SCOTTISH

t\eRJe

OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES

D

Scottish myths and legends are derived from Pictish, Scots, and Scandanavian sources. The first two were Druidic peoples, whose religious beliefs and history were strictly a matter of oral tradition.

The picts were closest to an aboriginal race, but it is theorized that they may have come to north-western Britain from the Iberian peninsula. They were pressed into a remote corner of this land by successive in­vasions of Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and the Scots, who had been based in Ireland, but came to the country, which the latins called Alba, to help the picts fight their wars. They found Argyllshire congenial, and fought a three hundred year war with their pictish neighbours for political and religious dominance of Scotland.

If the picts were Gaelic-speaking, their language was incomprehensible to the Celtic Scots, whose tongue was shared with the Irish tribes, the Welsh and residents of the Isle of Man. The pictish language is now entirely lost except for a few survivals as Scottish place-names. Similarly, their superstitions are not a matter of dec­isive record, because their religion did not permit written records, and because their bardic output has become intertwined, and inseparable from that of the Scots, with whom they formed a united Kingdom when Kenneth McAlpine came to the High Kingship.

It is known that the picts were the first, and last Druidic people. They were not ready converts to the new Christian religion, which the Scots brought with them from Ireland, and the Highlanders were said to, "conserve their heathenism better than any other people in Europe." Tired by religious wars, it was probably a Pict, who formulated the saying:

Is omadh dacine lagahach a mhill an credeamh

or, "There's many a delightful fellow, spol ied by religion ".

When the Christians arrived in Scotland they made an immediate attempt to subjugate the pagan holidays of Beltane, Hallowe'en and Harvest Home, or to disquise them in some fitting manner. In the process, they "spoiled" not only the Daoine, but the Daoine Sidh.

The Celtic bards told a very different story of creation than that recorded in the Christian Bible. The picts, and the Scots, originally be­lieved that the world had been peopled by the Daoine, or human-kind, as well as the Daoine Sidh, which were the elementals, later called the "fay" or "fayries". The first descriptive Gaelic word takes notice of the common ancestry of man and the fairies, the second, "sidh", originally meant, "to obtain perfection", or a faultless being. No matter how malicious, all members of fairy-land could be considered without blame, as they lacked souls, the component which has caused man to question his behaviour, the ingrediant, which prevents him from considering himself perfect.Perhaps because they have no interest in questions of morality, the fay lived exceptionally long lives, unmarred by stress. Currently, the word, "sidh" is used as an adj­ective, denoting any supernatural characteristic, hence, "eun-sidh" is fairy-like; an enchanted bird is called, "labhran-sidh", and a radio or wireless set is a neologism, sharing the same name.

When Malcolm Caemore married the daughter of Edmund Ironsides of England, the Scottish Court abandoned Gaelic traditions for Anglo-Norman substitutes, and the word, "fay", was applied to the Sidh (shee or shay). This French verb at first meant, "to cleanse, clean, or clear away." The Anglo-Saxon equivalent was sJ'lelled, "fey", and was given a similar meaning, but was also used, in shipbuildin~'Jto describe a very close union between planks. In Middle-English "fay" was interchangeable with, "fayth, "later spelled, "faith". This seems appropriate as faith involves a belief in the unseen, obtained by a clearing of the veil of disbelief, allowing the union of man and god.

The faythfull are not all Christians, and cynics were probably responsible for having the name transferred to the unseen land of faeries. Morgan Ie Fay, the enchantress illustrates another use of the word, now archaic, but still used to describe individuals who have dealings with the Sidh.

The Anglo-Saxons first referred to citizens of fay as elves. The first form of this word was; "aelf" or "ylf", which has a counterpart in the Gaelic, "alp", the meaning being slightly different, as the latter has exclusive reference to nightmare creatures, such as the succubus and the incubus. Spenser popularized the use of "faery" in place of "elf", so that the latter is not often used in the comprehensive sense, which was once understood.

Currently, elves are pictured in the fashion made popular by Arthur Rackham, frail and diminutive creatures, the female sex of surpassing beauty. Creatures of nature, they are shown living under a hill or under a tree, dancing and singing in the tWilight. Toward mankind they may be helpful, mis­chevious or malicious, but are generally considered to lack power.

The Sidh were far more than small, lively, and elusive creatures. In their first form, these "children of Caen", as the Christian missionaries called them, were of great stature and strength, both decreasing as time eroded their importance. In this, they were probably appropriate reflections of the pictish race, which imagined them. In Ireland they became a completely reclusive race, while it

is claimed that Scottish faeries abandoned the auld sod for other parts of the world when the land was given over to sheep.

As there are two faces of mankind, so also are there are light elves and dark elves, or as the Scandanavian races named them, ljosalfar" and "svartalfar". The former can tolerate the light of day and fly through the air, and generally, are tolerant of human-kind. The latter seek dark­ness, live in caves or the sea, and can be quite hostile.

In Scotland, the picts and the Celts distinguished these basic types as creatures of the Sely or the Un s ely Co u r t . The Ga eli cwo r d "s ely" 0 rig in ­ally meant an individual who was blissville, inno­cent, harmless, good, kind, helpful, and/or happy. Any creature belonging to the Sely Court could be considered a light faery. This Gaelic word has a n An g 1 0 - S a x 0 nco u sin, " sill y " . It can be a r g u e d that the silly individual is at hazard, since his good nature is likely to cause others to mis-use him. ~nical individuals gave the word a meaning divorced from original intentions, so that a silly person is now thought of as naieve, weak, feeble, simple, timid, and probably povert stricken, as he is unable to care for his own interests. To be un­silly, or capable of applying for membership in the Unsely Court, therefore required a souless cynicism

The Celtic UnselY C~urt therefore harboured the Urusig, a Gaelic word for goblins, bogles and shape­changers. Witches might call upon these malevolent faeries for assistance, but humans were generally excluded from their inner sanctum. ',hll exception might be the solitary traveller, who had remained past the hour at the local pub. ,Fairies like to dance, and members of the 'Unsely are no exceptions. Having finished with more serious business, they were liable to demand that any found abroad after the witching hour participate in their nocturnal activities. Aside from acts of sexual depravity, a matter for mild amusement among the "host", errant Scots would be forced to cast stones at neighbouring cattle, and dance with a vigor, which usually stripped years off their life. In the worst situation, the Celt might emerge from this debauchery markedly aged and possibly dis­eased.

There is as much fact as fantasy in Scottish myths, and it is not always deeply buried. While it usually impossible to trace the genealogy of the fay worl~, the progenitor of- Scottish. Druidism is said to have been interviewed in 1665. . Reginald Scot had been in the Orkneys in the prev­ious year, researching his book, The Discoverie of Witchcraft.

As an aside, he had conversations with a Bodach or Brownie, a familiar of a powerful elemental who identified himself as Luridan. Luridan said that he had for many years inhabited Pomonia, the larg­est of the Orkades. In the guise

of Bodach he haunted Highland homes, sweeping floors, washing dishes, and performing all manner of household chores while the

family remained at sleep. While now acting as a menial he claimed to be the "genius

Astral" of the island, and 5aid that an earlier personae was nam­

ed Baalah, when he lived among the Jews at Jerusalem. The concept of local dieties named Baal is, in fact, a matter of record. The worship of the Baal of Tyre was introduced to the Israelites by Ahab, and even Jehovah was once referred to using this name. Leaving the far east, Luri~an travelled to ancient Wales, where he claimed to have instructed the Bardii in the fundamentals of Druidism. He concluded ,"I have removed hither, and alas, my continuance is but short, for in seventy years I must resign my place to Balkin, lord of the Northern r..;ountains" Luridan is also mentioned in the Norse book of Vanagastus, where he is described as warring against the fire spirits of Heckla, causing earthquakes and vulcanism in the north.

This "Baal-kin" is described by his fellow elemental as formed, "like a satyr" and capable of feeding from the air. The significant fact about him was that he possessed "wife and children to the number of twelve thousand, which were the brood of the Northern Faeries, inhabiting South­erland and Catenes (Caithness) with the adjacent islands. And these are the companies of spirits that hold continual wars with the fiery spirits in the mountain Heckla, that vomits fire in Islandia (Iceland). That their speech was ancient Irish, and their dwellings the caverns of rocks and mountains, ... is recorded in the antiquities of Pomonia."

If this ancestor of the faeries has a human counterpart, or counterparts, he was likely a Duthgall or Eingall gone ·Vikinq, i.e. on a sea­trip, with exp~ctations of rapine and looting.

While Scottish myth obviously owes a great deal to the SCdndanavians and the people of the Island of Scotia, now called Irelanq, the ancient religion of Drudism is the source of the magical characteristics of the land of faerie.

The Gaels still use the word Druid to describe the common Starling, a bird imported to North America, and re-established here with phenomenal success. The appelation recognizes characteristics of the animal, which the Scots admired. The bird is extremely adaptible, and is fearles~,

building its nest near human habitations. It is also a wiley thief, and a bully, placing its eggs to be incubated in the nests of other species. Above all, it is an intelligent bird, full of tricks, and difficult to trap or kill. In the Highlands, these were once highly commendible attributes for man or bird. The Scots did not have a s mu c h res p e c t for the Carrio nCr 0 w, 0 r " b a 0 b h 'I ,

which has these same characteristic~, but is sadly a meat-eater with indifferent table-manners. Consumption of rotten meat suggests habits of the Unsely Court, so that the word, Baobh has also been used to describe a hag, witch, or wizard, which may have better table manners but consort with the "wrong crowd".

The Druid priest had to be both Starling and 2ro~ ,for his power in the pictish com~unity was at least equal to that of the King. He was the or­ganizer of ceremonies of propitiation, but he also had duties as an historian, judge, physician and magician. To hold his politicians in awe it was essential that he act as a Baobh, and be capable of casting the well-placed gisreag, or spell.

The Pictish year was divided into summer and winter, with no intervening seasons, a situation which would be apropos for the Maritime Provinces. The sixth day of the ascendant moon marked the beginning of their month, and the thirty year cycles in which all the earth's resources were supposedly destroyed and renewed. Each new season was celebrated twice yearly with a fire festival, with penultimate bonfires created once in thirty years.

Of the yearly fires, the Beltane, held on the evening before r-,ay Day, was the more significant.

[_~~~~_~~_ .. ...... ~-...

1, •••• - .••. .' • "I • ".

- ..•..~~~~~-- .._--'"

Every fifth yea~, the Beltane was celebrated as a "high festival". The Old New Year, or Samthain, used to be preceeded by a celebration somewhat resembling the current Hallowe'en. The da¥ itself has ceased to be called Hallowma3, .another name which the Lowland Scots introduced when Malcolm Caemore substituted Anglo-Norman usage for Gaelic at Court.

The Beltane honoured that multiplicity of gods known as the Baal, whose favour or favours the pop­ulation hoped to curry through elaborate celebration and sacrifice. A~ high festival, the fires were laid for the execution of criminals and unrepentant enemies. If insufficient victims were avaliable to draw the attention of the local Baal, thus ensuring the fertility of the land during the growing season, the picts and the Celts would forage for captives, so that human ashes might be broadcast over the soil. In the best situation these unfortunates would be killed by impalement or the arrows of a priest, at worst they were burned alive, sometimes in the company of cats, snakes, and other anima~s considered to be familiars of the :unsely. In the last case the sacrificial creatures were confined in cages of wicker wood and grass, with fires lighted beneath them. The priests also sacrificed bullocks follow­ing a lunar schedule.

Mistletoe, which is parasitic on the oak tree played a part in these holidays. The oak was considered ~acred, and the mistletoe growing upon it marked that plant as particularly favoured by the gods Mistletoe was thought to concentrate magical medicinal properties from external sources at Midsummer Eve, when it was harvested by the clergy using a golden sickle. Iron was forbidden as the cutting tool, since it was a product of the earth, and the virtue of the plant was said imparted to it from the air. for this reason, it was caught, after cutting, on a white cloth, and not allowed to fall to the earth. In opposing this pictish religion, the Christian deliberately confused the world of man and fay, hence it is now understood that evil spirits may be laid low by employing iron. Since Scottish sheilings were built without nails, the household might be pro­tected against faeries and druidism by driving a single nail into the door frame, laying a knife in the stoop, or buring a fish hook in the door­way. Other trees, involved in druidic practice, such as the Blackthorn, the Hazel, the Alder and the ~lder were also given black propoganda and associated with the unsely faeries.

Some of these woods were used in starting the Beltane. While the earliest ceremonies demanded human sacrifice, they later devolved into ritual where the "victim" was merely required to leap three times over a dwindling fire. Like other public acts of worship, fire festivals were set on a hilltop or upon an easily visible island in a strea~, river or lake. The Picts considered their elementals as creatures of the open ai~,

which could not appropriately be contained within a building.

The events leading to the Beltane may be deduced from later Scottish practice. The night before, all fires in the country were extinguishe~ las it was considered that the new fire could not be kindled while any part of the old blaze remained on hearths. A friction fire was then ignited using a well ­seasoned oak plank with a hole drilled part way through it. A wimble made of the same material, simply a vertical stick, was centered in the hole and turned by hand or with a bow, in Boy Scout fashion. In later year~ ,this device was elaborated into a "muckle (great) wheel". In this machine, the wimble became a small tree turned by a large

--

spoked wheel. This heavy machinery was worked by carefully selected individuals. If any of these had been guiltyof theft, murder or adultery in the past year, it was certain that the fire would not light or produce counter-producrive results. As soon as the fire was emitted from the oak, it was caught up in volatile agaric, which grows on old birch trees.

