[246] "West Highland Tales," I., xlvii.
[247] Although the dwarfs of central England may not rightly be considered under the name of Picts or Pechts, a chain connecting them with the people thus called is discernible. Scott says that, "according to romantic tradition," Kenilworth "had been first tenanted" by "those primitive Britons" who were "the soldiers of King Arthur" ("Kenilworth," ch. xxvi). Thus, the early inhabitants of Kenilworth are equally "fairies" and "primitive Britons." Again, in Glamorganshire (according to Mr. Wirt Sikes, "British Goblins," pp. 6 and 392), there is "a certain steep and rugged crag" which bears "a distinctly awful reputation as a stronghold of the fairy tribe," and, in a secret cavern underneath this crag, "Arthur and his warriors" are believed to be sleeping. While an Edinburgh tradition, given by Dr. Daniel Wilson ("Memorials," vol. ii. ch. xix.), states that "King Arthur and the Pechts" have also withdrawn to a subterranean retreat in the hill which is still known as Arthur's Seat. Obviously, Arthur, if he ever lived, cannot have retired into all of these places, but there is, nevertheless, a vague agreement in these three traditions; and Kenilworth, Arthur's Seat, and Craig y Ddinas all testify to an identification of Arthur and his "primitive Britons," with the underground "fairies" and "Pechts." It may be objected that the tradition of Barbarossa, as in Rückert's ballad, asleep in his underground castle, with his dwarf beside him, is evidently of the same origin as those just referred to. This is manifest. But, before attempting to reconcile Continental with British tradition, it is important to first demonstrate, if that may be done, that the British traditions here spoken of are historical and not mythological. (The story of the Kenilworth fairies will be found at p. 218 of "The Dialect of the English Gypsies," by B. C. Smart and H. T. Crofton, London, 1875.)
[248] It is impossible to refer here to the many terms used to denote what is really one class of people; as these terms themselves show when analyzed. But this term "goblin," although in recent centuries it has been surrounded with much that is unreal and fictitious, appears to have been once used in the most ordinary matter-of-fact way. This will be seen from the following reference quoted by Dr. Henry Rink ("Danish Greenland," 1877, p. 16), in the narrative of a Norse visit to Greenland in the eleventh century:—"One morning Thorgils went out by himself on the ice, and discovered the carcase of a whale in an opening, and beside two 'witches' (or 'goblins,' evidently Eskimo women), who were tying large bundles of flesh together. Thorgils instantly rushed upon one of them with his sword and cut off one of her hands, whereupon both of them took to their heels." In other words, the eleventh-century natives of Greenland, whom Dr. Rink believes were Eskimos, were at once classed by a Norwegian of that period in the same category as those whom he had been accustomed to call "goblins" in Europe.
[249] Miss C. MacLagan, "Proc. of Soc. of Ant. of Scot." (1st series), ix. 39.
[250] A. Mackintosh Shaw, "History of the Mackintoshes," 1880, vol. i. p. 24, note. This writer also points out that the word "Rothimurcus" itself indicates a "fortified mound" or Rath.
[251] Appendix to "The Lady of the Lake," Note 2 H.
[252] See also "West Highland Tales," II., 66, for a reference to this personage.
[253] "West Highland Tales," II., 67.
[254] Rev. Alex. Stewart, F.S.A. Scot., in "Nether Lochaber," Edin., 1883, p. 20.
He adds: "There is, besides, a Glacan-t' Shithein, the Fairy Knoll Glade, Tobaran-t' Shithein, the Fairy Knoll Well; and a deep chasm, through which a mountain torrent plunges darkling, called Leum-an-t' Shithiche, the Fairy Leap."