[Full Page Image] -- [Medium-Size]
Formerly the Zotterais also protected sheep against ticks and kept their wool from getting tangled; they even derived their name from Zotte, which means a flock of wool. In those days, it must be presumed, from the habits of those benevolent little people, the fleeces must have been whiter and better kept than they are now-a-days; but sheep raisers had the unlucky idea, produced probably by avarice, that not a particle of wool should be left on ram or ewe, and thus deprived their tiny friends of all means to rest and recover breath when hard at work. The Zotterais looked upon this neglect of what was due to them as an insult, and abandoned the flocks of sheep for the horses in the stables. Besides, they found it impossible to live on good terms with the shepherds’ dogs.
We must finally mention the most important and most extraordinary of all familiar spirits, whom we must needs include among these favored beings, as he represents nothing less than the son of the house, the child of the family.
This is the Killecroff or Suppositus. The last mentioned name is given to him because this so-called son of the house is in reality a changeling, a supposed child, which has been put into the place of the real child.
[Full Page Image] -- [Medium-Size]
Who has taken the legitimate child from its cradle in order to put into its place a Killecroff, and who is the real father of the latter?