The writer has thankfully to acknowledge, and he cannot but remember with pleasure, the readiness and courtesy, and in very many cases the great intelligence with which his inquiries have been answered. Some of his informants have shown a quickness and retentiveness of memory which he could not but envy, and an appreciation of, and an acquaintance with ancient lore that seemed to him to indicate in those who were strangers to the world of letters powers of mind of a high order.
The objection to books and print as authorities has also been extended to written correspondence. No doubt much that is additional and interesting could be obtained through these channels, but if the account given is to serve any purpose higher than that of mere amusement, strict accuracy is of such importance that all these sources of possible error have been avoided; they cannot be sifted by cross-examination and further inquiry so readily or thoroughly as information obtained by word of mouth. The whole has thus passed through the writer’s own hands directly from what he has found current among the people. Care has been taken that no statement be made conveying an idea different in the slightest from what has been heard. A popular Gaelic saying can be quoted as applicable to the case: “If it be a lie as told by me, it was a lie as told to me” (Ma’s breug bh’uam e, is breug dhomh e). It is as free to another as it has been to the writer, to draw his inferences from the statements given, and it is thought no genuine tale or oral tradition will be found to contradict the statements made in the following pages.
In the translations given of Gaelic, the object aimed at has been to give the corresponding English expression, that is, one conveying the same meaning to the English reader that the Gaelic expression conveys to the Gaelic reader. Accuracy has been looked to on this point rather than grace of diction. Where there is anything striking in the Gaelic idiom the literal meaning is also given. In poetry there is consequently a baldness, to which the original is a stranger; but this, it may be urged, is a fault inherent in all translations, however carefully executed. The transference of ideas from one language to another weakens the force and beauty of an expression; what is racy and witty, or musical and expressive in one, becomes tame and insipid in another. This trite observation is made to deprecate unfavourable opinions being formed of the genius and force of the Gaelic language from the translations given.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER [I] | |
|---|---|
| The Fairies | |
| PAGE | |
Names Given to Fairies | [3] |
The Size of Fairies | [9] |
Fairy Dwellings | [11] |
Fairy Dresses | [14] |
The Defects of Fairies | [15] |
Their Occupations | [15] |
Seasons of Festivity | [16] |
Fairy Raids | [18] |
Circumstances under which Fairies are seen | [21] |
Fairy Food | [21] |
Gifts Bestowed by Fairies | [22] |
The Giving and taking of Loans | [24] |
Eddy Wind | [24] |
Rain and Sunshine, Wind and Rain | [26] |
Fairy Arrows | [26] |
Cattle | [27] |
Horses | [30] |
Dogs | [30] |
Elfin Cats | [32] |
Fairy Theft | [32] |
Stealing Women and Children | [36] |
Changelings | [38] |
Deformities | [39] |
Nurses | [40] |
The Men of Peace | [40] |
The Bean Nighe, or Washing Woman | [42] |
The Song of the Fairy Woman | [44] |
The Glaistig as distinct from the Banshi | [44] |
Elfin Queen | [45] |
Protection against Fairies | [46] |
