inch up the side, at last fairly threw its waters over the top, and along and hollow eddy showed the resistance which the liquid elementreceived. 

The moment they were fairly buried in the water, the old man clasped hishands together, and said: "Blessed be the tide that will break over andbury ye for ever! Sad to mariners, and sorrowful to maids and mothers, has the time been you have choked up this deep and bonnie bay. For evilwere you sent, and for evil have you continued. Every season finds fromyou its song of sorrow and wail, its funeral processions, and itsshrouded corses. Woe to the land where the wood grew that made ye!Cursed be the axe that hewed ye on the mountains, the hands that joinedye together, the bay that ye first swam in, and the wind that wafted yehere! Seven times have ye put my life in peril, three fair sons have yeswept from my side, and two bonnie grand-bairns; and now, even now, yourwaters foam and flash for my destruction, did I venture my infirm limbsin quest of food in your deadly bay. I see by that ripple and that foam, and hear by the sound and singing of your surge, that ye yearn foranother victim; but it shall not be me nor mine. "

Even as the old mariner addressed himself to the wrecked ships, a youngman appeared at the southern extremity of the bay, holding his halve-netin his hand, and hastening into the current. Mark rose and shouted, andwaved him back from a place which, to a person unacquainted with thedangers of the bay, real and superstitious, seemed sufficiently perilous;his granddaughter, too, added her voice to his, and waved her whitehands; but the more they strove, the faster advanced the peasant, till hestood to his middle in the water, while the tide increased every momentin depth and strength. "Andrew, Andrew, " cried the young woman, in avoice quavering with emotion, "turn, turn, I tell you! O the Ships, theHaunted Ships!" But the appearance of a fine run of fish had moreinfluence with the peasant than the voice of bonnie Barbara, and forwardhe dashed, net in hand. In a moment he was borne off his feet, andmingled like foam with the water, and hurried towards the fatal eddieswhich whirled and roared round the sunken ships. But he was a powerfulyoung man, and an expert swimmer; he seized on one of the projecting ribsof the nearest hulk, and clinging to it with the grasp of despair, uttered yell after yell, sustaining himself against the prodigious rushof the current. 

From a shealing of turf and straw, within the pitch of a bar from thespot where we stood, came out an old woman bent with age, and leaning ona crutch. "I heard the voice of that lad Andrew Lammie; can the chieldbe drowning that he skirls sae uncannily?" said the old woman, seatingherself on the ground, and looking earnestly at the water. "Ou, ay, " shecontinued, "he's doomed, he's doomed; heart and hand can never save him;boats, ropes, and man's strength and wit, all vain! vain!--he's doomed, he's doomed!"

By this time I had thrown myself into the shallop, followed reluctantlyby Richard Faulder, over whose courage and kindness of heart superstitionhad great power, and with one push from the shore, and some exertion insculling, we came within a quoitcast of the unfortunate fisherman. Hestayed not to profit by our aid; for, when he perceived us near, heuttered a piercing shriek of joy, and bounded towards us through theagitated element the full length of an oar. I saw him for a second onthe surface of the water, but the eddying current sucked him down; andall I ever beheld of him again was his hand held above the flood, andclutching in agony at some imaginary aid. I sat gazing in horror on thevacant sea before us; but a breathing-time before, a human being, full ofyouth and strength and hope, was there; his cries were still ringing inmy ears, and echoing in the woods; and now nothing was seen or heard savethe turbulent expanse of water, and the sound of its chafing on theshores. We pushed back our shallop, and resumed our station on the cliffbeside the old mariner and his descendant. 

"Wherefore sought ye to peril your own lives fruitlessly, " said Mark, "inattempting to save the doomed? Whoso touches those infernal ships neversurvives to tell the tale. Woe to the man who is found nigh them atmidnight when the tide has subsided, and they arise in their formerbeauty, with forecastle, and deck, and sail, and pennon, and shroud! Thenis seen the streaming of lights along the water from their cabin windows, and then is heard the sound of mirth and the clamour of tongues, and theinfernal whoop and halloo and song, ringing far and wide. Woe to the manwho comes nigh them!"

To all this my Allanbay companion listened with a breathless attention. Ifelt something touched with a superstition to which I partly believed Ihad seen one victim offered up; and I inquired of the old mariner, "Howand when came these Haunted Ships there? To me they seem but themelancholy relics of some unhappy voyagers, and much more likely to warnpeople to shun destruction than entice and delude them to it. "

"And so, " said the old man with a smile, which had more of sorrow in itthan of mirth; "and so, young man, these black and shattered hulks seemto the eye of the multitude. But things are not what they seem: thatwater, a kind and convenient servant to the wants of man, which seems sosmooth and so dimpling and so gentle, has swallowed up a human soul evennow; and the place which it covers, so fair and so level, is a faithlessquicksand, out of which none escape. Things are otherwise than theyseem. Had you lived as long as I have had the sorrow to live; had youseen the storms, and braved the perils, and endured the distresses whichhave befallen me; had you sat gazing out on the dreary ocean at midnighton a haunted coast; had you seen comrade after comrade, brother afterbrother, and son after son, swept away by the merciless ocean from yourvery side; had you seen the shapes of friends, doomed to the wave and thequicksand, appearing to you in the dreams and visions of the night, thenwould your mind have been prepared for crediting the maritime legends ofmariners; and the two haunted Danish ships would have had their terrorsfor you, as they have for all who sojourn on this coast. 

"Of the time and the cause of their destruction, " continued the old man, "I know nothing certain; they have stood as you have seen them foruncounted time; and while all other ships wrecked on this unhappy coasthave gone to pieces, and rotted and sunk away in a few years, these twohaunted hulks have neither sunk in the quicksand, nor has a single sparor board been displaced. Maritime legend says that two ships of Denmarkhaving had permission, for a time, to work deeds of darkness and dolor onthe deep, were at last condemned to the whirlpool and the sunken rock, and were wrecked in this bonnie bay, as a sign to seamen to be gentle anddevout. The night when they were lost was a harvest evening of uncommonmildness and beauty: the sun had newly set; the moon came brighter andbrighter out; and the reapers, laying their sickles at the root of thestanding corn, stood on rock and bank, looking at the increasingmagnitude of the waters, for sea and land were visible from Saint Bees toBarnhourie. The sails of two vessels were soon seen bent for theScottish coast; and, with a speed outrunning the swiftest ship, theyapproached the dangerous quicksands and headland of Borranpoint. On thedeck of the foremost ship not a living soul was seen, or shape, unlesssomething in darkness and form, resembling a human shadow could be calleda shape, which flitted from extremity to extremity of the ship, with theappearance of trimming the sails, and directing the vessel's course. Butthe decks of its companion were crowded with human shapes; the captainand mate, and sailor and cabin-boy, all seemed there; and from them thesound of mirth and minstrelsy echoed over land and water. The coastwhich they skirted along was one of extreme danger, and the reapersshouted to warn them to beware of sandbank and rock; but of this friendlycounsel no notice was taken, except that a large and famished dog, whichsat on the prow, answered every shout with a long, loud, and melancholyhowl. The deep sandbank of Carsethorn was expected to arrest the careerof these desperate navigators; but they passed, with the celerity ofwater-fowl, over an obstruction which had wrecked many pretty ships. 

"Old men shook their heads and departed, saying, 'We have seen the fiendsailing in a bottomless ship; let us go home and pray;' but one young andwilful man said, 'Fiend! I'll warrant it's nae fiend, but douce JanetWithershins the witch, holding a carouse with some of her Cumberlandcummers, and mickle red wine will be spilt atween them. Dod I wouldgladly have a toothfu'! I'll warrant it's nane o' your cauld sour slae-water like a bottle of Bailie Skrinkie's port, but rightdrap-o'-my-heart's-blood stuff, that would waken a body out of their lastlinen. I wonder where the cummers will anchor their craft?' 'And I'llvow, ' said another rustic, 'the wine they quaff is none of your visionarydrink, such as a drouthie body has dished out to his lips in a dream; noris it shadowy and unsubstantial, like the vessels they sail in, which aremade out of a cockel-shell or a cast-off slipper, or the paring of aseaman's right thumb-nail. I once got a hansel out of a witch's quaighmyself--auld Marion Mathers, of Dustiefoot, whom they tried to bury inthe old kirkyard of Dunscore; but the cummer raise as fast as they laidher down, and naewhere else would she lie but in the bonnie greenkirkyard of Kier, among douce and sponsible fowk. So I'll vow that thewine of a witch's cup is as fell liquor as ever did a kindly turn to apoor man's heart; and be they fiends, or be they witches, if they havered wine asteer, I'll risk a drouket sark for ae glorious tout on't. "

"'Silence, ye sinners, ' said the minister's son of a neighbouring parish, who united in his own person his father's lack of devotion with hismother's love of liquor. 'Whist!--speak as if ye had the fear ofsomething holy before ye. Let the vessels run their own way todestruction: who can stay the eastern wind, and the current of the Solwaysea? I can find ye Scripture warrant for that; so let them try theirstrength on Blawhooly rocks, and their might on the broad quicksand. There's a surf running there would knock the ribs together of a galleybuilt by the imps of the pit, and commanded by the Prince of Darkness. Bonnily and bravely they sail away there, but before the blast blows bythey'll be wrecked; and red wine and strong brandy will be as rife asdyke-water, and we'll drink the health of bonnie Bell Blackness out ofher left-foot slipper. '

"The speech of the young profligate was applauded by several of hiscompanions, and away they flew to the bay of Blawhooly, from whence theynever returned. The two vessels were observed all at once to stop in thebosom of the bay, on the spot where their hulls now appear; the mirth andthe minstrelsy waxed louder than ever, and the forms of maidens, withinstruments of music and wine-cups in their hands, thronged the decks. Aboat was lowered; and the same shadowy pilot who conducted the ships madeit start towards the shore with the rapidity of lightning, and its headknocked against the bank where the four young men stood who longed forthe unblest drink. They leaped in with a laugh, and with a laugh werethey welcomed on deck; wine-cups were given to each, and as they raisedthem to their lips the vessels melted away beneath their feet, and oneloud shriek, mingled with laughter still louder, was heard over land andwater for many miles. Nothing more was heard or seen till the morning, when the crowd who came to the beach saw with fear and wonder the twoHaunted Ships, such as they now seem, masts and tackle gone; nor mark, nor sign, by which their name, country, or destination could be known, was left remaining. Such is the tradition of the mariners; and its truthhas been attested by many families whose sons and whose fathers have beendrowned in the haunted bay of Blawhooly. "

