“Visions as poetic eyes avow,
Hang from each leaf, and cling to every bough.”
They were reputed to be well skilled in the medical art, and to favoured mortals they sometimes imparted their knowledge. It is difficult to understand why they were credited with the abstraction of children, and with the substitution of other beings in their place. For this curious kind of theft was commonly attributed to them. A “wise woman”—a dealer in simples and herbal potions—having failed to cure a child, declared that “the bairn had been taken away, and an elf substituted.”
Besides the fairies, Scotland could boast of its spirits of the waters, just as Germany had its Loreleys and Ondines.
We can gather, however, no definite information respecting the water-kelpie, the water-horses, or the water-bull, or of another anomalous animal called shelly-coat. Describing Lochlomond, Graham says:—“It is reported by the countrymen living thereabouts, that they sometimes see the hippopotam or water-horse, where the river Cudrie falls into it, a mile west of the church of Buchanan.” A river known as the Ugly Burn, in the county of Ross, springing from Loch Glaish, was regarded with awe by all the countryside, as the retreat of the water-horse and other spiritual beings. Shetland is represented as having possessed a handsome water-horse which, when mounted, carried the rider into the sea. Mr. Dalyell, writing in 1835, says, that the water-bull is still believed to reside in Loch Awe and Loch Rannoch, nor, he adds, are witnesses wanting to bear testimony to the fact. It was reputed to be invulnerable against all except silver shot; though no one had put it to the proof. In the Isle of Man certain persons who saw the water-bull in a field were unable to distinguish him from one of the ordinary terrestrial species, nor did the cows show any disposition to avoid him. But his progeny always turned out to be a rude lump of flesh and skin, without bones.
The spirit of the sea was believed to be malicious, and capable of inflicting injury. Allusions are frequent to “sea-trowis, meermen, meermaids, and a number of little creatures coming from the sea” in response to spell and charm. Nor must we forget the practice of pouring out libations to the aquatic divinities. A century ago, in Crawford Muir, when a tenant was evicted and another took his place, he cut the throat of a black lamb and threw it into a stream, with a malediction both upon stream and lamb.
To this futile department of human error we can, however, devote no more space. To treat it adequately we should need at least a couple of volumes as closely printed as the present.
INDEX.
Aborigines, the, of North America, [254].
African Superstitions, [171].
Ahetas, the, [153].
Ancestors, Worship of, [220].
Anecdotes of Khandikya and Kesidhwaja, [114].
Apples, Halloween, [293].
Ark-festival, an Indian, [90].
Ashi, the Rabbi, [72].
Asia, savage races of, [155].
Babylonian Talmud, the, [72].
Bouru, [146].
Brahman Religion, the, [14], [84].
Buddhism, [16].
Buddhists, Prayer-wheels of the, [1].
Buffalo-dance, the, [259].
Cannibalism, [250].
Caste, Brahman, [14].
Cat, adventures of a, [218].
Ceremonies, Hindu, [6];
Eskimo, [275].
Chandu, Palace of, [163].
Charms, Scottish, [310].
China, in, [119].
Chinese offerings to gods, [139].
Chinese temples, [132].
Chunda Sen, Babu Keshub, [97].
Chung-Yung, [123].
Confucianism, [119].
Confucius, Life of, [120].
Court of Justice, an Eskimo, [277].
Cumming, Miss Gordon, Experiences of, [1];
quoted, [3].
Daksha, sacrifice of, [103].
Debendunath Tagore, [97].
Devil-dancing, [91].
Divination, [319].
Dorians, the, [147].
Dyaks, the, [145].
Egg-trick, the, [169].
Equatorial Savage, the, [172].
Eskimos, the, [274].
Etu, the, [221].
Fairies, belief in, [323].
Feast of Lanterns, the, [129].
Fetich-man, the, [174].
Fiji-islanders, the, [230].
Fire-superstitions, [290].
Fish-charmers, Brahman, [87].
Flagellants, the, [279].
Gemara, the, [69].
Gods, belief in, [12].
Halloween, [288].
Health-superstitions, [313].
Hilarion, S., [280].
Hindu Mythology, the, [99].
Hindus, the, [203].
Hindu Temples, Ceremonies of the, [6].
Hiouen-thsang, Career of, [26].
Idol Worship, [221].
Indians, North American, [254].
Jerusalem Talmud, the, [72].
Jewish Superstitions, [68].
Jugglery, [163].
Khudas, the, [89].
King, or, the Five Canonical Works, [125].
Lao-tsze, the Chinese Philosopher, [129].
Lun-Yu, the, [124].
Magianism, [43].
Maize, Indian reverence for the, [273].
Malays, among the, [142].
Maories, the, [241].
Medicine-bag, the Indian, [265].
Medicine-man, the Indian, [174];
the Eskimo, [274].
Meng-tze, the, [124].
Mishna, the, [68].
Mongols, the, [157].
Müller, Max, quoted, [10].
Nâgpanchanic Festival, the, [210].
New Zealand, [241].
North American Indians, the, [254].
Nursery tale, a Hindu, [307].
Old age, African veneration of, [172].
Orang-lauts, the, [152].
Ormuzd and Ahriman, [191].
Ostiaks, the, [158].
Paharis, the Customs of, [87].
Papeiha’s witness to Christianity, [215].
Papuan Tribes, the, [147].
Parsees, the, [43].
Peace-pipe, the Indian, [270].
Polo, Marco, [161].
Polynesian Sacrifices, [228].
Polynesian Superstitions, [214].
Prayer-Wheels of the Buddhists, [1].
Public Games, [109].
Puranas, the, [99].
Rammohun Roy, Life of, [92].
Red Men, the, [257].
Religion, Brahman, [14], [84];
Buddhism, [16];
Parsee, [43];
Chinese, [119];
among the Malays, [142];
the Dyaks, [145];
in Bouru, [146];
among the Papuan tribes, [147];
the Orang-lauts, [152];
Savage nations of Asia, [155];
in Tibet, [161];
Zabianism, [186];
in Polynesia, [214];
among the Fiji-islanders, [230];
the Maories, [241];
North American Indians, [254].
Rudra, Origin of, [103].
Samoans, the, [219].
Samojedes, [155].
San-tsing, the Chinese deity, [131].
Scottish Superstitions, [288].
Second Sight, [290], [300], [314].
Serpent-worship, [186].
Shae-tung, the, [129].
Shamanism, [91].
Shang-te, the, of the Chinese, [131].
Slamatan Bromok, the, [142].
Snake-charmers, [87].
Stylites, S. Simeon, [281].
Sun-worship, [8], [200].
Superstitions, African, [171].
Supreme Being, belief in a, [11].
Taboo, or Tapu, [241].
Tadibe, the, [156].
Ta-heo, the, [123].
Talmud, the, [68].
Taossi, the, [132].
Taouism, [129].
Tehu-Chor, the, [3].
Thibetan Prayer or Litany, the, [4].
Tibet, in, [161].
Topes, the, [203].
Typhon and Osiris, [173].
Vishnu Purana, the, [100].
Weather-conjuring among the Mongols, [159].
Williams, Rev. John, [214].
Yadageri, [160].
Zabianism, [186].
Zendavesta, the, [43].
Zoroaster, [45].
Zulu Witch-finders, [180].