| CHAPTER [II] | |
| Tales Illustrative of Fairy Superstition | |
Luran | [52] |
The Cup of the Macleods of Raasa | [57] |
The Fairies on Finlay’s Sandbank | [57] |
Pennygown Fairies | [59] |
Ben Lomond Fairies | [60] |
Callum Clark and his Sore Leg | [60] |
The Young Man in the Fairy Knoll | [61] |
Black William the Piper | [65] |
The Harris Woman and her Baking | [66] |
Lifted by the Fairies | [68] |
Fairies Coming to Houses | [73] |
The Lowland Fairies | [76] |
Fairies Stealing Women and Children | [78] |
Ready Wit Repulses the Fairies | [85] |
Kindness to a Neglected Child | [86] |
The Bridegroom’s Burial | [86] |
The Crowing of the Black Cock | [87] |
Throwing the Arrow | [88] |
The Woman Stolen from France | [90] |
Changelings | [90] |
Taking away Cows and Sheep | [92] |
The Dwellings of the Fairies | [93] |
Fairy Assistance | [96] |
The Battle of Trai-Gruinard | [100] |
Duine Sith, Man of Peace | [101] |
Bean Shith, Elle Woman, or Woman of Peace | [102] |
Donald Thrashed by the Fairy Woman | [105] |
Iona Banshi | [107] |
Tiree Banshi | [108] |
Macphie’s Black Dog | [109] |
The Carlin of the Spotted Hill | [122] |
Donald, Son of Patrick | [123] |
The Wife of Ben-y-Ghloe | [125] |
Fairy Women and Deer | [126] |
O’Cronicert’s Fairy Wife | [127] |
The Gruagach Ban | [132] |
Deer Killed and conveyed home at Night | [133] |
Fairies and Goats | [134] |
Fairies and Cows | [134] |
Fairy Cows | [135] |
The Thirsty Ploughman | [137] |
The Fairy Churning | [137] |
Milk Spilt by Dairymaids | [138] |
Fairy Music | [138] |
MacCrimmon | [139] |
Fairy Dogs (‘Cu Sith’) | [141] |
What happens to Dogs Chasing Fairies | [144] |
Fairies and Horses | [146] |
Fairies and the Handmill | [149] |
Fairies and Oatmeal | [150] |
Fairies and Iron | [152] |
Name of the Deity | [153] |
Fairy Gifts | [153] |
Struck by the Fairy Arrow Spade | [154] |
| CHAPTER [III] | |
| Tutelary Beings | |
(I) The Glaistig | [155] |
At Glenduror | [162] |
At Sron-Charmaig | [162] |
At Inverawe House | [164] |
At Dunstaffnage Castle | [164] |
In Tiree | [165] |
At Sleat, Skye | [165] |
In the Island of Coll | [166] |
At Dunolly Castle | [166] |
At Mernaig Castle | [166] |
In Strathglass | [167] |
At Lianachan | [168] |
In Glenorchy | [171] |
M‘Millan of Knap stabbing the Glaistig | [172] |
At Craignish | [173] |
On Garlios, Morvern | [173] |
At Ardnadrochit, Mull | [175] |
On Baugh, Tiree | [176] |
At Strontian | [177] |
On Hianish, Tiree | [177] |
In Ulva | [178] |
In Iona | [179] |
In Ross, Mull | [179] |
In Corry-na-Henchor | [180] |
Mac-Ian Year | [181] |
At Erray, Mull | [183] |
(II) The Gruagach | [184] |
(III) Brownie | [186] |
Gunna | [189] |
The Old Man of the Barn | [190] |
| CHAPTER [IV] | |
| The Urisk, The Blue Men, and The Mermaid | |
The Urisk | [195] |
The Blue Men | [199] |
The Mermaid | [201] |
| CHAPTER [V] | |
| The Water-Horse | |
Farmers and Water-Horses | [204] |
Mac-Fir Arois | [205] |
The Talking Horse at Cru-Loch | [207] |
Island of Coll | [208] |
The Nine Children at Sunart | [208] |
Killing the Raasay Water-Horse | [209] |
The Water-Horse at Loch Cuaich | [210] |
The Water-Horse at Tiree | [211] |
Water-Horse and Women | [212] |
The Water-Horse at Loch Basibol, Tiree | [214] |
The Kelpie | [215] |
The Water-Bull | [216] |
The King Otter | [216] |
Biasd na Srogaig | [217] |
The Big Beast of Lochawe | [218] |
| CHAPTER [VI] | |
| Superstitions about Animals | |