"And trow ye, " said the old woman, who, attracted from her hut by thedrowning cries of the young fisherman, had remained an auditor of themariner's legend, --"And trow ye, Mark Macmoran, that the tale of theHaunted Ships is done? I can say no to that. Mickle have mine earsheard; but more mine eyes have witnessed since I came to dwell in thishumble home by the side of the deep sea. I mind the night weel; it wason Hallowmas Eve; the nuts were cracked, and the apples were eaten, andspell and charm were tried at my fireside; till, wearied with diving intothe dark waves of futurity, the lads and lasses fairly took to the morevisible blessings of kind words, tender clasps, and gentle courtship. Soft words in a maiden's ear, and a kindly kiss o' her lip were old-worldmatters to me, Mark Macmoran; though I mean not to say that I have beenfree of the folly of daunering and daffin with a youth in my day, andkeeping tryst with him in dark and lonely places. However, as I say, these times of enjoyment were passed and gone with me--the mair's thepity that pleasure should fly sae fast away--and as I couldna make sportI thought I should not mar any; so out I sauntered into the fresh coldair, and sat down behind that old oak, and looked abroad on the wide sea. I had my ain sad thoughts, ye may think, at the time: it was in that verybay my blythe good-man perished, with seven more in his company; and onthat very bank where ye see the waves leaping and foaming, I saw sevenstately corses streeked, but the dearest was the eighth. It was a wofulsight to me, a widow, with four bonnie boys, with nought to support thembut these twa hands, and God's blessing, and a cow's grass. I have neverliked to live out of sight of this bay since that time; and mony's themoonlight night I sit looking on these watery mountains and these wasteshores; it does my heart good, whatever it may do to my head. So ye seeit was Hallowmas Night, and looking on sea and land sat I; and my heartwandering to other thoughts soon made me forget my youthful company athame. It might be near the howe hour of the night. The tide was making, and its singing brought strange old-world stories with it, and I thoughton the dangers that sailors endure, the fates they meet with, and thefearful forms they see. My own blythe goodman had seen sights that madehim grave enough at times, though he aye tried to laugh them away. 

"Aweel, atween that very rock aneath us and the coming tide, I saw, orthought I saw--for the tale is so dreamlike that the whole might pass fora vision of the night, --I saw the form of a man; his plaid was grey, hisface was grey; and his hair, which hung low down till it nearly came tothe middle of his back, was as white as the white sea-foam. He began tohowk and dig under the bank; an' God be near me, thought I, this maun bethe unblessed spirit of auld Adam Gowdgowpin the miser, who is doomed todig for shipwrecked treasure, and count how many millions are hidden forever from man's enjoyment. The form found something which in shape andhue seemed a left-foot slipper of brass; so down to the tide he marched, and, placing it on the water, whirled it thrice round, and the infernalslipper dilated at every turn, till it became a bonnie barge with itssails bent, and on board leaped the form, and scudded swiftly away. Hecame to one of the Haunted Ships, and striking it with his oar, a fairship, with mast and canvas and mariners, started up; he touched the otherHaunted Ship, and produced the like transformation; and away the threespectre ships bounded, leaving a track of fire behind them on the billowswhich was long unextinguished. Now wasna that a bonnie and fearful sightto see beneath the light of the Hallowmas moon? But the tale is far fraefinished, for mariners say that once a year, on a certain night, if yestand on the Borran Point, ye will see the infernal shallops comingsnoring through the Solway; ye will hear the same laugh and song andmirth and minstrelsy which our ancestors heard; see them bound over thesandbanks and sunken rocks like sea-gulls, cast their anchor in BlawhoolyBay, while the shadowy figure lowers down the boat, and augments theirnumbers with the four unhappy mortals to whose memory a stone stands inthe kirkyard, with a sinking ship and a shoreless sea cut upon it. Thenthe spectre ships vanish, and the drowning shriek of mortals and therejoicing laugh of fiends are heard, and the old hulls are left as amemorial that the old spiritual kingdom has not departed from the earth. But I maun away, and trim my little cottage fire, and make it burn andblaze up bonnie, to warm the crickets and my cold and crazy bones thatmaun soon be laid aneath the green sod in the eerie kirkyard. " And awaythe old dame tottered to her cottage, secured the door on the inside, andsoon the hearth-flame was seen to glimmer and gleam through the keyholeand window. 

"I'll tell ye what, " said the old mariner, in a subdued tone, and with ashrewd and suspicious glance of his eye after the old sibyl, "it's a wordthat may not very well be uttered, but there are many mistakes made inevening stories if old Moll Moray there, where she lives, knows notmickle more than she is willing to tell of the Haunted Ships and theirunhallowed mariners. She lives cannily and quietly; no one knows how sheis fed or supported; but her dress is aye whole, her cottage ever smokes, and her table lacks neither of wine, white and red, nor of fowl and fish, and white bread and brown. It was a dear scoff to Jock Matheson, when hecalled old Moll the uncanny carline of Blawhooly: his boat ran round andround in the centre of the Solway--everybody said it was enchanted--anddown it went head foremost; and hadna Jock been a swimmer equal to asheldrake, he would have fed the fish. But I'll warrant it sobered thelad's speech; and he never reckoned himself safe till he made old Mollthe present of a new kirtle and a stone of cheese. "

"O father!" said his granddaughter Barbara, "ye surely wrong poor oldMary Moray; what use could it be to an old woman like her, who has nowrongs to redress, no malice to work out against mankind, and nothing toseek of enjoyment save a canny hour and a quiet grave--what use could thefellowship of fiends and the communion of evil spirits be to her? I knowJenny Primrose puts rowan-tree above the door-head when she sees old Marycoming; I know the good-wife of Kittlenaket wears rowan-berry leaves inthe headband of her blue kirtle, and all for the sake of averting theunsonsie glance of Mary's right ee; and I know that the auld Laird ofBurntroutwater drives his seven cows to their pasture with a wand ofwitch-tree, to keep Mary from milking them. But what has all that to dowith haunted shallops, visionary mariners, and bottomless boats? I haveheard myself as pleasant a tale about the Haunted Ships and theirunworldly crews as any one would wish to hear in a winter evening. Itwas told me by young Benjie Macharg, one summer night, sitting onArbigland-bank: the lad intended a sort of love meeting; but all that hecould talk of was about smearing sheep and shearing sheep, and of thewife which the Norway elves of the Haunted Ships made for his uncleSandie Macharg. And I shall tell ye the tale as the honest lad told itto me. 

"Alexander Macharg, besides being the laird of three acres of peatmoss, two kale gardens, and the owner of seven good milch cows, a pair ofhorses, and six pet sheep, was the husband of one of the handsomest womenin seven parishes. Many a lad sighed the day he was brided; and aNithsdale laird and two Annandale moorland farmers drank themselves totheir last linen, as well as their last shilling, through sorrow for herloss. But married was the dame; and home she was carried, to bear ruleover her home and her husband, as an honest woman should. Now ye maunken that though the flesh-and-blood lovers of Alexander's bonnie wife allceased to love and to sue her after she became another's, there werecertain admirers who did not consider their claim at all abated, or theirhopes lessened by the kirk's famous obstacle of matrimony. Ye have heardhow the devout minister of Tinwald had a fair son carried away, andwedded against his liking to an unchristened bride, whom the elves andthe fairies provided; ye have heard how the bonnie bride of the drunkenLaird of Soukitup was stolen by the fairies out at the back-window of thebridal chamber, the time the bridegroom was groping his way to thechamber door; and ye have heard--but why need I multiply cases? Suchthings in the ancient days were as common as candle-light. So ye'll nohinder certain water elves and sea fairies, who sometimes keep festivaland summer mirth in these old haunted hulks, from falling in love withthe weel-faured wife of Laird Macharg; and to their plots andcontrivances they went how they might accomplish to sunder man and wife;and sundering such a man and such a wife was like sundering the greenleaf from the summer, or the fragrance from the flower. 

"So it fell on a time that Laird Macharg took his halve-net on his back, and his steel spear in his hand, and down to Blawhooly Bay gaed he, andinto the water he went right between the two haunted hulks, and placinghis net awaited the coming of the tide. The night, ye maun ken, wasmirk, and the wind lowne, and the singing of the increasing waters amongthe shells and the peebles was heard for sundry miles. All at once lightbegan to glance and twinkle on board the two Haunted Ships from everyhole and seam, and presently the sound as of a hatchet employed insquaring timber echoed far and wide. But if the toil of these unearthlyworkmen amazed the laird, how much more was his amazement increased whena sharp shrill voice called out, 'Ho, brother! what are you doing now?' Avoice still shriller responded from the other haunted ship, 'I'm making awife to Sandie Macharg!' And a loud quavering laugh running from ship toship, and from bank to bank, told the joy they expected from theirlabour. 

"Now the laird, besides being a devout and a God-fearing man, was shrewdand bold; and in plot and contrivance, and skill in conducting hisdesigns, was fairly an overmatch for any dozen land elves; but the waterelves are far more subtle; besides their haunts and their dwellings beingin the great deep, pursuit and detection is hopeless if they succeed incarrying their prey to the waves. But ye shall hear. Home flew thelaird, collected his family around the hearth, spoke of the signs and thesins of the times, and talked of mortification and prayer for avertingcalamity; and, finally, taking his father's Bible, brass clasps, blackprint, and covered with calf-skin, from the shelf, he proceeded withoutlet or stint to perform domestic worship. I should have told ye that hebolted and locked the door, shut up all inlet to the house, threw saltinto the fire, and proceeded in every way like a man skilful in guardingagainst the plots of fairies and fiends. His wife looked on all thiswith wonder; but she saw something in her husband's looks that hinderedher from intruding either question or advice, and a wise woman was she. 