After the fire had been set, and kindled, the company would retire to eat, and then amuse them-in singing and dancing about the fire. Since the earliest aboriginals were hardly concerned with morality outside of marriage, these were probably occasions for sexual laisons, and the entire activity was condemned by the missionaries. Neverthless, it was a popular entertainment in a bleak country, and it continued into Victorian times. At the close of fire festivals, the master of the feast produced a large oatcake, known as the Beltane bannoch. The "am bonnach beal-tine" was divided into pieces, which were distributed with great ceremony. The cake was baked with nine squared knobs on the upper surface, each, at one time, dedicated to a particular spirit of fire, land, sea or ai~, which might be

either a friend or foe of human-kind. They were distributed rather after the fashion of favours hidden in a birthday cake. Individuals,to pro­pitiate a given spirit, would break away this knob, and fling them over a shoulder, addressing the darkness with words such as, "This I give to thee (name of divinity), spare thou (specific favour requested)." One piece contained a black stone termed the "carline". Black-balled by re­ceiving this marker, this individual had to suffer the indignity of being mobbed by his neighbours. who made as if to draw and quarter him, a practice which might actually have been consumated in an earlier day. M~re recently, a show would be made of throwing him to the fire, but he would be re­scued by an interposing body of men. He was after­wards pelted with eggs and the subject of special communal rejection until the following year, when a new scape-goat was elected. When the fire was nearly dead, brands were rescued and taken home to re-kindle the various hearth-fires.

The other yearly fire-festival called for the baking of a Hallowmas bannoch, eated in celebration of the first day of winter. In the north-east of Scotland, this fire and the Beltane were both called "bone-fires" for obvious reasons. Since they were, at first, macabre events as well as social outings, it is not surprising that people believed that evil spirits were free on these evenings. When the Christidns introduced witches as the best of all scape-goats, the Beltane was modified to anti-druidic purpose, with burning masses of material thrown into the air from pitch-forks amidst cries 0:;, "Fire, burn the witches." Ghoulies and ghosties are now associated with Hallowe'en, but the Celtic celebration was more upbeat. On the last day of autumn, children gathered ferns, tar and other combustibles, which they placed in a barrel. The fires were not fed humans, in this later time, the sole object being to produce the largest flames. When dead, the ashes of the fire were raked into a circle, and stones representing members of the assembly placed at the circumference. If a stone was disturbed overnight the individual represented was considered dead, within the year. Youngsters recalled earlier habits by cavorting near the flames, and in competing in jumping through them andcscattering ashes. In Wales, the Celts take watch to the last ember, and then scatter with cries of, "The devil take the hindmost."

I •

,..

:9

--------~"--~~----

While sacrificial fires were usually periodic a "wild-fire" or "need-fire" might be required to quiet an elemental responsible for a calamity or to ask for help in time of war, or contend with disease at times other than Beltane or the samthein. In Caithness, it was considered pre­requisite to rid the persons of participants of all metals, including iron, before a need-fire could be laid. When a bonfire had been set, it was allowed to die in intensity, after which diseased people or cattle, were driven over the embers, through the smoke. This was not bad biological practice since this treatment might help to rid the body of animals of sickness vectors such as fleas and lice. Ftom the fire brands were taken, and preserveq ,to be placed in cattle stalls as a prophylactic. ffihes from the fire were scattered over fields to protect crops against rodents, and were also mixed with water, which was drunk as a cure for illness. Since carbon does bond well with foreign substances it probably did help to clear the digestive tract. In the West Isle~ ,the hearth fire, re-kindled from this source, had water boiled over it, which was then sprinkled on plague-infested creatures.

Quieting powerful elementals required the formal services of a priest but there were rights, which addressed spirits of nature rather than "gods". No extra community agent was required to perform observances which were seasonal, ruraa, and informal in terms of time, place and participants.

One such was "Harvest Home", a celebration made when the last corn had been cut. The last stook was used to fashion the "Cailleach" or "Old Woman", a designation used if cut after Hallowmas. If cut before it was the, "Maiden". In medieval villages, when there was a farm common, attempts were made to obtain the maiden, but avoid being the one to cut the Old Woman. The first farmer to complete his cutting of corn, fashioned a figure from the harvest This was passed to his nearest neighbour, who in turn gave it to a less expeditious farmer. If all went well, someone would end with the prized, llMaidh­deanbuain". If she was "taken" by a young unmarried male, his union was certain in the coming season. She would be dressed with ribbons, and the doll fixed to the wall, to be fed to the cattle in the spring. If an old woman had to be boarded for the winter, the farmer getting her was considered slothful, and liable to bad luck. If she was divided among neighbours and fed to animals the next Spring this avoided "gort a bhaile" or famine on the farm. The Scandanavian "kitchen witch" is an innocuous survival of this custom. A~ worst, the old woman might be cut after midnight, a portent of the worst kind.

In North .America there are survivals of the Harvest Home, including a banquet, and the creation of mazes made from remnants of the crop. In these the children divert themselves, while parents attend to serious eating and drinking, and other sport. The self-contain­ed ornament, as above, is related to the maze, and was intended to divert the fay from human activities. ~aeries

love to dance, and love a puzzle, but in trying to track pictish designs, they become hopelessly bemused.

FORMUIR

In the earliest tim~,the Celts and picts recognized three types: the gods, beings very like men, but having supernatural attributes, allowing them to dominate nature in some manner; mankind; and the giants, titans, or formuir, the last being the Celtic designation. This word means, "firom the sea". In historic time, this race would have been counted as definitely unsely.

The Scandanavian giant has received publicity as a bemused, misunderstood race, but the ,formuir, or former has always been known as quixotic agent of the dark powers. While the gods were of a refined mortal cast, the titans might range from similar f arm and humanly beautiful to huge and deformed, with some of their number bearing animal heads on otherwise unremarkable bodies. Genera~ly larger than the daoine and gods, the giants had strength to match their size, and possessed more than morta!, but less than god-like power and endowment. These were the first shape-changer~, being capable of taking the form of animals, at will. .8ccordino to Welsh scholars such transformations are always acc­ompanied by a loss in mass, as energy is expended, which may explain the differences in size of indi­viduals of this species.

Perhaps the best example of formuir beauty was seen in Bress, son of Elathan. He was so completely acceptible in society, he was able to marry the goddess Brigit, the patron of poetic inspiration and the ~eltic protector of hearth and home. She was the daughter of Dagdu, the god of earth, a warrior noted as a harpist,and a prodigious consumer of oatmeal porridge. The family had one other member mentioned in myths, Angus, the son of Dagda, a bit of a fop, whose province was "amorous dalliance". Angus did possess sufficient "smarts" to cheat his father out of ownership of his underground palace.

The Daoine Tuatha were, from the first designation neither god, nor giant, but a division of humankind. Like the gods, they were of presentable size and complexion. The tuatha had come to ancient Ireland from Europe. When they arrived they found the firbolgs, the Irish equivalent of the Picts, already in place. These unsophisticated people were quickly put down, and nearly eliminated. During the final battle, King Nuada of the tuatha last a hand, which was replaced by a facsimile of silver. His people, nevertheless con­sidered him handicaped and elected Bress in his place. Like most giants, he proved incapable of understanding

his human subjects, who returned to their old allegiance. Bress now, wishing to recover hi kingship, urged the formuir to war on his behalf. Nuada immediately sought the help of the gods recognizing these as enemies he could not over­come without help. The folk of the goddess Danu assented.

The gods and man had singular opposition in King Balor of the giants. The Middle English word "baleful", comesrrom knowledge of this Celtic personality, whose eyes were said to blight all on which they gazed. To protect his own kind, the King went blindfolded, except into battle. From this source, we have the "evil eye" of the Scottish wizards and witches. As these eyes fell upon King Nuada, he was slain. By a ruse, similar to that used in dispatching the medusa, Lugh of the Tuatha blinded this opponent and the giants went down to defeat. Their kind was exterminated except for those who retreated to the far north, where they lie in suspended animation, awitinq the final battle.The gods now undertook to rule the British Islands, but they were now opposed by the Milesians, a mortal race of invaders.

,~, I'

~ . . J,.I~ • • '--6. 1 •• " .W. . .,.1~ ,,' ....

Ironically, the cohorts of King Milesius, like the picts and the Firbolgs, were former Iberians. They recognized the status of the "divine people", now a mixture of man and god, and openly worshipped them, but this did not prevent them from being pragmatic, and they must have concluded that their technology was more than equal to the spells of the Daoine Tuatha. They werp correct, and their 1300 B.C. invasion of the Islands was completely successful. As a result, it was their progeny who became the Erse or Irish, and it was the Scottish branch of this family which went on to centend with the picts for control of Alha. Their success is written in the current name of that country: "Scotland".

The 'little people", the Daoine Sidh, of Ireland and Scotland obviously personify the defeeted Tuatha and picts. Diminished in all respects, they were forced to their final home, the ancient earthworks and barrows of the fay world. The word Sidh, in fact means, "the people who live in the hills." The solitary habits, which they acquired by living apart from those who conquered them in unsurprising. The magic, which they were able to practice was their inheritance, in imperfect form, from the gods. They had already diminished in size, when the Christian religion assailed them, making them smaller still. These pagani are sometimes drawn to assist people, because of their human genes, but their are also touches of the fbrmuir in their blood, and these peoples liked humans as a lunch, rather than as companions. Torn by this "ying and yang", the present-day faeries may be either silly or not; one hopes the former?

EASTMAN KODAK CO.'S

BROWNIE, · CAMERAS $1.0~

MAke pictures 2J( x 2}( Inche•. Load In Dayllghl with our six exposure Rim cartridges and are 80 simple they can be easily

Operated by ~ any School

Boy or Girl. Fined with Rnt Menl!tcu5 lenl'lc" lind our Improved roillry shutlera tor snap shal5 or lime CxpO!Jurtl'l. SlronRly

m.de. cO\'cred .1, h Imitation leather, have nkktled Rnlnl' and produce the hear rcslJlI".

Fon1-rour pllJt:C boo1dclllvlni full dJ~clhma:

{'~ '.r 'O""lnl,h.o c.mera,lolcrher ... Ith chllplru on II $nl.p _ ShOI!!," CoTlme EJrpo­surtS," II F111'5h L1rhl !'l ..... Ocvel· oplnt" .nd "Prlnllnr," free ... II h eve r y In.(rumenf.

u.oo .15 .10 .75

The Brownie Cam.era Club.

~end a dollar to your local Kodn.k. d.,,,ler for lit Brownie Cftrnerl\. 1r there b no Kodftk deftlt"r In yOur lown. t'lend us 8 dollar end ... e will ship the clunere promptly. EASTMAN KODAK CO.

!\och".t"r. N. Y.

Brownie CRiner" for 2!-i x 2!-{ plcture5. • • Trftn!tPDrf!nt·Fllm C"rtrleiffe. 6 e:ltp05Urtl8. 27{ x 2So:f. Pa.per-Fllm. Carlrldlle. 6 exposure8. 2M ]( 2!-{, Brownie Dey.topln~ and Prlntlnc Outfit.

The Scottish Sidh remained publicity shy, until they were re-introduced to North Americans at the turn of the last century. Palmer Cox was born in the Lowlands of Scotland. His gr~dmother, a resident of the Grampions, gave him a good education in folk­lore before the family emigrated to Montreal Canada. In New York, he abandoned a business career to illus­trate a book of children's stories, which he had written When the Bro~nies were taken up by the Kodak

t t

J I

Company to introduce their new inexpensive camera line in 1900, success for them, and Cox, was cert ­ain. After writing a number of sequels to his fir s t boo k, and the Brow n i e p 1 a y s, Co.,: ret urn e d to his Canadian home in Granby, where he built a huge mansion, named "Brownie Castle." The Scottish Brownies were transposed to an international cast, printed on pencil boxes, school rulers, nursery wall-paper, handkerchiefs, scarfs, pins, toys, and stationary. When the illustrator died in.1924, u.S. magazines declared that these people of the Sidh were, "as authentic a part of .lU:nerican child­hood as Cooper's red Indians." The New York Times contended that the Brownies,"suggest the real worls we live in more faithfully and graciously than do the comics of today."

The Bodach, or Highland Brownie, never had the dramatic presence of his Lowland cousin. Cox was true to tradition in illustrating .his Brownie with no nose, but only nostril slits, but they were never ~n actual fact youthful or female. Worse, his success was followed by imitators, ~ne inve~ting

a race called, "The Teenie-Weenies", which frankly, sounds like something produced to be eaten. The authentic Brownies dressed in Brown rag~ but Cox gave them tidy eflin uniforms. The first of the clan were allowed a Highland Tam O'Shanter as head­gear, but they were prolific, and eventually his s~ories included every age class, nationality and costume on earth. The original Brownies were prob­ably annoyed that the illustrator removed their hard won wrinkles, making them smooth-faced and pr ospe ro us ..