Lamprey—Sea Serpent—Gigelorum—Lavellan—BernicleGoose—Eels—Whale—Herring—Flounder—Lobster—Serpents—Ratsand Mice—Cormorant—Magpie—Beetles—Emmet—Skip-Jack | [219]-228 |
| CHAPTER [VII] | |
| Miscellaneous Superstitions | |
Gisvagun, Eapagun, Upagun | [229] |
The Right-Hand Turn (Deiseal) | [229] |
Rising and Dressing | [230] |
Clothes | [231] |
Houses and Lands | [231] |
Baking | [232] |
Removal Cheese (Mulchag Imrich) | [234] |
Leg Cake (Bonnach Lurgainn) | [234] |
Giving Fire out of the House | [234] |
Thunder | [235] |
Theft | [236] |
Salt | [236] |
Combing the Hair | [236] |
Bird Nests | [237] |
Hen’s First Egg | [237] |
Euphemisms | [237] |
Boat Language | [239] |
Fresh Meat | [240] |
Killing those too long alive | [240] |
Funerals | [241] |
The Watch of the Graveyard (Faire Chlaidh) | [242] |
Cill Challum Chille | [242] |
Suicides | [242] |
Murder | [243] |
The Harvest Old Wife (a Chailleach) | [243] |
La u Bhrochain mhòr (Big Porridge Day) | [244] |
Fires on Headlands | [244] |
Stances | [244] |
Names | [245] |
Delivery of Cattle and Horses | [245] |
Trades | [246] |
Iron | [246] |
Empty Shells | [247] |
Protection against Evil Spirits | [247] |
Misnaming a Person | [248] |
Gaining Straw (Sop Seile) | [248] |
Propitious Times | [248] |
Unlucky Actions | [249] |
| CHAPTER [VIII] | |
| Augury | |
At Outset of a Journey | [253] |
Unlucky to look back | [255] |
| CHAPTER [IX] | |
| Premonitions and Divination | |
Premonitions (Meamna) | [258] |
Trial (Deuchainn) | [259] |
Divination (Fiosachd) | [262] |
Shoulder-blade Reading (Slinneineachd) | [263] |
Palmistry (Dearnadaireachd) | [266] |
Divination by Tea, or Cup-reading (LeughadhChupaichean) | [266] |
| CHAPTER [X] | |
| Dreams and Prophecies | |
Dreams (Bruadar) | [268] |
Prophecies (Fàisneachd) | [269] |
The Lady of Lawers | [274] |
| CHAPTER [XI] | |
| Imprecations, Spells, and the Black Art | |
Imprecation (Guidhe) | [277] |
Spells (Geasan no Geasaibh) | [281] |
The Black Art | [285] |
| CHAPTER [XII] | |
| The Devil | |
Card Playing | [292] |
Red Book of Appin | [292] |
Coming for the Dying | [295] |
Making the Devil your Slave | [296] |
Coming Misfortune | [298] |
The Gaïck Catastrophe (Mort Ghàthaig) | [300] |
The Bundle of Fern | [303] |
The Pig in the Indigo Pot | [303] |
Among the Tailors | [304] |
Taghairm, or “Giving his Supper to the Devil” | [304] |
Glas Ghairm—Power of Opening Locks | [311] |
CHAPTER I.
THE FAIRIES.[1]
In any account of Gaelic superstition and popular belief, the first and most prominent place is to be assigned to the Fairy or Elfin people, or, as they are called both in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the sìth people, that is, ‘the people of peace,’ the ‘still folk,’ or ‘silently-moving’ people. The antiquity of the belief is shown by its being found among all branches of the Celtic and Teutonic families, and in countries which have not, within historical times, had any communication with each other. If it be not entirely of Celtic origin, there can be no doubt that among the Celtic races it acquired an importance and influence accorded to it nowhere else. Of all the beings, with which fear or fancy peopled the supernatural, the Fairies were the most intimately associated with men’s daily life. In the present day, when popular poetical ideas are extinguished in the universal call for “facts” and by “cold material laws,” it is hard to understand how firm a hold a belief like this had upon men in a more primitive state of society, and how unwillingly it is surrendered.