"Near the mid-hour of the night the rush of a horse's feet was heard, andthe sound of a rider leaping from its back, and a heavy knock came to thedoor, accompanied by a voice, saying, 'The cummer drink's hot, and theknave bairn is expected at Laird Laurie's to-night; sae mount, good-wife, and come. '

"'Preserve me!' said the wife of Sandie Macharg, 'that's news indeed; whocould have thought it? The laird has been heirless for seventeen years!Now, Sandie, my man, fetch me my skirt and hood. '

"But he laid his arm round his wife's neck, and said, 'If all the lairdsin Galloway go heirless, over this door threshold shall you not stir to-night; and I have said, and I have sworn it; seek not to know why orwherefore--but, Lord, send us thy blessed mornlight. ' The wife lookedfor a moment in her husband's eyes, and desisted from further entreaty. 

"'But let us send a civil message to the gossips, Sandy; and hadna yebetter say I am sair laid with a sudden sickness? though it's sinful-liketo send the poor messenger a mile agate with a lie in his mouth without aglass of brandy. '

"'To such a messenger, and to those who sent him, no apology is needed, 'said the austere laird; 'so let him depart. ' And the clatter of ahorse's hoofs was heard, and the muttered imprecations of its rider onthe churlish treatment he had experienced. 

"'Now, Sandie, my lad, ' said his wife, laying an arm particularly whiteand round about his neck as she spoke, 'are you not a queer man and astern? I have been your wedded wife now these three years; and, besidemy dower, have brought you three as bonnie bairns as ever smiled aneath asummer sun. O man, you a douce man, and fitter to be an elder than evenWillie Greer himself, I have the minister's ain word for 't, to put onthese hard-hearted looks, and gang waving your arms that way, as if yesaid, "I winna take the counsel of sic a hempie as you;" I'm your ainleal wife, and will and maun have an explanation. '

"To all this Sandie Macharg replied, 'It is written, "Wives, obey yourhusbands"; but we have been stayed in our devotion, so let us pray;' anddown he knelt: his wife knelt also, for she was as devout as bonnie; andbeside them knelt their household, and all lights were extinguished. 

"'Now this beats a', ' muttered his wife to herself; 'however, I shall beobedient for a time; but if I dinna ken what all this is for before themorn by sunket-time, my tongue is nae langer a tongue, nor my hands worthwearing. '

"The voice of her husband in prayer interrupted this mental soliloquy;and ardently did he beseech to be preserved from the wiles of the fiendsand the snares of Satan; from witches, ghosts, goblins, elves, fairies, spunkies, and water-kelpies; from the spectre shallop of Solway; fromspirits visible and invisible; from the Haunted Ships and their unearthlytenants; from maritime spirits that plotted against godly men, and fellin love with their wives--'

"'Nay, but His presence be near us!' said his wife, in a low tone ofdismay. 'God guide my gudeman's wits: I never heard such a prayer fromhuman lips before. But, Sandie, my man, Lord's sake, rise. What fearfullight is this? Barn and byre and stable maun be in a blaze; and Hawkie, and Hurley, Doddie, and Cherrie, and Damsonplum will be smoored withreek, and scorched with flame. '

"And a flood of light, but not so gross as a common fire, which ascendedto heaven and filled all the court before the house, amply justified thegood-wife's suspicions. But to the terrors of fire Sandie was asimmovable as he was to the imaginary groans of the barren wife of LairdLaurie; and he held his wife, and threatened the weight of his righthand--and it was a heavy one--to all who ventured abroad, or evenunbolted the door. The neighing and prancing of horses, and thebellowing of cows, augmented the horrors of the night; and to any one whoonly heard the din, it seemed that the whole onstead was in a blaze, andhorses and cattle perishing in the flame. All wiles, common orextraordinary, were put in practice to entice or force the honest farmerand his wife to open the door; and when the like success attended everynew stratagem, silence for a little while ensued, and a long, loud, andshrilling laugh wound up the dramatic efforts of the night. In themorning, when Laird Macharg went to the door, he found standing againstone of the pilasters a piece of black ship oak, rudely fashioned intosomething like human form, and which skilful people declared would havebeen clothed with seeming flesh and blood, and palmed upon him by elfinadroitness for his wife, had he admitted his visitants. A synod of wisemen and women sat upon the woman of timber, and she was finally orderedto be devoured by fire, and that in the open air. A fire was soon made, and into it the elfin sculpture was tossed from the prongs of two pairsof pitchforks. The blaze that arose was awful to behold; and hissingsand burstings and loud cracklings and strange noises were heard in themidst of the flame; and when the whole sank into ashes, a drinking-cup ofsome precious metal was found; and this cup, fashioned no doubt by elfinskill, but rendered harmless by the purification with fire, the sons anddaughters of Sandie Macharg and his wife drink out of to this very day. Bless all bold men, say I, and obedient wives!"

THE BROWNIE. 

The Scottish Brownie formed a class of being distinct in habit anddisposition from the freakish and mischievous elves. He was meagre, shaggy, and wild in his appearance. Thus Cleland, in his satire againstthe Highlanders, compares them to

 "Faunes, or Brownies, if ye will, Or Satyres come from Atlas Hill. "

In the day-time he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses which hedelighted to haunt, and in the night sedulously employed himself indischarging any laborious task which he thought might be acceptable tothe family to whose service he had devoted himself. But the Brownie doesnot drudge from the hope of recompense. On the contrary, so delicate ishis attachment that the offer of reward, but particularly of food, infallibly occasions his disappearance for ever. It is told of aBrownie, who haunted a border family now extinct, that the lady havingfallen unexpectedly ill, and the servant, who was ordered to ride toJedburgh for the _sage-femme_, showing no great alertness in setting out, the familiar spirit slipped on the greatcoat of the lingering domestic, rode to the town on the laird's best horse, and returned with the midwife_en croupe_. During the short space of his absence, the Tweed, whichthey must necessarily ford, rose to a dangerous height. Brownie, whotransported his charge with all the rapidity of the ghostly lover ofLenore, was not to be stopped by the obstacle. He plunged in with theterrified old lady, and landed her in safety where her services werewanted. Having put the horse into the stable (where it was afterwardsfound in a woful plight), he proceeded to the room of the servant, whoseduty he had discharged, and finding him just in the act of drawing on hisboots, he administered to him a most merciless drubbing with his ownhorsewhip. Such an important service excited the gratitude of the laird, who, understanding that Brownie had been heard to express a wish to havea green coat, ordered a vestment of the colour to be made, and left inhis haunts. Brownie took away the green coat, but was never seen more. We may suppose that, tired of his domestic drudgery, he went in his newlivery to join the fairies. 

The last Brownie known in Ettrick Forest resided in Bodsbeck, a wild andsolitary spot, near the head of Moffat Water, where he exercised hisfunctions undisturbed, till the scrupulous devotion of an old ladyinduced her to "hire him away, " as it was termed, by placing in his haunta porringer of milk and a piece of money. After receiving this hint todepart, he was heard the whole night to howl and cry, "Farewell to bonnieBodsbeck!" which he was compelled to abandon for ever. 

MAUNS' STANE. 

In the latter end of the autumn of 18--, I set out by myself on anexcursion over the northern part of Scotland, and during that time mychief amusement was to observe the little changes of manners, language, etc. , in the different districts. After having viewed on my return theprincipal curiosities in Buchan, I made a little ale-house, or "public, "my head-quarters for the night. Having discussed my supper in solitude, I called up mine host to enable me to discuss my bottle, and to give me astatistical account of the country around me. Seated in the "blue" end, and well supplied with the homely but satisfying luxuries which the placeafforded, I was in an excellent mood for enjoying the communicativenessof my landlord; and, after speaking about the cave of Slaines, the stateof the crops, and the neighbouring franklins, edged him, by degrees, tospeak about the Abbey of Deer, an interesting ruin which I had examinedin the course of the day, formerly the stronghold of the once powerfulfamily of Cummin. 

"It's dootless a bonnie place about the abbey, " said he, "but naethinglike what it was when the great Sir James the Rose came to hide i' theBuchan woods wi' a' the Grahames rampagin' at his tail, whilk you that'sa beuk-learned man 'ill hae read o', an' may be ye'll hae heard o' thesaughen bush where he forgathered wi' his jo; or aiblins ye may have seen't, for it's standing yet just at the corner o' gaukit Jamie Jamieson'speat-stack. Ay, ay, the abbey was a brave place once; but a' thing, yeken, comes till an end. " So saying, he nodded to me, and brought hisglass to an end. 

"This place, then, must have been famed in days of yore, my friend?"

"Ye may tak my word for that, " said he, "'Od, it _was_ a place! Sic asight o' fechtin' as they had about it! But gin ye'll gan up the trap-stair to the laft, an' open Jenny's kist, ye'll see sic a story about it, printed by ane o' your learned Aberdeen's fouk, Maister Keith, I think;she coft it in Aberdeen for twal' pennies, lang ago, an' battered it tothe lid o' her kist. But gang up the stair canny, for fear that youshould wauken her, puir thing; or, bide, I'll just wauken Jamie Fleep, an' gar him help me down wi't, for our stair's no just that canny forthem 't's no acquaint wi't, let alane a frail man wi' your infirmity. "

I assured him that I would neither disturb the young lady's slumber norJamie Fleep's, and begged him to give me as much information as he couldabout this castle. 

"Weel, wishin' your guid health again. --Our minister ance said thatSolomon's Temple was a' in ruins, wi' whin bushes, an' broom and thistlesgrowin' ower the bonnie carved wark an' the cedar wa's, just like our ainabbey. Noo, I judge that the Abbey o' Deer was just the marrow o 't, orthe minister wadna hae said that. But when it was biggit, Lord kens, forI dinna. It was just as you see it, lang afore your honour was born, an'aiblins, as the by-word says, may be sae after ye're hanged. But that'sneither here nor there. The Cummins o' Buchan were a dour and surlyrace; and, for a fearfu' time, nane near han' nor far awa could dingthem, an' yet mony a ane tried it. The fouk on their ain lan' likit themweel enough; but the Crawfords, an' the Grahames, an' the Mars, an' theLovats, were aye trying to comb them against the hair, an' mony a wearykempin' had they wi' them. But some way or ither they could never dingthem; an' fouk said that they gaed and learned the black art frae thePope o' Room, wha, I myself heard the minister say, had aye a colleaguewi' the Auld Chiel. I dinna ken fou it was, in the tail o' the day, thehale country raise up against them, an' besieged them in the Abbey o'Deer. Ye'll see, my frien'" (by this time mine host considered me as oneof his cronies), "tho' we ca' it the abbey, it had naething to do wi'papistry; na, na, no sae bad as a' that either, but just a noble'scastle, where they keepit sodgers gaun about in airn an' scarlet, wi'their swords an' guns, an' begnets, an' sentry-boxes, like the localmilitia in the barracks o' Aberdeen. 