The p~oto-typical Brownie has as his cousins the 'F'enoderee of the Isle of 11an and the Bwca (Booka) of Wales. These, with the Bodach, have common characteristics. 'All are small, shaggy men, about two feet in height. but differing from the Lowland species in having pronounced noses. The Bodach is differentiated by having fingers and toes tied into a common web of flesh, and no individual dig~ts;

The above, represents the Palmer Cox Brownie in his "Scottish" Lowland costume; he was sometimes depicted sporting a kilt and carrying bagpipes. Br~wnie has counterparts, not only in the Bodach, but also in the English Hobgoblin, the Scandanav­ian Nis and the Teutonic Kobold, to mention only a few of his relations.

As originally conceived, the Brownie had short curly dark hair, and wore a medieval mantle and hood. His residence, in common with the bodach, was a ruined castle, the hollow of an old tree, or more often a human homestead. In attaching himself to a family ,he would introduce himself to the male ascendant in each generation, otherwise remaining invisible to the group. Once in place he might remain in the household, cleaning and performing house chores in the nocturnal hours. Brownies and Bodachs have been known to reside with particular families for many centuries. To a degree, he was a disinterested partner in the affairs of the household, considering the exchange of a bowl of cream, a bit of honeycomb, and a snug private corne~ ,as ample return for his work.

The Bodach, living closely with Highlanders, reflected their tastes a~d foibles, which are not inconsiderable. Like these people, he will not beg alms, and is honest beyond need. He reacts vio­lently against anything resembling a "douceur" or overpayment, Hence offering the Brownie a complete new liver~, or a banquet, might cause them to take

residence elsewhere. Unfortunately, the "luck of the home", was attached to the Bodach, and went with him when he transferred his affections.

In the northern and western islands of Scotland the Bodach seems to have had an importance not allowed him on the mainland, where he was not considered an "evil spirit", requiring a sacrifice in return for his services. On the principal Orkney island, each family had a spirit, which was kept "in line" by offerings a sprinkling from each churning of butter, and a sip from each brew. Many of these people kept a Brownie stone, which had a small hole in it, into which the libation was poured.. Those who ignored the Bod ch in their brewing or churning always ended with an inferior product.

Stacks of corn though to be the province of this little person, had no need to be bound with straw rope, or fenced in any manner, as they were undisturbed by any wind short of a hurricane. While the Bodach could provide valuable service to the family, he was prone to play practical jokes, and to hide objects from family adherents. As a group, they had a quick temper, and were quick to perceive mistreatment or insult. When piqued, this goblin would bang on the walls, close doors in a summary fashion, destroy clothing throw objects about the room, pinch sleeping people and behave as a general bogie or boogie­man. In these cases the Highlander could retal­iate by reading passages from the Bible, but this sometimes created more offense, and an increase in the unwanted phenomena. The introduction of iron or holy objects might have similar effect. In his worst form, the Bodach might light spontan­eous fires, throw a farmers entire harvest over a cliff-side or stampede his cattle. In the most extreme situation, the harmless Brownie might be converted, through misunderstanding or the malic­iousness of some human, into a full-fledged bogle, which might do physical harm to former friends.

The word bog is Gaelic, and describes an area of decayed moss and organic matter, where a "body" is apt to sink. These wet spongey, unlit places are preferred by the bogies, bogeys or the boogey-man. The bogie also exists elsewhere in Britain, being called the "ki~l-joy", or "bugbear" in England or the "bwg" in Wales.

The Bogle has abhorent manners, a tackey app­earance and a dissolute life-style by human stand­ards ..hs a rule he goes naked, but may assume the garb of a victim, to emphasize his power over the daoine. The word boggle is also used as a verb, where it indicates "to terrify".Scottish scarecrows, and very bad little boys are sometimes called boogies or bogles. Neither is quite equal 'to the destructive ardour of the true hobgoblin.

Aside from these generalities, it can only be added that Bogle is a generic term, embracinq a large variety of goblins of various shapes, sizes and habits. ~any of them retain shape-shifting abilities, and while a few may be dismissed as mischievous, they are, on the whole, dangerous. They are particularly apt to do harm to liars and murderers. P~rhaps the most evil of the lot, is the ancient border goblin named Redcap, who inhabits ruins on the southern border of Scotland, and takes his name from the crocheted cap he wears, which is kept red with the blood of victims. Like the giants, all Bogles are entirely anti­

social, hate mankind, and are hazardous to all who wander from a wilderness path. Their number includes the Bean-sidh (banshee) of Ireland and Scotland, who not only fortells death, but in lonely Highland streams, washes the blood-s~ained

clothing of those marked for death.

To this point, the faeries described have been those which have sprung from the goddess Danu, and are spirits of earth rather than water or air. The water spirits, must surely have f0rmuir blood, as aery few of their number are harmless to men.

It is ~ow generally thought that the Sidh, havina lost powers of magic to technological weapons of war in their various conflicts, were condemned to occupy partic~lar domains until dooms~ay. ~he Scott­ish Trows have thus been forced to take a place uder the hills while the BogIes have their swamps and the Bodachs a human dwelling-place. Others, as we will observe have been restricted to ponds, rivers lakes, rivers and the ocean depending on whether their inheritance is formuir or from one of the gods.

The Trows, are of very mixed blood, some occupying the land and others the sea. The former, who dwell mostly in the north-western Highlands are called the, "guid folk", or the "guid neighbours" by the Scots and the Islanders. Inhabiting the interior of green hills, they have a great deal in common with Leprechauns but are closer the Scandanavian Trolls in their habit.

Persons permitted the honour of visiting them, have come away dazzled by their homes, whose walls are said sheathed ~n gold and silver. The entrance and exit to

...... \,," 1'1\1' \. \l~~I"\

these barrows is always on opposite sides of the faery hill. The Trows have an elaborate social order, which includes marriage and the nuturing of children, a suggestion that they may be the major remnant of the Tuatha.

While diminutive in stature, they are perfect­ly formed and in former times travelled about on horseback or astride bullrushes, dressed in gay green costumes. They have, however, kept abreast of fashions, and except for size might be mistaken for newer races.

In addition to a fondness for horses, they like dancing and music. The Scottish Frocession of Trows is always preceded by a piper. Unlike the gods, the Trows are not free from disease, but are the possessors of infallible remedies, which they may share with man.

With these characteristics, it may be wondered why the pict or Scot will "sain" himself when passing a faery hill. Unfortunately, the Trows have all the thieving insticts of the Scandanavian Trolls. A Trow-woman will sometimes secretly milk cows in their byre, and when they desire

beef or mutton, they send their men to a nearby,farm armed with elf-stones. In killing livestock, the Trow magicians cast a cloud over the owner, so that they, and the animal being stolen, are invisible. They then replace the soon-to-be-missing creature with an elaborate facsimilie, which only differs f~om the original in the lack of nutritional value. This substitute is shortly involved in a violent accident, so that the fa~m~r thinks his loss an "act of God". The scots understand enough of the Trows that they will not consume the flesh of animals killed by any sudden means.

Women in lactation, and unchristened children are also at hazard. The form~r may be stolen as wet­nurses for Trow infants, and the latter used to expand the gene pool of the race, which is normally constrained. In stealing children, this elder race would substitute a changeling for the missing infant. Scottish parents convinced of_the presence of a Cn4"4 t-lJ'f\j

immediately cease to take an interest in its welfare. The replacement appeared exac~ in each detail, but was actually a magical construct based on a block of wood or a particularly old and ugly Trow, indulging himself in thi~ unsely joke. After a time, the changeling would appear to waste, die, and then be buried, while the real baby was raised in iaeryland. While the children might be treated well there, the mission­aries of the new Ltith insisted that, like the the druids, the TrDws intended these humans as part of their septannual offering, their tithe to the fienss of hell. The changeling could revealed by placing it on a red-hot shovel and throwing it into the fire on the hearth. If fay, it would immediately v~nish up the chimney, if not, an important error had been made. In the even that a changeling is discovered, its counterpart is usually restored at the door. There have been a few cases where human parents successfully regained their offspring by invading the "hollow hills", a procedure not generally rl:lcommended.

With regard to the Sea Trows, they seem to in­habit a very special location on the sea-bed. The ocean, in this region, provides them with respiration which would not be practical elsewhere. When they visit the land, they are obliged to enter the skin of an animal which lives in normal sea-water. Their favoured vectors are the Haaf fish or merma~ ,and the harbour seal. Landing on a rock, they may then cast off this sea-dress for their normal human shape, and walk about in the upper worls. However, they must take special care of their intermediate skins, as the loss will mean that they cannot re­enter the submarine world. The muir people, who obviously carry the formuir blood, may consent to marry humans, but will be forced by their heredity to return to the sea, if it is physically possible.

Water sprites, in general, possess powers in pro­portion to the size of the body of water which they occupy. The further inland theydwell, the less formuir background they have. The least harmful of the water tro~s is probably the Urisk, which resembles the satyr. lives in a smaal pond and minds its manners. The only peculiarity it possesses comes from a touch of human blood, which r~quires that it seek the company of men. Unfortunately, its uncanny appearance is terrifying to the solitary travellers it encounters.

Iv 10J

(

'.,

The Shellycoat is not much more alarming. It iliffersfrom theurisk in carrying about a covering of fresh-water shell~, which it rattles to attract passers-by, thus diverting them from their intended path. The Glastig, pictured above, is quite a difference creature, This sprite inhabits small streams and rivers, and feeds in vampire fashion on young men who are attracted by her physical pre sen c e . The Scan dan a v ian wo 1'd, " s t i g" mea n s to terrify, while the celtic, "glais" indicates the colours blue and gray, in combination. The Glaistig or Glastig dresses in a long f~owinghlue-gray gown to disguise her lower body, which is that of a female goat. In a poor humour, she will invite men to dance with her before ·consuming their blood. She

is, however ,entirely fay, and may decide to be heniqn. In this r~ll she may o:t:fer to tend cattle far: a farmer or baby-sit the children of the farmer's wife.

The Muir-Trow or selkies sharesthe sea and lochs with the shape-changer known as the Kelpie or water-horse. The kelp plant, a laminarian, known as oar-weed, occurs in vast dense undersea forests, quite near shore. These g i vethis fa y ere a t u rei t s name an d h a bit at. .U6 u a 11 y i tIS mostly submerged,but is capahle of running on the sur­face of the water. The magical powers of the Kelpie in­clude the ability to swell the waters of.a loch into a torrent. They may come ashore in the form of a very hairy, horse-like man, or as a horse. In the latter form they may allow humans to mount them ,and depend­ing on their humour may carry them on a precipitous dash, which ends with a plunge into cold water, or tear them to bits. They are said to have a malignant genius for attracting women and children to their weed infested dwelling place·. In their best mood they will warn seamen or swimmers of impending disaster by providing superbatural warning lights or sounds. If the person warned of death fails to heed the signs,

the Kelpie assumes they have a death-wish and assists them in attaining their desire.

The most awesome Scottish sea-faerie is the Nuckelavee. This Gaelic name indicates a sea creature which frequents capes or promnitories Like the Kelpie it is basically a horse, but of monstrous dimensions and with legs which are part flipper. No illustration of this faery will do justice to its single fiery eye, and mouth, which spring from mid-torso. The creature has long ,humanoid arms located in the same general area. Its worst feature is the absence of skin, so that black blood coursing through yellow vessels, white sinews, and red-meat muscles are all exposed at the animal's surface.

Almost the only possibilty of escape from the Nuckelavee lies in crossing from salt to fresh water, for the monster has a physiology which will not adapt to the change. In this respect, it illustrates the characteristic in­ability of the people of fay to travel far from the station allowed them at the present time.

Like the Celts, the faeries enjoy pomp, and their annual Rade, or procession, is the high­point of their year. This event coincided with Beltane and the coming of summer. The peasantry of Scotland used to view the parade by taking the precaution of placing a rowan bush br8nch over the window, through which they intended to spy on the activities. Those who have seen the'Rade concur that the individuals in it were encompassed in a supernatural light, all astride "wee white naigs, wi' unco lang sweeping tails and manes hung wi' whustles that the win' played on."

We have no less authority than Hugh Miller, the Scots geologist, to mark the end of this grand tradition, and the departure of the faeries from Scotland. Born in povertv, Miller went to work as a stone-masen in a Scottish quarry. By

very great effort .he became an eminent geologist, and an elegant writer and critic. In spite of his new-found advantages, he continued to have an interest in the fay world, and reported the final exodus of the faeries in his book, The Old Red Sandstone.

According to hi~, the event occured on a Sunday morning and was only observed by a herd-boy and his sister who had not joined the other members of their hamlet at Church services. The parade began at high noon, running out of a ravine through a wooded hollow, ·disappearing into the south-west. The observers said'that little people were larqely "stunted, misgrown, ugly creatures, attired in antique jerkins of plaid, long grey clokes, and little red caps." ;l~'s the entourage entered lJrush land to the west one last rider lingereq ,and was questioned. "What be ye little manie?" The creature is known to have responded, "Not of the race of Pdam. The people of peace shall never more be seen in Scotland."