"Weel, ye see, they surrounded the castle, an' lang did they besiege it;but there was a vast o' meat in the castle, an' the Buchan fouk foughtlike the vera deil. They took their horse through a miscellaneouspassage, half a mile long, aneath the hill o' Saplinbrae, an' wateredthem in the burn o' Pulmer. But a' wadna do; they took the castle atlast, and a terrible slaughter they made amo' them; but they were sairdisappointed in ae partic'ler, for Cummin's fouk sank a' their goud an'siller in a draw-wall, an' syne filled it up wi' stanes. They gotnaething in the way of spulzie to speak o'; sae out o' spite they dangdoon the castle, an' it's never been biggit to this day. But the Cumminswere no sae bad as the Lairds o' Federat, after a'. "

"And who were these Federats?" I inquired. 

"The Lairds o' Federat?" said he, moistening his mouth again as apreamble to his oration. "Troth, frae their deeds ane would maist thinkthat they had a drap o' the deil's blude, like the pyets. Gin a' talesbe true, they hae the warmest place at his bink this vera minute. Idinna ken vera muckle about them though, but the auldest fouk said theywere just byous wi' cruelty. Mony a good man did they hing up i' theirha', just for their ain sport; ye'll see the ring to the fore yet in theroof o 't. Did ye never hear o' Mauns' Stane, neebour?"

"Mauns' what?" said I. 

"Ou, Mauns' Stane. But it's no likely. Ye see it was just a queer clumpo' a roun'-about heathen, waghlin' may be twa tons or thereby. It wasnalike ony o' the stanes in our countra, an' it was as roun' as a fit-ba';I'm sure it wad ding Professor Couplan himsel' to tell what way it cam'there. Noo, fouk aye thought there was something uncanny about it, an'some gaed the length o' saying that the deil used to bake ginshbreadupon't; and, as sure as ye're sitting there, frien', there was knuckle-marks upon 't, for my ain father has seen them as aften as I have taesan' fingers. Aweel, ye see, Mauns Crawford, the last o' the Lairds o'Federat, an' the deil had coost out (may be because the laird was just aswicked an' as clever as he was himsel'), an' ye perceive the evil anewantit to play him a trick. Noo, Mauns Crawford was ae day lookin' owerhis castle wa', and he saw a stalwart carle, in black claes, ridin' upthe loanin'. He stopped at this chuckie o' a stane, an' loutin' himsel', he took it up in his arms, and lifted it three times to his saddle-bow, an' syne he rade awa out o' sight, never comin' near the castle, as Maunsthought he would hae done. 'Noo, ' says the baron till himsel', says he, 'I didna think that there was ony ane in a' the land that could haeplayed sic a ploy; but deil fetch me if I dinna lift it as weel as hedid!' Sae aff he gaed, for there wasna sic a man for birr in a' thecountra, an' he kent it as weel, for he never met wi' his match. Weel, he tried, and tugged, and better than tugged at the stane, but he coudnamudge it ava; an' when he looked about, he saw a man at his ilbuck, a'smeared wi' smiddy-coom, snightern an' laughin' at him. The laird d---dhim, an' bade him lift it, whilk he did as gin 't had been a littlepinnin. The laird was like to burst wi' rage at being fickled by sic ahag-ma-hush carle, and he took to the stane in a fury, and lifted it tillhis knee; but the weight o 't amaist ground his banes to smash. He heldthe stane till his een-strings crackit, when he was as blin' as amoudiwort. He was blin' till the day o' his death, --that's to say, ifever he died, for there were queer sayings about it--vera queer! veraqueer! The stane was ca'd Mauns' Stane ever after; an' it was no thoughtthat canny to be near it after gloaming; for what says the Psalm--hem!--Imean the sang--

 'Tween Ennetbutts an' Mauns' Stane Ilka night there walks ane!

"There never was a chief of the family after; the men were scattered, an'the castle demolished. The doo and the hoodie-craw nestle i' theirtowers, and the hare mak's her form on their grassy hearth-stane. "

"Is this stone still to be seen?"

"Ou, na. Ye see, it was just upon Johnie Forbes's craft, an' fouk cam'far an' near to leuk at it, an' trampit down a' the puir cottar-body'scorn; sae he houkit a hole just aside it, and tumbled it intil 't; bythat means naebody sees't noo, but its weel kent that it's there, forthey're livin' yet wha've seen it. "

"But the well at the Abbey--did no one feel a desire to enrich himselfwith the gold and silver buried there?"

"Hoot, ay; mony a ane tried to find out whaur it was, and, for thatmatter, I've may be done as foolish a thing myself; but nane ever made itout. There was a scholar, like yoursel', that gaed ae night down to theAbbey, an', ye see, he summoned up the deil. "

"The deuce he did!" said I. 

"Weel, weel, the deuce, gin ye like it better, " said he. "An' he wasgaun to question him where the treasure was, but he had eneuch to do toget him laid without deaving him wi' questions, for a' the deils cam'about him, like bees biggin' out o' a byke. He never coured the frighthe gat, but cried out, 'Help! help!' till his very enemy wad hae been waeto see him; and sae he cried till he died, which was no that lang after. Fouk sudna meddle wi' sic ploys!"

"Most wonderful! And do you believe that Beelzebub actually appeared tohim?"

"Believe it! What for no?" said he, consequentially tapping the lid ofhis snuff-horn. "Didna my ain father see the evil ane i' the schule o'Auld Deer?"

"Indeed!"

"Weel, I wot he did that. A wheen idle callants, when the dominie wasout at his twal'-hours, read the Lord's Prayer backlans, an' raised him, but couldna lay him again, for he threepit ower them that he wadna gangawa unless he gat ane o' them wi' him. Ye may be sure this put them inan awfu' swither. They were a' squallin' an' crawlin' and sprawlin' amo'the couples to get out o' his grips. Ane o' them gat out an' tauld themaister about it, an' when he cam' down, the melted lead was runnin' affthe roof o' the house wi' the heat, sae, flingin' to the black thief ayoung bit kittlen o' the schule-mistress's, he sank through the floor wi'an awsome roar. I mysel' have heard the mistress misca'in her man aboutoffering up the puir thing, baith saul and body, to Baal. But troth, I'mno clear to speak o' the like o' this at sic a time o' night; sae if yourhonour bena for another jug, I'll e'en wus you a gude-night, for it'swearin' late, an I maun awa' to Skippyfair i' the mornin'. "

I assented to this, and quickly lost in sleep the remembrance of allthese tales of the olden times. 

"HORSE AND HATTOCK. "

The power of the fairies was not confined to unchristened children alone;it was supposed frequently to be extended to full-grown people, especially such as in an unlucky hour were devoted to the devil by theexecrations of parents and of masters; or those who were found asleepunder a rock, or on a green hill, belonging to the fairies, after sunset, or, finally, to those who unwarily joined their orgies. A traditionexisted, during the seventeenth century, concerning an ancestor of thenoble family of Duffers, who, "walking abroad in the fields near to hisown house, was suddenly carried away, and found the next day at Paris, inthe French king's cellar, with a silver cup in his hand. Being broughtinto the king's presence, and questioned by him who he was, and how hecame thither, he told his name, his country, and the place of hisresidence, and that on such a day of the month, which proved to be theday immediately preceding, being in the fields, he heard a noise of awhirlwind, and of voices crying 'Horse and hattock!' (this is the wordwhich the fairies are said to use when they remove from any place), whereupon he cried 'Horse and hattock!' also, and was immediately caughtup and transported through the air by the fairies to that place, where, after he had drunk heartily, he fell asleep, and before he woke the restof the company were gone, and had left him in the posture wherein he wasfound. It is said the king gave him a cup which was found in his hand, and dismissed him. " The narrator affirms "that the cup was stillpreserved, and known by the name of the fairy cup. " He adds that Mr. Steward, tutor to the then Lord Duffers, had informed him that, "when aboy at the school of Forres, he and his school-fellows were once upon atime whipping their tops in the churchyard, before the door of thechurch, when, though the day was calm, they heard a noise of a wind, andat some distance saw the small dust begin to rise and turn round, whichmotion continued advancing till it came to the place where they were, whereupon they began to bless themselves; but one of their number being, it seems, a little more bold and confident than his companion, said, 'Horse and hattock with my top!' and immediately they all saw the toplifted up from the ground, but could not see which way it was carried, byreason of a cloud of dust which was raised at the same time. They soughtfor the top all about the place where it was taken up, but in vain; andit was found afterwards in the churchyard, on the other side of thechurch. " This legend is contained in a letter from a learned gentlemanin Scotland to Mr. Aubrey, dated 15th March 1695, published in _Aubrey'sMiscellanies_. 

SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 

_By_ MR. ROBERT KIRK, _Minister of Aberfoyle_, 1691. 

The Siths, or Fairies, they call _Sluagh Maith_, or the Goodpeople, itwould seem, to prevent the dint of their ill attempts (for the Irish usedto bless all they fear harm of), and are said to be of a middle naturebetwixt man and angel, as were demons thought to be of old, ofintelligent studious spirits, and light changeable bodies (like thosecalled astral), somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud, and bestseen in twilight. These bodies be so pliable through the subtlety of thespirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear atpleasure. Some have bodies or vehicles so spongeous, thin, and defecat[pure] that they are fed by only sucking into some fine spirituousliquors, that pierce like pure air and oil; others feed more gross on thefoyson [abundance] or substance of corn and liquors, or corn itself thatgrows on the surface of the earth, which these fairies steal away, partlyinvisible, partly preying on the grain, as do crows and mice; whereforein this same age they are sometimes heard to break bread, strike hammers, and to do such like services within the little hillocks they most dohaunt; some whereof of old, before the Gospel dispelled Paganism, and insome barbarous places as yet, enter houses after all are at rest, and setthe kitchens in order, cleansing all the vessels. Such drags go underthe name of Brownies. When we have plenty, they have scarcity at theirhomes; and, on the contrary (for they are not empowered to catch as muchprey everywhere as they please), their robberies, notwithstanding, ofttimes occasion great ricks of corn not to bleed so well (as they callit), or prove so copious by very far as was expected by the owner. 

Their bodies of congealed air are sometimes carried aloft, other whilesgrovel in different shapes, and enter into any cranny or clift of theearth where air enters, to their ordinary dwellings; the earth being fullof cavities and cells, and there being no place, no creature, but issupposed to have other animals (greater or lesser) living in or upon itas inhabitants; and no such thing as a pure wilderness in the wholeuniverse. 

We then (the more terrestrial kind have now so numerously planted allcountries) do labour for that abstruse people, as well as for ourselves. Albeit, when several countries were uninhabited by us, these had theireasy tillage above ground, as we now. The print of those furrows do yetremain to be seen on the shoulders of very high hills, which was donewhen the campaign ground was wood and forest. 

They remove to other lodgings at the beginning of each quarter of theyear, so traversing till doomsday, being impotent of staying in oneplace, and finding some ease by so purning [journeying] and changinghabitations. Their chameleon-like bodies swim in the air near the earthwith bag and baggage; and at such revolution of time, seers, or men ofthe second sight (females being seldom so qualified) have very terrifyingencounters with them, even on highways; who, therefore, awfully shun totravel abroad at these four seasons of the year, and thereby have made ita custom to this day among the Scottish-Irish to keep church duly everyfirst Sunday of the quarter to _seun_ or hallow themselves, their cornand cattle, from the shots and stealth of these wandering tribes; andmany of these superstitious people will not be seen in church again tillthe next quarter begins, as if no duty were to be learnt or done by them, but all the use of worship and sermons were to save them from thesearrows that fly in the dark. 

They are distributed in tribes and orders, and have children, nurses, marriages, deaths, and burials in appearance, even as we (unless they sodo for a mock-show, or to prognosticate some such things among us). 

They are clearly seen by these men of the second sight to eat at funerals[and] banquets. Hence many of the Scottish-Irish will not taste meat atthese meetings, lest they have communion with, or be poisoned by, them. So are they seen to carry the bier or coffin with the corpse among themiddle-earth men to the grave. Some men of that exalted sight (whetherby art or nature) have told me they have seen at these meetings a doubleman, or the shape of some man in two places; that is a super-terraneanand a subterranean inhabitant, perfectly resembling one another in allpoints, whom he, notwithstanding, could easily distinguish one fromanother by some secret tokens and operations, and so go and speak to theman, his neighbour and familiar, passing by the apparition or resemblanceof him. They avouch that every element and different state of being hasanimals resembling those of another element; as there be fishes sometimesat sea resembling monks of late order in all their hoods and dresses; soas the Roman invention of good and bad demons, and guardian angelsparticularly assigned, is called by them an ignorant mistake, sprung onlyfrom this original. They call this reflex man a co-walker, every waylike the man, as a twin brother and companion, haunting him as hisshadow, as is oft seen and known among men (resembling the original), both before and after the original is dead; and was often seen of old toenter a house, by which the people knew that the person of that likenesswas to visit them within a few days. This copy, echo, or living picture, goes at last to his own herd. It accompanied that person so long andfrequently for ends best known to itself, whether to guard him from thesecret assaults of some of its own folk, or only as a sportful ape tocounterfeit all his actions. However, the stories of old witches provebeyond contradiction that all sorts of people, spirits which assume lightairy bodies, or crazed bodies coacted by foreign spirits, seem to havesome pleasure (at least to assuage some pain or melancholy) by friskingand capering like satyrs, or whistling and screeching (like unluckybirds) in their unhallowed synagogues and Sabbaths. If invited andearnestly required, these companions make themselves known and familiarto men; otherwise, being in a different state and element, they neithercan nor will easily converse with them. They avouch that a _heluo_ orgreat eater has a voracious elve to be his attender, called a joint-eateror just-halver, feeding on the pith and quintessence of what the maneats; and that, therefore, he continues lean like a hawk or heron, notwithstanding his devouring appetite; yet it would seem they conveythat substance elsewhere, for these subterraneans eat but little in theirdwellings, their food being exactly clean, and served up by pleasantchildren, like enchanted puppets. 

Their houses are called large and fair, and (unless at some oddoccasions) unperceivable by vulgar eyes, like Rachland and otherenchanted islands, having fir lights, continual lamps, and fires, oftenseen without fuel to sustain them. Women are yet alive who tell theywere taken away when in childbed to nurse fairy children, a lingeringvoracious image of them being left in their place (like their reflectionin a mirror), which (as if it were some insatiable spirit in an assumedbody) made first semblance to devour the meats that it cunningly carriedby, and then left the carcass as if it expired and departed thence by anatural and common death. The child and fire, with food and all othernecessaries, are set before the nurse how soon she enters, but sheneither perceives any passage out, nor sees what those people do in otherrooms of the lodging. When the child is weaned, the nurse dies, or isconveyed back, or gets it to her choice to stay there. But if anysuperterraneans be so subtle as to practise sleights for procuring theprivacy to any of their mysteries (such as making use of their ointments, which, as Gyges' ring, make them invisible or nimble, or cast them in atrance, or alter their shape, or make things appear at a vast distance, etc. ), they smite them without pain, as with a puff of wind, and bereavethem of both the natural and acquired sights in the twinkling of an eye(both these sights, when once they come, being in the same organ andinseparable), or they strike them dumb. The tramontanes to this dayplace bread, the Bible, or a piece of iron, to save their women at suchtimes from being thus stolen, and they commonly report that all uncouth, unknown wights are terrified by nothing earthly so much as cold iron. They deliver the reason to be that hell lying betwixt the chill tempestsand the firebrands of scalding metals, and iron of the north (hence theloadstone causes a tendency to that point), by an antipathy thereto, these odious, far-scenting creatures shrug and fright at all that comesthence relating to so abhorred a place, whence their torment is eitherbegun, or feared to come hereafter. 

Their apparel and speech is like that of the people and country underwhich they live; so are they seen to wear plaids and variegated garmentsin the Highlands of Scotland, and suanachs [plaids] therefore in Ireland. They speak but little, and that by way of whistling, clear, not rough. The very devils conjured in any country do answer in the language of theplace; yet sometimes the subterraneans speak more distinctly than atother times. Their women are said to spin very fine, to dye, to tossue, and embroider; but whether it be as manual operation of substantialrefined stuffs, with apt and solid instruments, or only curious cobwebs, unpalpable rainbows, and a phantastic imitation of the actions of moreterrestrial mortals, since it transcended all the senses of the seer todiscern whether, I leave to conjecture as I found it. 

Their men travel much abroad, either presaging or aping the dismal andtragical actions of some amongst us; and have also many disastrous doingsof their own, as convocations, fighting, gashes, wounds, and burials, both in the earth and air. They live much longer than we; yet die atlast, or [at] least vanish from that state. 'Tis one of their tenetsthat nothing perisheth, but (as the sun and year) everything goes in acircle, lesser or greater, and is renewed and refreshed in itsrevolutions; as 'tis another, that every body in the creation moves(which is a sort of life); and that nothing moves but has another animalmoving on it; and so on, to the utmost minutest corpuscle that's capableof being a receptacle of life. 

They are said to have aristocratical rulers and laws, but no discerniblereligion, love, or devotion towards God, the blessed Maker of all: theydisappear whenever they hear His name invoked, or the name of Jesus (atwhich all do bow willingly, or by constraint, that dwell above orbeneath, within the earth), (Philip, ii. 10); nor can they act ought atthat time after hearing of that sacred name. The Taiblsdear or seer, that corresponds with this kind of familiars, can bring them with a spellto appear to himself or others when he pleases, as readily as Endor Witchdid those of her own kind. He tells they are ever readiest to go onhurtful errands, but seldom will be the messengers of great good to men. He is not terrified with their sight when he calls them, but seeing themin a surprise (as often as he does) frights him extremely, and glad wouldhe be quit of such, for the hideous spectacles seen among them; as thetorturing of some wight, earnest, ghostly, staring looks, skirmishes, andthe like. They do not all the harm which appearingly they have power todo; nor are they perceived to be in great pain, save that they areusually silent and sullen. They are said to have many pleasant toyishbooks; but the operation of these pieces only appears in some paroxysmsof antic, corybantic jollity, as if ravished and prompted by a new spiritentering into them at that instant, lighter and merrier than their own. Other books they have of involved, abstruse sense, much like theRosurcian [Rosicrucian] style. They have nothing of the Bible, savecollected parcels for charms and counter-charms; not to defend themselveswithal, but to operate on other animals, for they are a peopleinvulnerable by our weapons, and albeit werewolves' and witches' truebodies are (by the union of the spirit of nature that runs through allechoing and doubling the blow towards another) wounded at home, when theastral assumed bodies are stricken elsewhere--as the strings of a secondharp, tuned to a unison, sound, though only one be struck, --yet thesepeople have not a second, or so gross a body at all, to be so pierced;but as air which when divided unites again; or if they feel pain by ablow, they are better physicians than we, and quickly cure. They are notsubject to sore sicknesses, but dwindle and decay at a certain period, all about an age. Some say their continual sadness is because of theirpendulous state (like those men, Luke xiii. 2-6), as uncertain what atthe last revolution will become of them, when they are locked up into anunchangeable condition; and if they have any frolic fits of mirth, 'tisas the constrained grinning of a mort-head [death's-head], or rather asacted on a stage, and moved by another, ther [than?] cordially coming ofthemselves. But other men of the second sight, being illiterate, andunwary in their observations, learn from [differ from] those; oneaverring those subterranean people to be departed souls, attending awhile in this inferior state, and clothed with bodies procured throughtheir alms-deeds in this life; fluid, active, ethereal vehicles to holdthem that they may not scatter nor wander, and be lost in the totum, ortheir first nothing; but if any were so impious as to have given no alms, they say, when the souls of such do depart, they sleep in an inactivestate till they resume the terrestrial bodies again; others, that whatthe low-country Scotch call a wraith, and the Irish _taibhse_, or death'smessenger (appearing sometimes as a little rough dog, and if crossed andconjured in time, will be pacified by the death of any other creatureinstead of the sick man), is only exuvious fumes of the man approachingdeath, exhaled and congealed into a various likeness (as ships and armiesare sometimes shaped in the air), and called astral bodies, agitated aswild-fire with wind, and are neither souls nor counterfeiting spirits;yet not a few avouch (as is said) that surely these are a numerous peopleby themselves, having their own politics, which diversities of judgmentmay occasion several inconsonancies in this rehearsal, after thenarrowest scrutiny made about it. 