This trow obviously had a misunderstanding of the nature of his race, but the faeries have been absent from Scotland since the time of the Hiqhland Clearances. When all of the Laird~s people became sheep, and they were forced to emigrate to North America, the basic resource of the Brownie and little people vanished into the west, and they were forced to follow, either to Ireland, or North America.

FAERIE TRANSPLANTED

The Victorian researcher Thomas Keightley has said that the Scottish faeries, "appear more attached to the m0 n arc h i a 1 for m 0 f go vern men t t han the i r n e i g h b 0 u r s . " He has credited this to the fact tha~ Caledonian guid people have "at all times held a place in the popular creed", and are the only nationality recognized in the laws of the country. It was however, KingH.d.lcolm Caemore, who substituted English for Gaelic in the Scottish court, and prefered Anglo-Norman customs to traditions of the northwest. The uaoine Hah, which is another name the Celts applied to the "good neighbours." had barely adjusted to attcks from the Culdee church when this monarch introduced Roman Catholicism. This religion proved even more dangerous to the fay, as it was pre-emptive of druidic holy days and customs, assimilating them by adapting them to new uses. The faeries are said to have been very insulted by King James, when he asserted that faeries were not, "any­thing that ought to be believed by Christians." The little people were aghast at the divisions, which led some Highlanders to support the Crown, while others fought for the English King at the Battle of Culloden While we know nothing of their politics, it has been suggested that their respect for the human monarch and that style of government waned, when the lairds of the land betrayed their tenants in the Cleaarances which followed this Battle.

One does not have to look far to find the displaced

members of the fay. They crossed the Atlantic in the same ships which transported exiled Jacobites and victims of later clearances to the eastern seaboard of North America. Many of their number possessed the magic of invisibility, so that free passage was not a problem, particularly when it is remembered that they were all adept at stealing food and supplies. While the shape-shifters have shown themselves capable of producing terrifying creatures, most can also appear as innocuous sheep or cattle, or even as hum n infants, allowing them a disquised passage.

Like their human numbers, the bodachs and the little people were put down on the closest landfalls, Newfoundland, the New England States and the M~ri­time Provinces. Yrom here, they have moved to occupy almost every corner of North America. There presence in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is a certainty. Bishop Carswell of Old Scotland com­plained in 1567, of the interest of the Scots in faerie tales, "vain, hurtful, lying, worldly stories." In 1921, a Nova Scotian cleric wrote, "Perhaps the only bad traits which (the Scots) have brought with them ... were their superstitious belief regarding witches, faires, ghosts,etc., and their fondness for whiskey." The faeries depend upon belief for

_.. ----~.-------_.---_.- ~_ ... -...

their existence, and the Highlanders have always been unwilling to recant their belief in the Sidhchean or little people.

The Christian churches, and especially the Presbyterian, have contended with the faeries because, in common with the ancient Druids, they practice magic. To begin with, magic is an oriental deviation; even the Greeks referred to it as the practice of the magi, or mayors of the Persian states. Our present mayors may need to be "wise men", but they have little magic at their disposal. A magus of Persia or Medea was consider2d wise because of control which he seemed to show over natural forces, occasionally blacking out the sun or moon on cue. It will be recalled that the Vulgate Bible has three "magi" riding out of the east to worship the infant Jesus. In the western world, the magi fell under suspicion of practicing black magic, and in later translations, the name was expunged and replaced with "three wise men".

While the Christians did not like faeries and magic, they were not disbelievers until comparative­ly recent times. The churc~has never ruled out the

~-,.. possible existence of demons, witches and goblins, in fact Scottish witch-burners would have been inactive except for them. The priests of the new religion never denied the practical application of pagan rites, but it was very much against having humans consult fay creatures in an attempt to gain knowledge. witchcraft, sorcery and devil worship have tradition­ally condemned, not as impractical and impossible, but as perniciously evil. While the early church banned black magic, which aimed at injuring enemies, it vascillated on the question of restricting white magic, which controls natural forces to the benefit of humans.

As an aside, it is interesting to not~ that three types of magic are extant. Sympathetic magic, which depends on the fact that "like affects like" is per­haps the simplest and most primitive. People who dislike having their picture taken sha~e something of the primitive fear that making an image of a person steals part of his soul. The voodoo queen who sticks pins in a doll containing hair and nail clippings from the intended victim is trying to perform sympathetic magic. Conservative religions, which see printed paper as pornogr ~hic are confusing flesh with an image, and subscribe to this belief, which is quite likely in error. The practitioner of sympathetic magic is usually heavily into the use of traditional spells or strict formualistic behaviour. Like the scientist, he believes that repeatable re­sults come from ritualistic acts. Divination, on the other hand, is much like natural science, in making observations from nature. There, the similar ity ceases as astrology, clairvoyence, augury, sorti­lege and necromancy all depend on self-contained theories, which cannot be tested by experimentation. Thaumaturqy, or wonder working, is the most physical

of these arts, and includes alchemy, the father of chemistry and physies, and the less highly re­garded legerdemain, jugglery, trickery, and sleight­of-hand, all of which the Church said were the activities of demons.

The Celts were interested in bardic literacy, but had no room in their tradition for the printed word. Their kin in Canada were no different, and it is estimated that, at first, only one in five could read and write. In this case, the New Bruns­wicker or Nova Scotian could not ,-t<}

., on the

local bookstore or library for entertainment. They depended instead on the local storyteller or "seanachaidh", the descendant of the druidic bard. These particular Gaelic speakers were capable of recounting folk-literature, which might provide hours of diversion. The rule was, "The host owes the first story, but the guest must speak until day-break." As with the earlier bards, the best­informed entertainer could recite long narrative poems based on Celtic mythology, and this included stories of the giants, the gods, and the faeries. The minds of those who perpetuated folk-culture were well stocked, but when the repetoire of the local entertainer had been exhausted, there was always the possibility that a visitor might come to the village with fresh tales or a different point-of-view. These were the raw matter of the ceilidh.

The ceilidh, or gathering, came after dusk when the settler could afford to give over his battle against poor soil and hard weather. In front of a great warm fire, the clans would again gather to listen to the "sgeulach6an,"the ancient folk-tales. The Protestant clergy in Scotland had attempted to kill this innocent form of entertainment, but they were at first loathe to follow their flock to the New World, and they had never been very successful in surpressing it. The Scots still retained their paganism to a degree, accepting the supernatural elements of their stories, trusting in the curative effects of forbidden incantations, and believing implicitly in, "da shealladh" or second sight, the divination of uncomfortable events which lie in the future. Even those not blessed with the ability to observe a phantom funeral party, might see "taibhs" or forerunners, a taste of the future~ perhaps a railway headlight running through forests where rails were not yet

I I.

II

I

I

laid.

This new Celtic world was, in some respects similar to the old. The superstitions were certainly the same, but the land was different, and more than one faery must have agreed with the humans who penned words such as these:

I've been doomed to stagnate here the rest of my life, with little amusement in this gnarled forest and without anyone to ask me if I'd sing a song.

If I'm not careful about my cloth­ing my nose and lips get frozen; my ears are always in serious danger from the north wind, which is bitter and biting.

It's no wonder I'm gloomy here living here back of the mountains in the middle of the wilderness with nothing better than plain potatoes.

Abraham· ~sner declared the Scots the best suited to contend the Canadian wilderness, but this did not alleviate their homesickness. Like the fay

I!Ged chaidh an sgapadh air gach taobh Cha chaochail iad an gnaths."

Although they were scattered in every direction, they did not change their ways.

While the character of the fay remains, their physical characteristics have altered .

. ,.

The shape-changing abilities of the group have always been adv~ntageous in adapting to new lands. Internationally, faeries have much in common, but there are national differences which relate to geography, land cover and climate

Scotland, for example, has a north-west highland region, which is virtuRlly devoid of trees. This explains why their mythology makes no r~ference to the woods faerie3, which are so prevalent in England, Ireland, and Germany. In fact, in medieval Scotland, wood was such a scarce commodity that trees were literally at the disposal of the Grown, with tenant farmers only allowed to take away that which they could obtain, "by hook or by crook."

As we have seen, the emigrant Highlander was very offended by the claustrophobic natur~ of the North American forest, and alm03t his first act was to clear a space, using his axe and fire. Impatient, unknowing settlers sometimes tried to produce the "coille dhubh", or black forest in summary fashion, by torching the trees as they stood. By this means they succeeded in burning a wide swath of New Bruns­wick, from Oromocto south to the Bay of FMndy.

__--"_0.~= -:;__ .

It may be thought that the good neighbours were equally ill at ease in this strange land, and must have had sympathy' for settlers like the Bard Maclean, who wrote,

Many a labour I'll be involved in before I can make my living secure; my work will be exhausting before I can get any returns from it, and befor I make a clearing for the plough. Piling tree-trunks on top of each other in bonfires has strained every muscle in my back, and every part of me is so black [hat I'm just like a chimney-sweep.

As Scottish faeries are very direct in their thinking, and quite suggestible, it was probably not long before one reacted to a human statement which wished the trees consumed by the flames of hell. Certain of the clan were quite capable of performing this very minor piece of magic. Since this proved a useful service, certain backwoods bodachs have since specialized in pyromania. They were at first refe~r€d to as Usidean dubh, or Black Hugh. The proper name is believed to be a form of the old gaelic, or pictisl}, word " ao idh" which is phoenetically difficult in English, and is either represented by the letter "y" or as "Kai". A.lmost all Scottish words, still in use, are des c rip t i v e, and t his mea n s " f Ii reo r fir e - bra n d .

Black Hugh continues to stalk the woods of New Bruns­wick and Nova Scotia, b'1t is nO\1 less proasically,J

known as the "·Fire-stalker". In years when employ­ment is at a low level, the creature does his bit for the economy by creating woods fires. Blame for forest-fires is frequently laid against humans, but it will be observed that few are brought to justice, suggesting that some external villain is at work. It has been suggested that present­day fire-starters work with gasoline and matches, but we prefer the earlier image of the shape-changer, diminutive Black Hugh, who could periodically become an antlered fire-breathing fire-stalker.

In English Abidh is variously transcribed as Quoid, Kay, Coy, or Cay. The addition of the pre­fix "Mac", or "Me", which simply means, "son of" forms our own family name. It has been suggested that our ancestors were so named for having a "hot temper", but this is improbable.

Having cleared land, the next perogative of the Highland settler was the creation of a water mill to create power, to saw boards, so that the tempor­ary log shanty might be replaced by a clap-boarded hume. The tenant farms of Scotland were, of course, constructed of stone, which was not universally

avaliable in the Mlcitimes, but more ofteQ, .the local product was simply unsuitable.

Water-power ~as also used to grind grains, and the 'Bodachs of Scotland have always included a sub-species known as the "Killmoulis", .,.rho haunts mills A loose translation of the name is, "a voracious changeling, fond of grains. He is usually char~cterized.as having an enormous nose and no mouth, and presumably eats using this orifice, hence the modern appellation, "Stuff it up your nose." While the Killmoulis works industriously for the miller, he is fond of grain which has been converted to alcohol, and delights in practical jokes, so that this clan tend to have been a hindrance .,in the colonial mill. \'lhen mills became centralized factories, the Killmoulis seems to have disappeared as a group. The above wood-cut was executed by a Victorian artist, who claimed to. have observed these bodachs in 1875. Their costumes seem influenced by Middle English prototypes

The next most important shop in the early M~r­itime community was that of the blacksmith, but as iron was repulsive to the faer~e, they did not work

here, considering this occupation a symbol of man's degenerate nature in his reliance on technology.

While the Scottish little people were unused to life in the woods, like man, they quickly adapted and some agreed with Malcolm Gillis of Cape Breton who wrote, "There's no place under the sun where I would rather stay." Man and fay eventually came to the conclusion that even the harsh winter had advantages.

In the surly winter the wind comes with its shrill whistle, and there's a loud moaning among the trees under the blast of the storm. There's deep snow in each valley and heavy drifts around every door; but we have food and warmth, and we're companionable and contented.

The good neighbours re-established themselves under the hollow hills of Kings and Queens Counties, in the new-world muirs and moors, at the sea-side, and even in the deep forests, where they encountered diminished peoples of Irish, English, German and North American Indian extraction.

, I

I

1802 1848 1881

with one exception, the people of faenie have be­come progressively smaller and older in age, both in­dlcations of decreasing power. Palmer Cox managed to reversing the aging process for his Brownies, but they became reduced from twenty four to about eight inches. The exception is Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus or Sinter Klaus, a peculiar North American apparation which appears only at the Chrlstmas season.

When Clement Moore published, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas", at New York in 1848, he fleshed out the old bones of several Western Eur~pean mythical figures. Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop residing in Asia Minor about the year 300 A.D. He had already been declared the patron saint of Russia, the supporter of sea-faring men, thieves, virgins, and children, when Moore decided to use him as a convenient prop in his faery story. with these qualifications, and the added bonus that the old gentleman was v~ry liberal with the poor, the poet probably felt that he could not po~sibly

offend the Christian religion of that period.

Probably something of the English Robin Goodfellow and their pagan father Christmas can be detected in today's Santa Claus? Robin is first noted in Elizabeth-

d j) tim e, the 0 f f s p r i n g 0 fa" he e - fay r i e" and a " proper young wench". He is described as having, "the 'charac­ter of the Nis or Brownie", being both a prankster and person who distributes gifts to favoured humans. Father Ch~istmas was,of course, the figure who presid­ed over December 25~h after the Church pre-empted pagan

festivals set for that same date. The earliest celebrations at that time had been orgiastic, but the tendancy to drink and overeat remained after the new religion was in place.

There were Teutonic influences in the dress of Santa Claus and his interest in toys. Our 1802 woodcut illustration delineated by Ludwig R lchter, showing Germ an peasant dress of that period shows the source of his uniform. Notice, particularly the fur-trimmed surcoat and hat? Moore I s Saint Nicholas, taken from the 1848 first edition of his book is based on every child's sea-going great-uncle in mid-Victorian New England. In the deep-wa~er days following the American Revolution almost every seaboard family had a father-figure, who travelled ex­tensively, sending home a wooden crate full of exotic Christmas presents from some foreign po r t . Hen c e the pat ron s ai n t 0 f sea - far i n g men was at first presented as a pipe-smoking bearded master-mariner, ,dressed in faintly foreign clothes and carrying a sailor's sling full of toys for the children.

It is probably coincidence, but the surname, Moore is derived from "muir", or "mor", the first referring to the sea and the second to the damp bogs of northern England and Scotland. A minor bogie or bogle of these regions was the Brown man or Brownie of the moors, who is pro­tected from the cold by his own covering of fur. His duty was the protection of birds and small animals, which had been accidently injure~.

The first santa, it will be remembered was, "dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot. He was definitely one of the little peopl as he drove "a miniature sleigh ... "

Thomas Nast who formalized that "jolly old elf" as a person larger than life followed the earlier design when he ,first pictured him in 1863. Three years later when he submitted his famous montage, "Santa Claus and His Works", to Harper's magazine, it will be noticed that he dropped the title, "Saint Nicholas". Nevethe­less for a number of years Santa continued to appear dressed in brown furs and standing at twenty-four inches. Even in 1881, when Nast had allowed him to exceeed six feet in height, with girth to match, he continued to dress in skins. In the 1890's, he finally turned in

his fur-coat for a more economical red flannel great­coat, with fur trim at the margains. The red coat did not become an invariable uniform until after World War I.

While Santa Claus belongs to no national group, it seems clear that he shares some blood with the Brownie clan, and as we note from Thomas Nast's illus­stration of Santa being greeted by a Brownie Maitre d' for Christmas dinner, he still maintains contact with his elf-like cousins. While some insist that his residence is the North Pole, we nottthat the central unpopulated wildreness of New Brunswick contains "North Pole Mountain, Santa Claus Mountain" and surrounding hills, each named for his various reindeer.

Father Christmas was always illustrated as pro­posing a toast before a huge wassail bowl. "Great faeries think themselves great drinkers", a characteristic they hold in common with the Hiqh­landers. The Scots ~rought with them their whisky and their music, both considered as equal vices by the clergy. Changelings might appe~r

as animals or human infant~, but as the above wood-cut shows, they were addicted to anythino but milk. It is amusing to note that "Rose O'Neill's sober little, nl,lde "Kewpies" are based on such.

Like Santa, the Kewpies are a North American phenomena. RDse O'Neill showed great cupidity in illustrating this sexles~, benevolent group of faeries. They were introduced to the public by way of The Ladie's Horne Journal in 1909. They next appeared in the Woman's Home Companion in a series entitled, "Dotty [arling and the Kewpies", a story, illustrated with verse, which commenced in 1910, and which continued through 1914. The "Kewpie Cut-Outs were published in the sme year.

The ffritish produced Bisque Kewpie dolls in 1912, but covered their nudity with the uniforms of farmers, soldiers and firemen. The undressed G2rman-made Kewpies, designed by the George Bong­feldt Company came out in the following year. Joseph Callus of Cameo [Jll Products produced his own line created from pressed and painted wood-pulp starting in 1914, but the most recent versions have been of vinyl or plastic. Stuffed cloth Kewpies first appeared in 19128, and afterwards Saafield published Kewpie games, colouring and paper doll books.

The Scottish or the Irish clergy would probably have objected to the appearance of the Kewpies,

with the exception of the Catholic~, who had a chaste clergy, they were far less offended by sexual activity than the suggestion of it, which they perceived in nude figure$. As they believed in sympathetic magic they disliked the "lying s tor i e s" 0 f the "lower c I ass e s I" and whis key which might re-inforce a belief in the little people or anti-Christian beings. They had an equal disdain for "worldy music", which tended to gather people and expose them to possible immorality.

In Scotland, they actually succeeded in stamping out the halp, the lyre, and the bellows-pipe, all instuments preferred by the fay. They fulminated, in an ineffectual way against bagpipes and the fiddle, the instrument favoured by that changeling, "Old Scratch". Ev.en so, the Protestant clergy (lid much harm to the veracity of their religion,and the Celtic psyche, by smashing fiddles, .and burning the pipes of the carnally-inclined Scotsman. Alex Carmichael, pressed by the Pr~sbyterian elders, sold his fiddle to a peddlar for ten shillings. Not only did he lament the absence of the music but the fact that, "I myself gave the best cow in my father's fold for it when I was young." Ac-.;ording. to the best reports, he was never again seen to smile.

OLD COOT

Unquestionably, "Auld Scratch, Auld Cootie", or ".Auld Nick" has musical talent, and is invaribly attracted to week-end dances, and can always be persuaded to take part in fiddling contests. Next to Santa Claus, he is probably the best-known North American member of the fay. The term "old coot" is still applied to rather ill-tempered elderly men, but the Scots used it in a more singular way. The Gaelic word, "coot"has first reference to a bird, known informally as the Muree, which harks back to that old word, "muir" meaning sea. Technically, this bird is one of the genusfulica, a slow-flying duck-like bird, which has habits of stupidity, so that it can, "hardly be classed as a game bird. This name tells us that the Celts considered this character to be a descendant of the formors, "a gull, a simpleton, a thing of little worth, a stupid fellow", all secondary meanings of the word coot. The Scots also like to refer to this devil as "Auld Reekie", the latter being a derivation of the Gaelic, "rauch", which is a verb, meaning, "to emit a filthy smoke". "Scratch", was borrowed by the Scots from the Icelandic race, their word, "skratt", being used to identify a goblin or a wizard, and Ole Scratch does have his magic moments. "Nick" is of un­certain origin, but it definitely meant to cheat or defraund. It has particular reference to serv­ing beer in "nicked" glasses, i.e. those specially fabricated with false bottoms, so as to give the patron short measure.

All of these unsely names are equivalent of "old serpent", with the implicati.ons understood by both pagani and Christians. They are roughly the same in meaning as the Hebrew Satan, which refers to the supreme adversary of man and C~d.

Traditionally, we have seen that the Celts con­sidered their gods to control aspects of nature, but thought them otherwise capable of error and defeatable. When Christian myths were introduced to them, they found the concept of a central per­sonification of evil difficult. They could not accept that Satan, or the De'il, might have one leg up over their truly malevolent assortment of Sea Trows and land bogles. It was obvious to them that the Old Coot must be a slow-flyer mentally, since he had made such a bad choice at the beginn­ing of time. While they did admit that he possess­ed superior physical skills, and was a moderately good magician, there are recorded instances where he has been tricked by human-k~nd.

The Scots have distinguished between the0'evil and his devils, which can hardly be identified as supreme spirits of evil and unrighteousness. It is useful to note that the Scots capitalized the w0 r d "t row", in rna kin g s p e cia 1 ref ere n c e to an unusually virulent example of this clann.

We have records of the presence of this we}l appointed, but stupid, "lord of "flies", from the year 1919, when he lived briefly in a rural area, about twelve miles from the City of Mbncton. Residents might have been forewarned by the fact that he called himself, Mr. Fisher, a word which, secondarily, means, "to obtain by artifice." In this quest, he assembled a valuable collection of books on the occult, and openly admitted to the practice of black magic.

His Christian neighbours were offended, while others were annoyed by the malicious practical jokes, which they suspected he practiced on them. Descriptions of him, have him wearing a tall black hat, and out-moded clothing, covered by a waking cape, entirely black with a crimson lining. He was particularly keen on privacy and walked the bounds carrying a wooden cane, intricately carved with offensive erotic figures. He apparently was skilled with carving chisels, and over time extended his wooden array of unsely figures to the fence posts, which marked his bounds.

He boasted of using elemental forces to harvest his crops, and said that his hay was flown to the loft by spirits of the air. Challenged to display his powers, he removed his tall boots, and caused them to walk alone across a floor and back. When he died, seemingly of natural causes, his house was avoided. In later years a number of campers from the united States un­knowingly used the premises, but did not remain over night, and left a quantity of expensive gear behind.

I have personally encountered a person of similar dress, and saturnine appearance, while engaged in the antiquarian book trade. He was, appropriately enough, accompanied by a dwarf who had very little to say, beyond confirming his companion's comments and opinions. When he requested occult books, I was fortunate to be able to provide Holme's book on seances.

As local legend has it, "Old Scratch" or "Auld Cootie" can still be persuaded to participate in fiddling contests. This member of fayre has been given the name, which the Scots and the Saxons first applied to an ungainly duck-like bird, which they notedflew slowly, and was easily taken. It will have been noted that the Celts considered their gods only margainally superior to man.When introduced to the Christian concept of a central personification of evi1,they 'found it diff~cult

to believe that Satan, or the DeviJ, might have one leg up over their truly malevolent assortment of sea trows and bogies. While that Old C'"ot might be cunning, they considered it obvious that he had not the brains needed to make an obvious choice between good and evil. While the Scots considered that he could narely be su~assed

in exercising physical skills, such as fiddling or dancing, they could r~count numerous instances where he had been defeated in playing ward games, which wer~ their specialty.

The Hebrew satan has been pictured as the supreme spirit of evil and unrighteousnes~, a powerful prince of the unsely court. Clearly old Nick is not this ~ame irresistable tempter and spiritual enemie of mankind, but some lesser follower, possessing a full bag of magic trick~,

all of which can be resisted. It is useful to note that the Gaelic word, "Trow" may be capitalized and is then synonymous with Devil.

While Trow equals the Scandanavian "Troll", the latter grDup includes the Dwar fu or Bergs, which are not a part of Scottish mythology.The Scots do have the equivalent of their Hill people, their river people and the Necks of the sea, but the Elves are notably absent.

In the Maritime~, I the Scots faeries did not abstain from contact with Indian, German, Irish and English land, sea, and air spirits. There are still pockets of Scottish fay in Cape Sreton and Mainland Nova Scotia, but in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island they are now of a very mixed blood, with consquent peculiarities ~f form and character.

The wa t e r s p r i t e, wh i c h t he Scot s call, " Tan 9 ie " after the Tang, a seaweed with which he is covered is not found in Ireland. Eire also lacks the Kelpie, the Fachanand the various monsters of loch and sea, normally found in Scotland. The gene pool of the North American fay is much richer than that of Europe.

The little people of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia resemble their European counterparts in every respect. They vary in size from about nine inches in heiqht to two and one-half feet, and are completely humanoid, except in their altered states.

The Little Man of Ghost Hollow, near Seal Cove, on Grand Manan Island, is one of these Sidhe. About ten years ago he was described by an islander as "just a little old man with an old-fashioned flat-topped hat. He comes out, especially on a foggy night, and runs along be­side your car, and sometimes throws himself in front of it." In the latter case, it is a projection which collides with the automobile, and no damage is done except to the nerves of the driver.

,

It seems patent to us that Saint Nick, Old Nick, the Firestalker and the bodachs are not the sale representatives of the faery race in the New World. Publications, from the earliest date, are full of illustrations of the numerous types of New World Daoine Sidh. Our redrawing of an erghty-six year ol~ wood-cut, clearly shows one of the "guid neighbours" in a Loyalist period costume.

~---~====:::

Faery costumes, on this Continent, are an international mix1 which extends from an extreme of summer nudity, through natural coverings of moss and leaves, to archaic dress patterned after that once favoured by particular races Of man. Males among the little people sometimes still favour the traditional red conical hat, which may end in a peak or be truncated, as shown a­bove. Among some people, these caps are consid­ered the source of the faeries' magical power of invisibility.

At Whale Cove, again on -Grand Manan Island, Lyman Lorimer described being followed and mimed by an invisible "neighbour." He had gone to his herring weir one evening to check the catch~

a walk of three-quarters of a mile. Wh{le en­joying the beauty and isolation of a moon-lit night, he became aware of the sound of parallel foot-steps. When he stopped walking, the foot­steps quickly failed. When he broke off a near­by twig, his -invisible companion duplicated the act. Lorimer could see the twig break and fall, but detected no obvious company, in spite of the bright moon light. When he sat on the beach displacing stones, stones a few feet away began to roll down the slope.

-D~sm~ssing these incidents, the Islander pick­ed up a stone, which he threw into the water to watch it skip the surface. His act was duplica­ted. On tne return to his home Lyman stopped to

discuss these events with a neighbour, Leaman wilcox. wilcox said that he had had similar experiences, and allayed fears that this fay creature would follow Leaman home': "No, he be­]ungs here, he'll stay here." At these words the Little Man of Whale Cove displayed his anger and resentment by vigorously shaking a nearby clump of fir trees. As in the old world, our goblin was magically bound to a designated region.