Their weapons are most-what solid earthly bodies, nothing of iron, butmuch of stone, like to yellow soft flint spa, shaped like a barbedarrowhead, but flung like a dart, with great force. These arms (cut byart and tools, it seems, beyond human) have somewhat of the nature ofthunderbolt subtlety, and mortally wounding the vital parts withoutbreaking the skin; of which wounds I have observed in beasts, and feltthem with my hands. They are not as infallible Benjamites, hitting at ahair's-breadth; nor are they wholly unvanquishable, at least inappearance. 

The men of the second sight do not discover strange things when asked, but at fits and raptures, as if inspired with some genius at thatinstant, which before did work in or about them. Thus I have frequentlyspoken to one of them, who in his transport told me he cut the body ofone of those people in two with his iron weapon, and so escaped thisonset, yet he saw nothing left behind of that appearing divided; at othertimes he outwrested [wrestled?] some of them. His neighbours oftenperceived this man to disappear at a certain place, and about an hourafter to become visible, and discover himself near a bow-shot from thefirst place. It was in that place where he became invisible, said he, that the subterraneans did encounter and combat with him. Those who are_unseund_, or unsanctified (called fey), are said to be pierced orwounded with those people's weapons, which makes them do somewhat veryunlike their former practice, causing a sudden alteration, yet the causethereof unperceivable at present; nor have they power (either they cannotmake use of their natural powers, or asked not the heavenly aid) toescape the blow impendent. A man of the second sight perceived a personstanding by him (sound to other's view) wholly gored in blood, and he(amazed like) bid him instantly flee. The whole man laughed at his_airt_ [notice] and warning, since there was no appearance of danger. Hehad scarce contracted his lips from laughter when unexpectedly hisenemies leaped in at his side and stabbed him with their weapons. Theyalso pierce cows or other animals, usually said to be Elf-shot, whosepurest substance (if they die) these subterraneans take to live on, viz. The aerial and ethereal parts, the most spirituous matter for prolongingof life, such as aquavitae (moderately taken) is amongst liquors, leavingthe terrestrial behind. The cure of such hurts is only for a man to findout the hole with his finger, as if the spirits flowing from a man's warmhand were antidote sufficient against their poisoned darts. 

As birds, as beasts, whose bodies are much used to the change of the freeand open air, foresee storms, so those invisible people are moresagacious to understand by the books of nature things to come, than we, who are pestered with the grossest dregs of all elementary mixtures, andhave our purer spirits choked by them. The deer scents out a man andpowder (though a late invention) at a great distance; a hungry hunter, bread; and the raven, a carrion; their brains, being long clarified bythe high and subtle air, will observe a very small change in a trice. Thus a man of the second sight, perceiving the operations of theseforecasting invisible people among us (indulged through a stupendousprovidence to give warnings of some remarkable events, either in the air, earth, or waters), told he saw a winding shroud creeping on a walkinghealthful person's leg till it came to the knee, and afterwards it cameup to the middle, then to the shoulders, and at last over the head, whichwas visible to no other person. And by observing the spaces of timebetwixt the several stages, he easily guessed how long the man was tolive who wore the shroud; for when it approached the head, he told thatsuch a person was ripe for the grave. 

There be many places called fairy-hills, which the mountain people thinkimpious and dangerous to peel or discover, by taking earth or wood fromthem, superstitiously believing the souls of their predecessors to dwellthere. And for that end (say they) a mole or mound was dedicate besideevery churchyard to receive the souls till their adjacent bodies arise, and so became as a fairy-hill; they using bodies of air when calledabroad. They also affirm those creatures that move invisibly in a house, and cast huge great stones, but do no much hurt, because counter-wroughtby some more courteous and charitable spirits that are everywhere readyto defend men (Dan. X. 13), to be souls that have not attained theirrest, through a vehement desire of revealing a murder or notable injurydone or received, or a treasure that was forgot in their lifetime onearth, which, when disclosed to a conjuror alone, the ghost quiteremoves. 

In the next country to that of my former residence, about the year 1676, when there was some scarcity of grain, a marvellous illapse and visionstrongly struck the imagination of two women in one night, living at agood distance from one another, about a treasure hid in a hill called_Sith-bruthach_, or fairy-hill. The appearance of a treasure was firstrepresented to the fancy, and then an audible voice named the place whereit was to their awaking senses. Whereupon both rose, and meetingaccidentally at the place, discovered their design; and jointly digging, found a vessel as large as a Scottish peck full of small pieces of goodmoney, of ancient coin; and halving betwixt them, they sold in dishfulsfor dishfuls of meal to the country people. Very many of undoubtedcredit saw and had of the coin to this day. But whether it was a good orbad angel, one of the subterranean people, or the restless soul of himwho hid it, that discovered it, and to what end it was done, I leave tothe examination of others. 

These subterraneans have controversies, doubts, disputes, feuds, andsiding of parties; there being some ignorance in all creatures, and thevastest created intelligences not compassing all things. As to vice andsin, whatever their own laws be, sure according to ours, and equity, natural, civil, and revealed, they transgress and commit acts ofinjustice and sin by what is above said, as to their stealing of nursesto their children, and that other sort of plaginism in catching ourchildren away (may seem to heir some estate in those invisible dominions)which never return. For swearing and intemperance, they are not observedso subject to those irregularities, as to envy, spite, hypocrisy, lying, and dissimulation. 

As our religion obliges us not to make a peremptory and curious searchinto these abstrusenesses, so the histories of all ages give as manyplain examples of extraordinary occurrences as make a modest inquiry notcontemptible. How much is written of pigmies, fairies, nymphs, syrens, apparitions, which though not the tenth part true, yet could not springof nothing; even English authors relate [of] Barry Island, inGlamorganshire, that laying your ear into a cleft of the rocks, blowingof bellows, striking of hammers, clashing of armour, filing of iron, willbe heard distinctly ever since Merlin enchanted those subterranean wightsto a solid manual forging of arms to Aurelius Ambrosius and his Britons, till he returned; which Merlin being killed in a battle, and not comingto loose the knot, these active vulcans are there tied to a perpetuallabour. 

THE FAIRY BOY OF LEITH. 

"About fifteen years since, having business that detained me for sometime at Leith, which is near Edinburgh, in the kingdom of Scotland, Ioften met some of my acquaintance at a certain house there, where we usedto drink a glass of wine for our refection. The woman which kept thehouse was of honest reputation among the neighbours, which made me givethe more attention to what she told me one day about a fairy boy (as theycalled him) who lived about that town. She had given me so strange anaccount of him, that I desired her I might see him the first opportunity, which she promised; and not long after, passing that way, she told methere was the fairy boy, but a little before I came by; and, casting hereye into the street, said, 'Look you, sir, yonder he is, at play withthose other boys'; and pointing him out to me, I went, and by smoothwords, and a piece of money, got him to come into the house with me;where, in the presence of divers people, I demanded of him severalastrological questions, which he answered with great subtlety; and, through all his discourse, carried it with a cunning much above hisyears, which seemed not to exceed ten or eleven. 

"He seemed to make a motion like drumming upon the table with hisfingers, upon which I asked him whether he could beat a drum? To whichhe replied, 'Yes, sir, as well as any man in Scotland; for every Thursdaynight I beat all points to a sort of people that used to meet underyonder hill' (pointing to the great hill between Edinburgh and Leith). 'How, boy?' quoth I, 'what company have you there?' 'There are, sir, 'said he, 'a great company both of men and women, and they are entertainedwith many sorts of music besides my drum; they have, besides, plenty ofvariety of meats and wine, and many times we are carried into France orHolland in the night, and return again, and whilst we are there, we enjoyall the pleasures the country doth afford. ' I demanded of him how theygot under that hill? To which he replied that there was a great pair ofgates that opened to them, though they were invisible to others, and thatwithin there were brave large rooms, as well accommodated as most inScotland. I then asked him how I should know what he said to be true?Upon which he told me he would read my fortune, saying, I should have twowives, and that he saw the forms of them over my shoulders; and bothwould be very handsome women. 

"The woman of the house told me that all the people in Scotland could notkeep him from the rendezvous on Thursday night; upon which, by promisinghim some more money, I got a promise of him to meet me at the same placein the afternoon, the Thursday following, and so dismissed him at thattime. The boy came again at the place and time appointed, and I hadprevailed with some friends to continue with me (if possible) to preventhis moving that night. He was placed between us, and answered manyquestions, until, about eleven of the clock, he was got away unperceivedby the company; but I, suddenly missing him, hastened to the door, andtook hold of him, and so returned him into the same room. We all watchedhim, and, of a sudden, he was again got out of doors; I followed himclose, and he made a noise in the street, as if he had been set upon, andfrom that time I could never see him. "

THE DRACAE. 