As we have said, in Scotland solitary faeries choose to live in ancient earth-works, ruined forts or even grave barrows or bogs, but communal Sidhe of the Land Trow variety are always found under the hollow hills. ·~t night faerie hills can be identified as they are often ablaze with miniature lights. Sometimes the top of the hill will rise upon pillars to reveal the br~lliant

in ter ior 1 igh ts and perhaps a 'RBde, or proc e s s ion, passing f'1"Om one hill to another. Lammas Tide (August~) is the traditional evening of migration, but in other areas the date may be quite different.

When the faery choose to change residence it is unwise to cross the well-trodden faery paths, which un in straight lines between their var­ious residences. The fay are thought to shed magic as they travel, an invisible radiation, which criss-crossed Scotland with invisible webs of energy_ Over the millenia, a residual con­centration has accumulated at crossing points, and these junctions are historically close to the location of the standing stones and places for druidic worship.

In Norway, some of the Alfar or Elves, who are similar to the Scottish Trows, are believed to dwell under the houses of mankind, rather than in natural locations. The Caledonian massif, the St. Croix Highlands, New Brunswick Highlands, Cape Breton Highlands, and the Nova Scotia Uplands all contain the truncated hollow hills of the little people. Other regions contain sedimentary base­ments, rather than igneous rock, and here, the people occupy salt caverns of follow the Scandanavian pattern. Ln this country, where the more extreme weather demanded basements, rather than homes built on cleared ground, the little people first found a place in the rock walls of colonial homes. Until insulation was introduced, they also housed be­tween the floors of homes or in walls, locations they still prefer.

The fay are sportive, mischievous, and imitate

the actions of men. When they dwell beneath, or in the house they dem~d cleanliness of the human occupants, and will reward those who are neat and clean in their habits. In the nocturnal hours they can, of course, be heard moving between the walls and partitions. They may also create noises or breezes to bemuse any human who is up and about. In our own residence, they periodically imitate the sound of a ticking clock during the daylight, as well as in the evening. When the observer approaches close to the wall the sound will cease, and return as soon as he backs off. The fay are not thieves, but they are borrowers, and may take away a small portion of food, a spoon, or perhaps eyeglasses for utilitarian or amusment purposes. When they use a commodity, they will pay for .it. We were once left a one-pence coin from the period of William IV, dated 1832, in the pass-through from the Butler's Pantry. Others are said to have been recompensed with small chips of pure gold, which have unfortunately not always been recognized for their true worth. New additions to the human range of possessions often attract the attention of the fay. Any small, newly-purchased item may disappear for a time, only to re-appear in an unlikely location.

-------_._----­--------------------------------­

Occasionally, the faeries have been seen as residents of a house, even before construction was completed. At Point Edward in Cape Breton Island six brothers and their sist~rs observed little people with "brownish bodies ... jumping back and forth on unfinished beams in a merry fashion." Folklorist Helen Creighton has written that: "Stories of the little people are told very sel­dom these days, but the few instances we have prove thet belief in their presence is not com­pletely foreign to our soil."

F~eries are not always fortunate in choosing their residence, and from Oak Bay, Charlotte County, N.B. we have a report of a group which decided upon the underfloor of a farm out building. The faerie~ had only been in place a few wee~s

when th~ owner installed a herd of dairy cattle, turning the building into a cowshed. The dirt and filth ~reated by the cattle very seriously annoyed the fay, who made their quarrel known by upsetting milk pails and creating a poltergeist­

like atmosphere. Fi~ally, a written.message was left for the fa~mer, that he should either remove the cows, o~ have reason to repent. Since he regarded the message as foolish malevolence on the part of some neighbou~ ,and not the "guid neighbours," he paid scant attention. The next day he was engulfed by an avalanche of" hay from the loft, and when he emerged gasping and exhaust­ed into the fresh air, he found his entire herd with broken necks. Other observers said they saw the little people removing that same night to the lower meadow. In the old country the!r passage would have been in coaches, led by their monarch in a particularly resplendant vehicle. In this more democratic situation they were seen using miniature farm wagons of no particular distinction. They have since occupied the meadow, but the farmer has been unable to keep cows, because they soon sicken and die.

Like the birds, faeries are extremely territorial, and Stuart Trueman in ~hosts, Pirates and Treasure Troves describes a similar happening in a barn on the St. John River, two miles below Hartland. From time to time, this particular barn has been seen ablaze from the distant shore, but when volunteer

fire-fighters rush to the scene there are never flames and there are no smouldering embers. White men have ascribed this supernatural activity to the restless ~pirits of their kind killed in the early clashes between the French and the English, but the Micmac and M~liseets have their own legends of an aboriginal little people, whose domain they respect.

Years ago, two white men crossed to the island in order to process grains stored their ·over the winter. They worked all day without impediment, but found themselves marooned when the weakened spring ice suddenly moved down river. They were, therefore, forced to make straw-strewn bunks be­low the hay-loft. Both awoke simultaneously in the night, aware of a nearby threatening presence. Without warning great piles of hay were dumped on them, and they nearly suffocated. Struggling up to the fresh air, they were again confronted by a chilly invisible presence, and had barely set­tled again when another slide of hay fel'l upon . them. Picked up outside the barn the ~ext day, they were cold, haggard and thoroughly cowed.

. -- ---..--__:-__.__ a ._. " _

MOTHER G00DY

Not all faeries are this selective of their 'com­pany. Mother Goody is a solitary female Bodach who actually prefers co-habiting with human families. Her origin is probably Anglo-~aRon, since her de­scriptive name comes from that language. The meaning of "mother" is clear, bui" "good" was once the equivalent of "god" or "godly." In earlier times, the titles "goodman" and "goodwife" were used as forms of address, somewhat like "mister" and "missus." These were applied to the heads of family, landowners and householders. Later, they were specifically applied to those lower in status than the "gentleman" or the "gentlewoman." Goodwife was eventually contracted to "goody:' and used to

._--~_. -<--~_.~---_ .. -._ ...

identify a married, elderly woman of the working class. The Scot's equivalent is the "Cailleach," or female bodach.

The fay, or faeries, were also referred to as "the good people," "the good neighbours" or "the good folk," by humans who recognized their ability to work magic, for gOOd, or evil. "Mother Goody obviously ranks a bit higher than the gObdwife, and has characteristics somewhat akin to the Lowland Browpie, or Highland Bodach. She is one ofthe" I i"t tIe p e 0 pIe" ina ph y sic a I sen s e, and is also a menial, performing household duties in return of a solitary corner, and a minimum of food. She is usually invisible and nocturnal, but makes her presence known on the eve of the Feast of the Three Wise Men, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas. Then she may leave small gifts, such as hand-made doll clothing or goody-goodies (confections) for children who have been helpful to their parents.

It is a great mistake to attempt to enter any faerie property uninvited, and this includes the chimney-corners of the Bodachs. There is, however, no prohibition against discreet observation and friendly watchers may be invited within. If the faeries are reluctant to make themselves visible, the entrance to their hill may be located by walking nine times counter-clockwise around the hill under the full moon. Those wise enough to avoid an unwanted entry may hear faery music if an ear is pressed to the ground.

Because the hollow hills contain treasure and are the burial place of the most respected wee­folk, one cannot idly invade or desecrate their domain. In Scotland the faeries are said to have removed houses, churches and castles which in­fringed on their property. Houses built imprudent­ly across a faery path will suffer poltergeistic activities. In Ireland one such house had a cor­ner in this location. At night the house was filled with noise and the passage of animal feet, until the offending corner was removed restoring peace to the residents.

Perhaps the most obvious offenders of faery tradition were the R)mans, whose walls, built to contain the Picts, crossed the entire country from east to west. They had not been long in place, when their size was reduced by nightime activity, so that one came, slightingly to be referred to as "Graham's Ditch."

In Great Britain, entryways are sometimes con­structed with the front and back doors in a line to provide a faery path through the house. As the fay can de-materialize and squeeze through key-holes this is a perfect solution for the house­holder. This is a common construction in Maritime homes of the colonial period, where a central hall ­way has been added to isolate their activities from the sleeping family.

Invitations to enter a faerie hill should be treated with caution, and any offer of food or drink should be refused, as this will lead to perpetual enslavement. Micmac and Scottish legends relating to the "hollow knoll" agree that faeryland is usually approached through an entry located under the roots of trees, and that there is danger involved whether the passage is warrant­ed or not. The MLcmac god, Glooscap, was said to

-------

live underground in a cavern which whites referred to as "The Fairy Hole." According to their legends members of the tribe might investigate the outer rooms, but curious whites would have their lights extinguished and could not pass the ante-chamber.

From the first, man has been ambivalous toward the faeries, for while they can be generous, they can be baneful if they feel their honour has been offended. In other days, the unaccountable death of animals was known to be due to the use of alf­arrows and alf-shot against man. It was thought that such missiles made no wound, a~d when tipped with hemlock, produced paralysis. "Stroke," used in the sense of a paralytic seizure, originally referred to "elf-stroke." Similarly, rheumatism, cramps and bruising, were thought due to faerie pinches, in penalty for offending some part of­the wee folk.

The disease of tuberculosis, once called con­sumption, was in the rural Maritimes, ~ regard­ed as a sign that the victim had made compulsive visits to a faery hill, engaging in successive nights of revellry. This explained why the con­sumptive suffered night sweats and appeared weak and exhausted in the mornings. Polio, or infan­tile paralysis, was considered the mark of a changeling. It was assumed that the process of magically producing a facsimile from a block of wood had been incomplete, leaving the child with one, or more, "wood limbs." This persuasive attitude is responsible for the continuing bias against lameness, hunched backs, and facial de-" formities, all thought to represent the displeasure or malice of faeries.

One weapon used ag~nst man was their arrows, made of bog reed, tipped with white flint and

carried in quivers made of the cast off skin of snakes. Their bows were made of the rib of a man buried where three laird's lands meet. The elf­arrows are small and triangular, aDd are sometimes mistakenly ascribed to the aboriginal peoples of the Maritimes, but it has to be recalled that flint is not a native stone. These pieces are most plenti­ful in Scotland although also found in England and Ireland. While the wound from one of these arrows is imperceptable to common eyes, those with "the gift" can discern and cure such wounds.

Twenty-six Cape Bretoners were witness to a three year marathon involving elf-stones. During this time, a scottish croft was bombarded for all but 72 hours, on regular schedule, day and night. Sometimes glass windows were broken, but at other times these flying objects came in through open doors or simply materialized in the room. When a visitor, Angus MacDonald, said: "I don't believe in these old wives tales," a sharp edged rock immediately flew through the air, and lodged in his chin. Sitting before an open door, in the heat of the moment, Angus cried out, "Next time throw it better, so I can catch it." The Trow immediately complied and the poor Sco~ found him­self digging a stone from the soft part of his hand. Angus next used his pocket knife to inscribe a cross on the stone, knowing this to be a protection against the fay. He then threw the missile over the stoop and heard it splash in a nearby stream. In half an hour, the incident had been lazily dis­missed from conversation, when another stone cmme hurling through the air and bounced off the wall. When Angus retrieved it, he was much surprised to find that it carried his mark and was still wet with water.

The stones thrown by faeries are not invariably poisoned, and in this country the less virulent poison oak and poison ivy are substituted for hem­iock, which is not a native plant. Neither are elf­stones necessarily small and of evil intent. A Hall's Harbour, N.S. fisherman-farmer has said: "I was bringing the cows home and walking along and a stone as big as your fist came through the air and landed right handy to me. John and Billy seen a strange light at the same time." This instance was taken as an indication of buried treasure. Although the trio did not succeed in finding anything of value, they pointed to another individual who: "got rich quick, and there's no other way of accounting for it."

),1/;

Human transgressions can also lead to the blighting of crops. The English faeries have had a traditional as~ociation with the plant world: acting as protect­ors of the birch, alder, ash trees, and as guardians of many of the wildflowers. They therefore, possess easy knowledge of the me~s of afflicting crop plants.

The small irritations of life are similarly heap­ed upon mischievous faeries. Our own children talk­ed frequently with Mimi, Dossa, and Kerger Dumlin (possibly Dumb One?) The last was a particularly violent creature, likely to overturn flower pots, and create other incidents, which we as adults were apt to ascribe to offspring. We know, of course,' that they take away the items we Cannot find, and the tangled hair of men and animals is due to their over-night activities.

Helen Creighton lists 444 home remedies against the blighting magic of faeries. Lone humans, abroad at night, are in a vulnerable position, as are child­ren. This is why parents of children in my generation

--~- ,

used to"be pinned to their mother's c~at-tail or tied to her apron strings. When out "on-town" this was considered the only secure means of pre­venting the child from being exchanged for a change­ling.•

r-r"om the earliest times, men have "been Trow-led in returning from a fair or market in the dead of night. Some have said, on Bible-oath, that they detected the laughter of little folk while their other senses spun like a mill-wheel. In this situation the faeries had the magic to. displace familiar landmarks. "We once knew a man who, one night, could not find his way out of his own fields until he recollected to turn his coat." This device is always effective, in fact, any article of clothing, reversed, will release the human revellers caught in a faery ring.