These are a sort of water-spirits who inveigle women and children intothe recesses which they inhabit, beneath lakes and rivers, by floatingpast them, on the surface of the water, in the shape of gold rings orcups. The women thus seized are employed as nurses, and after sevenyears are permitted to revisit earth. Gervase mentions one woman inparticular who had been allured by observing a wooden dish, or cup, floatby her, while she was washing clothes in the river. Being seized as soonas she reached the depths, she was conducted into one of the subterraneanrecesses, which she described as very magnificent, and employed as nurseto one of the brood of the hag who had allured her. During her residencein this capacity, having accidentally touched one of her eyes with anointment of serpent's grease, she perceived, at her return to the world, that she had acquired the faculty of seeing the _Dracae_, when theyintermingle themselves with men. Of this power she was, however, deprived by the touch of her ghostly mistress, whom she had one dayincautiously addressed. It is a curious fact that this story, in almostall its parts, is current in both the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, with no other variation than the substitution of Fairies for Dracae, andthe cavern of a hill for that of a river. Indeed many of the vulgaraccount it extremely dangerous to touch anything which they may happen tofind without saining (blessing) it, the snares of the enemy beingnotorious and well-attested. A pool-woman of Teviotdale having beenfortunate enough, as she thought herself, to find a wooden beetle, at thevery time when she needed such an implement, seized it withoutpronouncing a proper blessing, and, carrying it home, laid it above herbed to be ready for employment in the morning. At midnight the window ofher cottage opened, and a loud voice was heard calling up some one withinby a strange and uncouth name. The terrified cottager ejaculated aprayer, which, we may suppose, ensured her personal safety; while theenchanted implement of housewifery, tumbling from the bedstead, departedby the window with no small noise and precipitation. In a humorousfugitive tract, Dr. Johnson has been introduced as disputing theauthenticity of an apparition, merely because the spirit assumed theshape of a teapot and a shoulder of mutton. No doubt, a case so much inpoint as that we have now quoted would have removed his incredulity. 

A SUCCINCT ACCOUNTOFMY LORD TARBAT'S RELATIONS, IN A LETTER TO THE HONORABLE ROBERT BOYLE, ESQUIRE, OF THE PREDICTIONS MADE BYSEERS, WHEREOF HIMSELF WAS EAR-AND EYE-WITNESS. 

Sir, --I heard very much, but believed very little of the second sight;yet its being assumed by several of great veracity, I was induced to makeinquiry after it in the year 1652, being then confined in the north ofScotland by the English usurpers. The more general accounts of it werethat many Highlanders, yet far more Islanders, were qualified with thissecond sight; and men, women, and children, indistinctly, were subject toit, and children where parents were not. Sometimes people came to agewho had it not when young, nor could any tell by what means produced. Itis a trouble to most of them who are subject to it, and they would be ridof it at any rate if they could. The sight is of no long duration, onlycontinuing so long as they can keep their eyes steady without twinkling. The hardy, therefore, fix their look that they may see the longer; butthe timorous see only glances--their eyes always twinkle at the firstsight of the object. That which generally is seen by them are thespecies of living creatures, and of inanimate things, which be in motion, such as ships, and habits upon persons. They never see the species ofany person who is already dead. What they foresee fails not to exist inthe mode, and in that place where it appears to them. They cannot wellknow what space of time shall intervene between the apparition and thereal existence. But some of the hardiest and longest experience havesome rules for conjectures; as, if they see a man with a shrouding sheetin the apparition, they will conjecture at the nearness or remoteness ofhis death by the more or less of his body that is covered by it. Theywill ordinarily see their absent friends, though at a great distance, sometimes no less than from America to Scotland, sitting, standing, orwalking in some certain place; and then they conclude with an assurancethat they will see them so, and there. If a man be in love with a woman, they will ordinarily see the species of that man standing by her, and solikewise if a woman be in love. If they see the species of any personwho is sick to die, they see them covered over with the shrouding sheet. 

These generals I had verified to me by such of them as did see, and wereesteemed honest and sober by all the neighbourhood; for I inquired aftersuch for my information. And because there were more of these seers inthe isles of Lewis, Harris, and Uist than in any other place, I didentreat Sir James M'Donald (who is now dead), Sir Normand M'Loud, and Mr. Daniel Morison, a very honest person (who are still alive), to makeinquiry in this uncouth sight, and to acquaint me therewith; which theydid, and all found an agreement in these generals, and informed me ofmany instances confirming what they said. But though men of discretionand honour, being but at second-hand, I will choose rather to put myselfthan my friends on the hazard of being laughed at for incrediblerelations. 

I was once travelling in the Highlands, and a good number of servantswith me, as is usual there; and one of them, going a little before me, entering into a house where I was to stay all night, and going hastily tothe door, he suddenly slipped back with a screech, and did fall by astone, which hit his foot. I asked what the matter was, for he seemed tobe very much frighted. He told me very seriously that I should not lodgein that house, because shortly a dead coffin would be carried out of it, for many were carrying of it when he was heard cry. I, neglecting hiswords, and staying there, he said to other of his servants he was sorryfor it, and that surely what he saw would shortly come to pass. Thoughno sick person was then there, yet the landlord, a healthy Highlander, died of an apoplectic fit before I left the house. 

In the year 1653 Alexander Monro (afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel to theEarl of Dumbarton's regiment) and I were walking in a place calledUllapool, in Loch Broom, on a little plain at the foot of a rugged hill. There was a servant walking with a spade in the walk before us; his backwas to us, and his face to the hill. Before we came to him he let thespade fall, and looked toward the hill. He took notice of us as wepassed near by him, which made me look at him, and perceiving him tostare a little strangely I conjectured him to be a seer. I called athim, at which he started and smiled. "What are you doing?" said I. Heanswered, "I have seen a very strange thing: an army of Englishmen, leading of horses, coming down that hill; and a number of them are comingdown to the plain, and eating the barley which is growing in the fieldnear to the hill. " This was on the 4th May (for I noted the day), and itwas four or five days before the barley was sown in the field he spokeof. Alexander Monro asked him how he knew they were Englishmen. He saidbecause they were leading of horses, and had on hats and boots, which heknew no Scotchman would have there. We took little notice of the wholestory as other than a foolish vision, but wished that an English partywere there, we being then at war with them, and the place almostinaccessible for horsemen. But in the beginning of August thereafter, the Earl of Middleton (then Lieutenant for the King in the Highlands), having occasion to march a party of his towards the South Highlands, hesent his Foot through a place called Inverlawell; and the fore-party, which was first down the hill, did fall off eating the barley which wason the little plain under it. And Monro calling to mind what the seertold us in May preceding, he wrote of it, and sent an express to me toLochslin, in Ross (where I then was), with it. 

I had occasion once to be in company where a young lady was (excuse mynot naming of persons), and I was told there was a notable seer in thecompany. I called him to speak with me, as I did ordinarily when I foundany of them; and after he had answered me several questions, I asked ifhe knew any person to be in love with that lady. He said he did, but heknew not the person; for, during the two days he had been in her company, he perceived one standing near her, and his head leaning on her shoulder, which he said did foretell that the man should marry her, and die beforeher, according to his observation. This was in the year 1655. I desiredhim to describe the person, which he did, so that I could conjecture, bythe description, of such a one, who was of that lady's acquaintance, though there were no thoughts of their marriage till two yearsthereafter. And having occasion in the year 1657 to find this seer, whowas an islander, in company with the other person whom I conjectured tohave been described by him, I called him aside, and asked if that was theperson he saw beside the lady near two years then past. He said it washe indeed, for he had seen that lady just then standing by him hand inhand. This was some few months before their marriage, and that man isnow dead, and the lady alive. 

I shall trouble you but with one more, which I thought most remarkable ofany that occurred to me. 

In January 1652, the above-mentioned Lieutenant, Colonel Alex. Monro, andI, happened to be in the house of one William M'Clend, of Ferrinlea, inthe county of Ross. He, the landlord, and I, were sitting in threechairs near the fire, and in the corner of the great chimney there weretwo islanders, who were that very night come to the house, and wererelated to the landlord. While the one of them was talking with Monro, Iperceived the other to look oddly toward me. From this look, and hisbeing an islander, I conjectured him a seer, and asked him at what hestared. He answered by desiring me to rise from that chair, for it wasan unlucky one. I asked him why? He answered, because there was a deadman in the chair next to me. "Well, " said I, "if it be in the nextchair, I may keep my own. But what is the likeness of the man?" He saidhe was a tall man, with a long grey coat, booted, and one of his legshanging over the arm of the chair, and his head hanging dead to the otherside, and his arm backward, as if it was broken. There were some Englishtroops then quartered near that place, and there being at that time agreat frost after a thaw, the country was covered all over with ice. Fouror five of the English riding by this house some two hours after thevision, while we were sitting by the fire, we heard a great noise, whichproved to be those troopers, with the help of other servants, carrying inone of their number, who had got a very mischievous fall, and had his armbroke; and falling frequently in swooning fits, they brought him into thehall, and set him in the very chair, and in the very posture that theseer had prophesied. But the man did not die, though he recovered withgreat difficulty. 

Among the accounts given me by Sir Normand M'Loud, there was one worthyof special notice, which was thus:--There was a gentleman in the Isle ofHarris, who was always seen by the seers with an arrow in his thigh. Suchin the Isle who thought those prognostications infallible, did not doubtbut he would be shot in the thigh before he died. Sir Normand told methat he heard it the subject of their discourse for many years. At lasthe died without any such accident. Sir Normand was at his burial at St. Clement's Church in the Harris. At the same time the corpse of anothergentleman was brought to be buried in the same very church. The friendson either side came to debate who should first enter the church, and, ina trice, from words they came to blows. One of the number (who was armedwith bow and arrows) let one fly among them. (Now every family in thatIsle have their burial-place in the Church in stone chests, and thebodies are carried in open biers to the burial-place. ) Sir Normandhaving appeased the tumult, one of the arrows was found shot in the deadman's thigh. To this Sir Normand was a witness. 

In the account which Mr. Daniel Morison, parson in the Lewis, gave me, there was one, though it be heterogeneous from the subject, yet it may beworth your notice. It was of a young woman in this parish, who wasmightily frightened by seeing her own image still before her, always whenshe came to the open air; the back of the image being always to her, sothat it was not a reflection as in a mirror, but the species of such abody as her own, and in a very like habit which appeared to herselfcontinually before her. The parson kept her a long while with him, buthad no remedy of her evil, which troubled her exceedingly. I was toldafterwards that when she was four or five years older she saw it not. 

These are matters of fact, which I assure you they are truly related. Butthese and all others that occurred to me, by information or otherwise, could never lead me into a remote conjecture of the cause of soextraordinary a phenomenon. Whether it be a quality in the eyes of somepeople in these parts, concurring with a quality in the air also; whethersuch species be everywhere, though not seen by the want of eyes soqualified, or from whatever other cause, I must leave to the inquiry ofclearer judgments than mine. But a hint may be taken from this imagewhich appeared still to this woman above mentioned, and from anothermentioned by Aristotle, in the fourth of his Metaphysics (if I rememberright, for it is long since I read it), as also from the common opinionthat young infants (unsullied with many objects) do see apparitions whichwere not seen by those of elder years; as likewise from this, thatseveral did see the second sight when in the Highlands or Isles, yet whentransported to live in other countries, especially in America, they quitelose this quality, as was told me by a gentleman who knew some of them inBarbadoes, who did see no vision there, although he knew them to be seerswhen they lived in the Isles of Scotland. 

_Thus far my Lord Tarbat_. 

THE BOGLE. 

This is a freakish spirit who delights rather to perplex and frightenmankind than either to serve or seriously hurt them. The _Esprit Follet_of the French, Shakespeare's Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, and Shellycoat, aspirit who resides in the waters, and has given his name to many a rockand stone on the Scottish coast, belong to the class of bogles. One ofShellycoat's pranks is thus narrated:--Two men in a very dark night, approaching the banks of the Ettrick, heard a doleful voice from itswaves repeatedly exclaim, "Lost! lost!" They followed the sound, whichseemed to be the voice of a drowning person, and, to their astonishment, found that it ascended the river; still they continued to follow the cryof the malicious sprite, and, arriving before dawn at the very sources ofthe river, the voice was now heard descending the opposite side of themountain in which they arise. The fatigued and deluded travellers nowrelinquished the pursuit, and had no sooner done so, than they heardShellycoat applauding, in loud bursts of laughter, his successfulroguery. 

DAOINE SHIE, OR THE MEN OF PEACE. 

They are, though not absolutely malevolent, believed to be a peevish, repining, and envious race, who enjoy, in the subterranean recesses, akind of shadowy splendour. The Highlanders are at all times unwilling tospeak of them, but especially on Friday, when their influence is supposedto be particularly extensive. As they are supposed to be invisiblypresent, they are at all times to be spoken of with respect. The fairiesof Scotland are represented as a diminutive race of beings, of a mixed orrather dubious nature, capricious in their dispositions, and mischievousin their resentment. They inhabit the interior of green hills, chieflythose of a conical form, in Gaelic termed _Sighan_, on which they leadtheir dances by moonlight, impressing upon the surface the marks ofcircles, which sometimes appear yellow and blasted, sometimes of a deepgreen hue, and within which it is dangerous to sleep, or to be foundafter sunset. The removal of those large portions of turf, whichthunderbolts sometimes scoop out of the ground with singular regularity, is also ascribed to their agency. Cattle which are suddenly seized withthe cramp, or some similar disorder, are said to be elf-shot, and theapproved cure is to chafe the parts affected with a blue bonnet, which, it may be readily believed, often restores the circulation. Thetriangular flints frequently found in Scotland, with which the ancientinhabitants probably barbed their shafts, are supposed to be the weaponsof fairy resentment, and are termed elf arrowheads. The rude brazenbattle-axes of the ancients, commonly called "celts, " are also ascribedto their manufacture. But, like the Gothic duergar, their skill is notconfined to the fabrication of arms; for they are heard sedulouslyhammering in linns, precipices, and rocky or cavernous situations, where, like the dwarfs of the mines mentioned by George Agricola, they busythemselves in imitating the actions and the various employments of men. The Brook of Beaumont, for example, which passes in its course bynumerous linns and caverns, is notorious for being haunted by thefairies; and the perforated and rounded stones which are formed bytrituration in its channels are termed by the vulgar fairy cups anddishes. A beautiful reason is assigned by Fletcher for the faysfrequenting streams and fountains. He tells us of

 "A virtuous well, about whose flowery banks The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes Their stolen children, so to make them free From dying flesh and dull mortality. "

It is sometimes accounted unlucky to pass such places without performingsome ceremony to avert the displeasure of the elves. There is upon thetop of Minchmuir, a mountain in Peeblesshire, a spring called the CheeseWell, because, anciently, those who passed that way were wont to throwinto it a piece of cheese as an offering to the fairies, to whom it wasconsecrated. 

Like the _feld elfen_ of the Saxons, the usual dress of the fairies isgreen; though, on the moors, they have been sometimes observed in heath-brown, or in weeds dyed with the stone-raw or lichen. They often ride ininvisible procession, when their presence is discovered by the shrillringing of their bridles. On these occasions they sometimes borrowmortal steeds, and when such are found at morning, panting and fatiguedin their stalls, with their manes and tails dishevelled and entangled, the grooms, I presume, often find this a convenient excuse for theirsituation, as the common belief of the elves quaffing the choicestliquors in the cellars of the rich might occasionally cloak thedelinquencies of an unfaithful butler. 

The fairies, besides their equestrian processions, are addicted, it wouldseem, to the pleasures of the chase. A young sailor, travelling by nightfrom Douglas, in the Isle of Man, to visit his sister residing in KirkMerlugh, heard a noise of horses, the holloa of a huntsman, and the soundof a horn. Immediately afterwards, thirteen horsemen, dressed in green, and gallantly mounted, swept past him. Jack was so much delighted withthe sport that he followed them, and enjoyed the sound of the horn forsome miles, and it was not till he arrived at his sister's house that helearned the danger which he had incurred. I must not omit to mentionthat these little personages are expert jockeys, and scorn to ride thelittle Manx ponies, though apparently well suited to their size. Theexercise, therefore, falls heavily upon the English and Irish horsesbrought into the Isle of Man. Mr. Waldron was assured by a gentleman ofBallafletcher that he had lost three or four capital hunters by thesenocturnal excursions. From the same author we learn that the fairiessometimes take more legitimate modes of procuring horses. A person ofthe utmost integrity informed him that, having occasion to sell a horse, he was accosted among the mountains by a little gentleman plainlydressed, who priced his horse, cheapened him, and, after some chaffering, finally purchased him. No sooner had the buyer mounted and paid theprice than he sank through the earth, horse and man, to the astonishmentand terror of the seller, who, experienced, however, no inconveniencefrom dealing with so extraordinary a purchaser. 

THE DEATH "BREE. "

There was once a woman, who lived in the Camp-del-more of Strathavon, whose cattle were seized with a murrain, or some such fell disease, whichravaged the neighbourhood at the time, carrying off great numbers of themdaily. All the forlorn fires and hallowed waters failed of theircustomary effects; and she was at length told by the wise people, whomshe consulted on the occasion, that it was evidently the effect of someinfernal agency, the power of which could not be destroyed by any othermeans than the never-failing specific--the juice of a dead head from thechurchyard, --a nostrum certainly very difficult to be procured, considering that the head must needs be abstracted from the grave at thehour of midnight. Being, however, a woman of a stout heart and strongfaith, native feelings of delicacy towards the sanctuary of the dead hadmore weight than had fear in restraining her for some time from resortingto this desperate remedy. At length, seeing that her stock would soon beannihilated by the destructive career of the disease, the wife of Camp-del-more resolved to put the experiment in practice, whatever the resultmight be. Accordingly, having with considerable difficulty engaged aneighbouring woman as her companion in this hazardous expedition, theyset out a little before midnight for the parish churchyard, distant abouta mile and a half from her residence, to execute her determination. Onarriving at the churchyard her companion, whose courage was not sonotable, appalled by the gloomy prospect before her, refused to enteramong the habitations of the dead. She, however, agreed to remain at thegate till her friend's business was accomplished. This circumstance, however, did not stagger the wife's resolution. She, with the greatestcoolness and intrepidity, proceeded towards what she supposed an oldgrave, took down her spade, and commenced her operations. After a gooddeal of toil she arrived at the object of her labour. Raising the firsthead, or rather skull, that came in her way, she was about to make it herown property, when a hollow, wild, sepulchral voice exclaimed, "That ismy head; let it alone!" Not wishing to dispute the claimant's title tothis head, and supposing she could be otherwise provided, she very good-naturedly returned it and took up another. "That is my father's head, "bellowed the same voice. Wishing, if possible, to avoid disputes, thewife of Camp-del-more took up another head, when the same voice instantlystarted a claim to it as his grandfather's head. "Well, " replied thewife, nettled at her disappointments, "although it were yourgrandmother's head, you shan't get it till I am done with it. " "What doyou say, you limmer?" says the ghost, starting up in his awryhabiliments. "What do you say, you limmer?" repeated he in a great rage. "By the great oath, you had better leave my grandfather's head. " Uponmatters coming this length, the wily wife of Camp-del-more thought itproper to assume a more conciliatory aspect. Telling the claimant thewhole particulars of the predicament in which she was placed, shepromised faithfully that if his honour would only allow her to carry offhis grandfather's skull or head in a peaceable manner, she would restoreit again when done with. Here, after some communing, they came to anunderstanding; and she was allowed to take the head along with her, oncondition that she should restore it before cock-crowing, under theheaviest penalties. 

On coming out of the churchyard and looking for her companion, she hadthe mortification to find her "without a mouthful of breath in her body";for, on hearing the dispute between her friend and the guardian of thegrave, and suspecting much that she was likely to share the unpleasantpunishments with which he threatened her friend, at the bare recital ofthem she fell down in a faint, from which it was no easy matter torecover her. This proved no small inconvenience to Camp-del-more's wife, as there were not above two hours to elapse ere she had to return thehead according to the terms of her agreement. Taking her friend upon herback, she carried her up a steep acclivity to the nearest adjoininghouse, where she left her for the night; then repaired home with theutmost speed, made _dead bree_ of the head ere the appointed time hadexpired, restored the skull to its guardian, and placed the grave in itsformer condition. It is needless to add that, as a reward for herexemplary courage, the "_bree_" had its desired effect. The cattlespeedily recovered, and, so long as she retained any of it, all sorts ofdiseases were of short duration.