Because bells are noisy and made of iron, those attached to a horse's harness, or to clothing will repulse the fay. The shape of a bell is also similar to that of the foxglove, which some little folk wear for hats, and resembles the Scottish Law (which is a conical hollow-hill). Faeries may be attracted by the shape, only to find themselfes badly beaten by the bell clapper. Iron nails in the pocket or open scissors hung above an infant's crib are also supposed to be effective prophylactics. The horseshoe, combining iron with a moon symbol, is considered especially useful if hung prongs upward over the door. A knife kept un d e r the pill o.w g u a ran tee s are s t f u 1 s 1 e e p . In a similar bent, mankind employs iron pins to ward

off the baleful influences of witches, arid stirs medicinal preparations with an iron spoon.

Christian religious symbols are distasteful to the fay. A crucifix or cross hung in the room, or used as a mark on the top of food is supposed useful, as is the presence of a Bible. Some faeries equate all water with holy water, which is why they will not cross running water.

The old country Scots used to place the red Rowan bush or a red ribbon over the front door. They also interwove red ribbon into th~ tails of valued cattle, both to ward off witches and faeries. In the case of knotted or woven ribbon it i.s con­sidered to form a binding or fettering force a­gainst elementals.

The colour red is generally thought to have curative or prophylactic qualities. In this country, the mustard plaster for severe colds was applied under a red flannel, and red clover, dried and steeped, would reduce fever. Red flannel under­wear, preferred by our antecedents, opposed the effects of rheumatism. Red clover could also, "purify the blood" and red flannel was also used in rites against witches.

Rowan trees with their red berries, have always been thought effective against bad spirits. ROwan wood was used to make butter churns so that witches and faeries would not interfere with the solidification of butter. The Victorians considered whips made of this wood to be the only means of controlling a bewitched horse.

More esoteric means of keeping down the faeries include the stringing of daisy chains or the strew­ing of flax throughout the house; placing shoes with their toes pointing away from the bedstead; leaving a sock under the bed; laying a broom across the portal; or displaying a boquet of daisies.

While it is unsafe to take faery-food within their residence, the reverse holds true in other circumstances. One encounter at Sugar Loaf, eape Breton, points this out. A group of woodsmen suspected little people when they notices smoke in an area without human habitation. The nearby

-_.---­ - ._---_._­.~---_.---

hills seemed constructed entirely of clay, so they cut down a sizeable tree ano struck the top of one of the hills, producing a hollow echo. From beneath the ground they could detect voices re­peating the phrase: "Dh dear, my hedge is hurt."

Leaving off this sport, they returned to work, and soon after one of the lumbermen said' "I wish I had a drink of buttermilk." Shortly a little man appeared offering a wooden dish full of the substance. The individual, who had made the re­quest, was suspicious and refused the drink, but his work partner happily consumed all of it : " d the feller that didn't drink the buttermilk, he didn't have any luck afterwards, but him that drunk the buttermilk, he had luck long's he lived." This traditional Cape Breton tale has been repeated, as fact, as recently as 1961.

The Scots of Antigonish County, Nova Scotia have been less certain that an invitation to enter a "round hill" meant total disaster. There was one such "Fairy Hill" on a broad plain at Upper South River. It was said t~at those invited in were forced to stay the period of the seven year stricture but would after that "be returned in good condition."

The local faeries of the home and the hollow hill are most closely related to the Moss Men of the deep forests. At first, the shock which the bogIes encountered at exchanging old world bogs and open windswept moors for heavily forested refions must have been extreme, but the Brown Man of the Moors, and others, found at least some parts of their old environment in the new surround. The ~oss Man of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia takes his name from the Middle English-Gaelic word "mos," which means a bog, a morass, a swamp, or a real bog. Their human counterpart in the old habitat was the "moss trooper," a word the Scots applied to free­booters who frequently ingested the border country between England and Scotland. He is, p~rhaps, the most innocuous "bogIe" or member of the goblin fraternity. A similar species in southern Germany is called the Wild, Wood or Timber-people. There, they are said to be "somewhat like dwarfs," and while they generally live together there are solitary members of their species.

Our resident moss-people are probably in erbred members of this legendary group. They are small in stature, somewhat larger than the Scandanavian Alflings or Scottish Trows, about the size of a three year off child. Their men are grey, aged, hairy and clad in moss with touches of leaf. The women are better looking ,better tempered and better dressed than the men, sporting green dresses, faced with red, and cocked hats adorned with moss and bird's feathers. The men are extremely shy and bad-tempered and live in the most remote regions of the forest, while the women sometimes approach wood-cutters asking for a share of the pork and beans, which they carry off in clay pots. They may make restitution for the gift by offering advice to humans, which is invariably profitable, if followed.

Those close to farms have been recorded as helping with the cooking, the washing, haymaking and the feeding of cattle, all typical chores of the Bodach. Additionally, thet will aid in the'con­struction of houses and barns. help the labourer whose cart is mired, and bring water and pancakes to the field workers. They will even, at times, loan their money for little, or no, interest. The moss people, in return for a small favour, sometimes bring baking to the ploughman. Similarly they may arrive at a woods camp asking that a broken implement be repaired, paying the repair-man with a wood chip, which later turns to gold.

While they have many harmless attributes, thet are an unsely people and like faeries elsewhere may covet human children, and leave changelings in their place. The males have been known to take away, and keep for long periods, young girls with whom thet have become infatuated.

The lives of individual moss people are attached to particular trees of the forest, and if these are fatally injured a Moss-man or woman dies .

. Aside from this danger, they are at the mercy of the Indian Wendigo. This spirit carries other names among the Micmac and the Maliseets, but the Anglo­Saxon designation, means to travel in an unending circular route. The Wendigo leads the dead spirits of wild huntsmen, who pass at great speeds through the forest killing moss people, and adding lost humans to their retinue. It is considered very unlucky for men to immitate the sounds of the hunt, and those who have, in the best situations, have found a quarter cut moss-woman hanging before their cabin in the morning: their share of the hunt.

The Woods Whooper is, if not the equivalent of the Wendigo, a close relation. The word whooper comes from the !MIiddle English, "hooper," and means a shout or cry of war, pursuit, enthusiasm, enjoy­ment, vengeance, or terror. Which of these adjectives is appropriate to the creatures such as the Dungarvan Whooper of the Miraro~chi is a ques­tion, but it definitely utters uncanny sounds in its circuitous travels through the forest. The simplest explanation we have heard is that a young man named Dungarvan was sent out on the river to break a log jam. Having located the "key", he succeeded, and issued a loud shout of enjoyment, which turned to terror when he realized he could not make shore. ·Groupd to a quick death by the water-driven log~ his spirit is supposed tr pped by water-bogies, and the cry is repeated period­ically on various anniversaries of his death. Stuart Trueman offers a much more complex version of this legend, but whatever the nature of this noisy wooas-creature, he is found in similar form elsewhere, particularly in New Brunswick where cutting and moving lumber is fundamental to the economy.

Neither of these creatures have counterparts in Scotland, where massive forests are less Com­mon than in North America. Similarly, the Little Man of Tetagouche Falls, in Northern New Brunswick,

----5- e::---'--'-- .

---"­

is of mixed blood, although he refers to him­self as the "earthbound Old Man of the Sea," which tells us he carried formuir bloodlines. The Old Man was often seen, during the Vlctorian period, sunbathing upon a giant rock at roadside. Only two and one half feet high, he was described as having a massive head and shoulders, and was said to be near-sighted. A few observers report­ed that his head was sliced away above the hair­line. One p00r hiker said that the creature jumped on his shoulders and insisted on being carried, in spite of his enormous weight. Some considere c him friendlY, while others found him a malignant creature, who usually occupied the dank, abandoned manganese mining shafts found in that region. The latter group noted that his favourite diversion was to frighten horses at night, usually panicking them into a runaway gallop. One night he is said to have tumbled beneath one such team. His screams, on that occassion, rivalled that of the Thungarvan Whooper, and he has not been detected since.

The Maritime Provinces have their full complement of minor watffr bogies including equivalents of the Scottish bean-nighe, the Shelly COdt, and the Uisk although the Glaistig is not on record as a resident. This is understandable, as this vampire has characteristics, which allow easy confusion with other forms of little people. The Scottish Ghilli Dhu, which literally means black gill (i.e. a stream or brook flownng through a ravine) has a counter­part in the local bogies which prefer birch thickets.

• I.

This faery is a solitary type of moss-man, and like them it dresses in clothing of leaves and other .natur­al materials.

As elsewhere, the uns- elies become more power­ful in sea locations. Sea Trows are p~rticularly

concentrated in our West Isles, which 'fie in the extreme northwest of the Bay of Fundy. The major island is Grand Manan, named after the Celtic god Manannan, the son of Ler, and patron of sailors. This god once ruled the Isle of Man and the neigh­bouring faerie islands. Grand Manan is fifteen miles in length, and is satellite to a number of adjacent islets including Kent Island.:

Kent Island, six miles distand from Grand' hnan was homesteaded by John Kent, who left an embitter­ed widow, supposed to have cursed the .island for human habitation. Curses are a boon tdfaerie­folk, as they clear living space for this alternate

.. ,,

life form. The breeding ground of the eider duck, a species ollce headen for extinction, the island was purchased by J.S.l~ockfeller, who deeded it as an outpost of seabird research. The scientists who populated the few buildings there, were entire­ly too objective to suffer any damage from Sea el­e men tal s, but b y the tim e the y a r r i v edth ex e had already been fatalities on the nearby ~urr Ledges.

Legend aays that an English square rigger WitS

olle of the losses. The inebriated skipper neared the Ledges on a foggy morning, taking·over from the helmsman, with the explanation that a beautiful woman had appeared 1n his dreams promising to lead his ship through the reefs. Within minutes the craft was disassembleil on sharp coastal rocks, and the survivors forced to take refuge on an in­hospitable island.

This would tre the work of a ~uirmaid, the female of the people the Scots called lIaafish or Finn people, known to the Scandanavians as the Hav. Like their ancestors the FOrmuir these are the most adept shape-changers on earth. 'The r.1uirmaid,

, t1~ r maid, 0 r IT a v f rue i sus u all y, in d rea ms 0 r reality, observed as a very beautiful woman. When she appears at the night fires of fishermen she may seem cold and ill dressed for the eeather, a ruse intended to elicit sympathy and end in the seduction of men. lIer appearance, in the sober i: state, is taken to prognosticate a drowning, a severe storm or poor fishing, Occassionally,sh~

may be seen 011 the reefs, or upon land, driving her herds of snow-white sea cattle to graze on a re­mote strand of some small island. Like all the faeries she may be malicious or of benefit to her human lIeighbours. Illstead of choosing to wreck a ship, she may issue warnings, as all the muirs have "second sight."

'The male variety of the Mluir is sometimes de­scribed as a boy with golden hair sitting upon the waves, or as an elderly man with green or black hair, resembling seaweed. The Scandanavian Neck or Nokke, the equivalent of the Scottish Ke~lpie or Tangie belongs to this clan, as does the shape-changing Selkie, with all but the last being depicted as male.

"·1

Our coastal Kelpie dwells in the same kelp beds found in the European inter-tidal zone. He may come ash0re as a very handsome younq man, but on Sable Island he is more llkely seen as a wild pony. The Danes describe their Nokke as a mon-' ter with a human head, found either in.fresh or salt water. The Kelpie may also live in ~rackish

rivers and streams, but he is more powerful at the sea-side. ~vith the horse diminished as a means of transport there have been few local accidents with the Kelpie in horse form. Ridden inland he usually proves uncontrollable ann subjects his human rider to an unexpected ducking in a stream. The Scandanavians say that he may be made to work at the plough with the help of a magic bridle, but he is probably reliable as an assistant, since the sea version has been known to consume humans, excepting the liver. The Kelpie is very adverse to, human females who reject their suitors but when he falls in love with a human he is said to be a gentle, attentive swain.

Although he is only difficult with corrupt per­sonalitiE~, the country folk who live at the shore use certain precautions against his power when they have to go upon the water. Metals, particularly

steel, are believed to create a magic net hen~ath

1.: h e s hip wh i c h f r u s t rat e s him fro m u sin g his J:.> a '" e r against them. vJhen going upon the open sea the Vikings used to plunge a knife into the ~eel board thus~binding the Neck." This practice continues in the ship-building regions of the M9ritime Provinces. In the days of wooden early ships a coin, ranging in value from a penny to a five dollar gold piece, was alsays placed under the main-mast for "good luck." If the owners of .the ship failed in the practice, then the master Mariner, or one of his men was ·cer­tain to perform this necessary duty. This'is still done with modern fishing craft, and when the Bluenose II was launched in 1962, a ten-cent peece featuring ller prototype as an illustration was put in place.

All of the various forms of Muir people, including the very dangerous Nucktllilvee, which 1S simply a very powerful Neck or Kelpie, are susceptible to the in­fluence of metals, whihh· seem to make ships invisible to their eyes. On the o~her hand, throwing coins overboard is noticed by the Muirs, who will retaliate

by causing a wind, and perhaps creating a shipwreck. A less dramatic move is to stick a knife into a spar for wind, but to "whistle up a wind" will produce more movement than is desired. The Muirs are g~eat

musicians and do not appreciate amateur attempts ~C making music. It is not surprising that local sailors do not like to dream of horses "because they symbolize high seas."

An exceptional account of the sighting of a nuckalavee was made by IVlctoria Beach, N.S.fisher­men on return from Port G~orge by sea in 1890. A "sea serpent" appeared close by their schooner and ?rolled hoop-like lengths thirty or forty feet be­side them. It had a huge head like that of a horse in shape and eyes as large as saucers. A gale was blowing ~d the crew clapped on all sail but the creature kept with them to Point Prim light. A second vessel sighted it the next day, then a third one, but it has not been seen since that year."

There are five ethnic strains in the Maritime Provinces, with the local population of N.B , N.S. and P.E.I. numbering a little over a million. The Scottish population of Nova Scotia is dis­proportionate to their influence, which may be why one Journalist has referred to them as the IHacHafia." Only about one-quarter of the resi­dents of New Scotland actually claim the auld sed as their ancestral place, and their num­bers are even smaller in New Brunswick and P.E.I.

Nevertheless, the Scottish faeries are firmly entrenched in these provinces as this glossary will reveal. for those who have forgotten the meaning of the term, a glossary is, "a collection of glosses," and to "gloss" is "to make comments, or explain." This is my partial dictionary of the longer work, in which I am allowed to "ex­plain archaic, technical or uncommon words." Host of the following words are very archaic and exceptionally uncommon, but this is really an excuse to provide information found after the fact'J and introduce irrelevant material, which would have impeded the flow fo the earlier writing.

Abbreviations used are, G for Gaelic word; AS for Anglo Saxon; and S fOr words of Scandanavian origin. An asterisk indicates that the creature in question has been reported within our boundaries in historic time. Information in brackets, gives the secondary meaning of the word, which is dis­cussed.

*ALP- (G - a huge mass or lump)TKoughly the equivalent of the Scandanavian "alf" or the Anglo Saxon "elf" but in Celtic myth it means pa~ticularly a tormenting night­mare creature, which s~ts on the sleeping c h est 0 f a h u rna n vic tim , c rea tin g a he a v y weight which causes bad dreams.

ANGUS- (G -narrowing from a large mass, hence broad-shouldered, athletic) The Celtic god of love and "amouous da lliance." "His harp was so sweet a tone that whoever heard must follow; his kisses became moveable love~

whispering birds."

BAL-- (GO baIlor the sun.

BALKIN- (G -Bal + kin- relative of the Baal), a name once.applied to the sun as well as the panoply of pagan- gods) One of three defeated in the war between the Milesians and the

Tuatha Daoine. The ancestor of all British faeries.

BALOR- (G- Baal + or- golden god) A king of the Formuirs, who were not technically gods, but magicians from an undersea kingdom to the west of Britain. Balor's eyes blighted all within their gaze and were kept closed, ex­cept in war. The "eye of Balor" is the origin of the "evil eye" of the Celts. In the war against the gods and man he killed King Nuada of the Tuatha, but was in turn slain by Lugh, who blinded him with a magic mis­sile. The words "baleful" and "lug" have both entered the English language from Celtic myth.

*BAOHB- (G) The son of Dagda, the earth god, whom he succeeded as king of the Tuatha Dabine after their defeat by the Milesians.· Under his rule they received immortaltiy from the god M~nnanan and retired to the hollow hills. He engaged in a long struggle for power a­gainst his brother, Mlder. Currently, the word means a hag, a witch, a wizard, or a carrion crow, so one may presume that he possessed defects in his character.

BAS- (G- stepping stone) Death, the "stepping stone" to another plane of existence.

*BEAN- (G- wife or woman; Mha, being the generative singular form of this "combining word.") The word sheth, seth, sidh or sidhe (pronounced she or shay) combined with bean (pronounced ban) yields bean-sidhe (ban-shee) meaning "woman faery.1I

* EITHIR or BHEITHIR- (G) Any serpent,wwild beast, or monster.

*BLACK DOG- (AS) MADADH fDHUBH (G- ~Ad + adh- the first meaning "rabid, furious, or disordered" or all three; the last part of the word is a slightly altered form of "aidh" or lI a des ll or "hades." "Dhubh" or ':Dubh" means "black." Hence, the combined words indicate: "black dog of hell. lI

) The Celts had no particular fondness for dogs and also invented the word II cur ." They contended that while dogs are more social than cats, they kill using speed and endurance, rather than their more valued attributes 'of stealth and canniness. This

dislike for canines, including wolves arid foxes, was shared by the Anglo-Saxons, who used "dog" to mean a "mean, worthless wretch." The out­lawed Clan'~egor was frequently pursued by "conn dubh" or black dogs. The last of these bloodhounds, a wild stray, was killed by a clan member on a slope still called Meall a Mhadaidh, the Hill of the Mad Dog.

In Nova Scotia the witch-hunter would entone : "Here comes Old Nattie with dogs and switches Begone, be off, ye witches, ye witches."

Aside from this use, they appear to have been little better appreciated in the Maritime Provinces where it is thought that dogs howl­ing at a wedding indicate marital troubles ahead, and their howling in the dead of night is thought to signify a death, which can only be avoided if the listener turns his shoes up­side down. It should also be considered that the appearance of a phantom dog tells the observer that the person to whom he is speak­ing is an enemy. ,crorporporeal are the Black Dogs, or Hell Dogs, of Partridge Island, near Saint John and that which infests Dark Harbour. The size of horses, they have glowing eyes, and have knocked travellers from the path.

*BODACH- ~G- an old man or churl) A type of b~gle,

which lives in the Highlands of Scotland. Characterized by a hiight of two and one-half feet, and having webbed hands and feet, usually poorly dressed. This creature lives in the homes of man, and exchanges his-labour for a modest amount of food and drin~. Similar to the lowland Brownie and the Teutonid Kobold. Usually seen as an ood man, the species has its female equivalent in the Cailleach or Cailich. Her n a me, nl e ani n g " hag 0 f abo d a c h ," iss 0 met i me s currently applied to an old woman of human stock, just as "bodach" occasionally names an elderly man.

*BOGLE, BOGEL, BUGILL (G- to terrify) a noun, this word is a catch-all for the threatening varieties of Scottish and Northern English faeries. The word is derived f om "bog," a ~elic word identifying a quagmire filled with decaying organic matter" in which a "body" is likely to sink, the trui y terrifying habitat of the bogIe ..

BRESS or BREAS- son of Formurian chief married to Brigit. When he ruled Ireland for seven years, as a replacement ofr King Nuada, he favoured his own kind and governed in an "ungenerous, unhosp i ta bl e" ma nner . Br es s wa s d epos ed and fled to the Hebrides, where he appealed to his father, Elatha, for assistance in regaining the crown of the Tuatha D~oine. This initiated the war of the Gods and Man against the Fbrmuirs.

BRiDEAG- (AS) bathwith human face, linked with the goddess Brigit, warns the Fergusson family of impending death.

BEl GIT- (G) The Ce ltic goddess of hearth, home and poetry, a daughter of Dagda, and spouse o f Bres s, the Fo r mu i r . St. Brid e i s the Christian version of this somewhat heathen deity, whose day is celebrated in Scotland,

;FJebruar 1. The household, at this time, prepares a basket called the Bride's bed, and calls upon her to spend the night. Brigit is also the Celtic goddess of fire, and signs her passage through a house are looked for the next morning in the hearth ashes. If the ashes are disturbeq it presaqes a good crop and a prosperous year.

*·SROWN MAl-J OF THE MOORS- A very innocuous bogle, this small man, dressed in the fauna of the moors, is the protector of injured birds and animals. Descended from the Formuir.

*BRGWNIE- (AS) The lowland equivalent of the Bodach. 'Qalled the Niagruisar in the Taeroe Islands of the north.

*CHANGELING- (AS) A child of a faery exchanged 1n infancy for that of a human. The changeling is made obvious to his foundling parents by deformity, ill-temper or impish behavious, all of which were supposed a preclusion for baptized Christian children.

DANU- (G) The earth goddess, mother of Dagda, the progenitor of the C~ltic race of gods. Cognate with the Welsh goddess, Dan. force for light, intelligence and beauty.

DAGDA- (GI Gaelic god of the earth, famous asa wilrrior, and King of the Tuatha Daoine just be­fore their defeat by the Milesians of Spain.

*D11-0 I NE- ( G'-- TIl a n kin d ) C1 ann d a 0 i n e; the g e n era t i v e ca::>~ .Chloinn daoine. Also Clan nan doine (clan of man)or cinne-daonna.

CRUID, DRAOI or ~~UID- (G) A priest, wonder­worker ,physician and judge of the Clann daoine. Distinguish~d as bards, vates or prophets, and the druids proper. The re­ligion of druidism as practiced by the picts, Firlbogs and Celts included pantheism, particularly tree worship, the transmigration of the soul and human sacrifice. The word currently identifies the bird known in this country as a starling.

*DUBH-SIDH- (G- Black Faery) A human family name, used on the island of South uist in the Hebrides. So named because they had commerce with the faeries. Contraction of Macfie of Mac D bh Sidh.

*DWARFS- (AS) diminutive man-like beings, adept miners and skillful artisans, forgers of weapons, and in some regions represented as treasurers of the gods. Described as mishaped, ugly and gray, living to great age in subterranean mountain abodes, sometimes helpful, often malicious in their dealings with man. More common in Scandanavian re­gions than Britain. Sometimes considered as a race apart from the fay, although they do practice magic. The dwarfs were only seen by the Scots in the company of invading humans. Possibl~ this is why they were named the "sioch dairean," a word now applied to any "contemptible pithless wretch."

EBER- Son of Miled, who received the south of Ireland after the defeat of the Tuatha.

EIRE- (G) Warrior Queen of the Tuatha Daoine, killed in the Milesian Wars. The Earse or Irish are named in her honour.

EREMON- Son of Miled, who received the north of Ireland after the defeat of the Tuatha.

* FACHAN- (G- fac han- false hand A psychotic bogle of the Western Isles possessing a sin­gle baleful eye, a single leg, and a single powerful hand, which it uses to strangle the unwary. This beithir is considered a descen­

dent of the shape-changer, a P3ychotic aberra­tion arrested in mid-change from one form to another.

FAERY FLAG- The faery flag of Md~leod was said given to them by the Daoine Sidhe in returns for favours rendered. It was carried into battle furled, as tradition said it could be thrice unfurled to deflect grave peril, after which the succession would end. The prophecy was fulfilled after the banner was laid flat by a curiousity seeker, and the chief's heir died at sea. The flag is of M diterranean silk, estimated to be more than at D

a thousand unvegan'0a

years stle.

old, and is still kept

*FIR­ (G­fire.

man) also fear, fhir and, in Old Irish,

FIRBOLG- (G- Fir + bolg- fire men of the lightning goddess, Bolg) A dark-haired population of short stature which invaded Erse or Ireland, from Belgium, at a very early date. They were defeated, and nearly eliminated by the Tuatha D oine. Their counterpart in Alba, or current day Scotland, was the Picti, and in Wales the latins called the Siluras. These are thought to be non-Celtic, possibly non-Gaelic peoples, but probably not the aboriginals of· Great Britain. Their capital was at Tara.

FIR CNOC or CNOC AINGEIL- Fire knoll- An artificial mound on the Isle of Lismore connected with Beltane and Samhain fire rites.

*FIR DARRIG Dr FFAR DEARG- (G- fir + darrig- the creature who terrifies) The latter word seems deservedfrom the F,llglo-Saxon, "dear," which is used in the sense of "dearly" as to "fear dearly for one's life." A bogIe whihh delight­ed in practical jokes of a gruesome nature, and which, unfortunately, attaches itself to human homesteads.

Described in an old account as two and one-half feet tall, wearing a red sugar-loaf hat and a long scarlet coat, haVing a brown weathered face, with long gray hair. These creatures usually appear in the midst of a night-time thunder­storm seeking admittance to dry their clothes. If they are not admitted an extremely bloody accident attends either people or their cattle.

*FIRESTALKER- (~S) A particularly North American faerie, known alternately as Black Hugh, is a variant of the Fir Darrig. In addition to appearing as a little, old man, he may change into the shape of a fire breathing pyromaniacal beither. Of Scottish descent, he prefers the more naked look of the Scottish Highlands, and attempts to eliminate stands of forest.

FaMOR or FaMUIR- (G- Fo-under, Mor- the sea) The Tritons 0r Giants; the earliest race on earth (i. e. in Earse or Ireland), overthrown by the Tuatha uaoine and the gods. Their enemies described them as "deformed, some with animal heads, undersea creatures, powers of darkness, able to blight by magic." Historically they are supposed to have dwelt in an undersea kingdom to the west, where it was rumoured that they could breathe the waters of the ocean. They were shape-changers, who could come ashore by donning the intermediate form of a seal or a fish ..At. the beach these "wet suits" were laid aside for a human form, which could take oxygen from the air. In historic times, the fomor were called the mor, muir, or mer-poplee, the Haafish (half-fish) or Selkies (shiny­skinned or seal people). While the peoples, they met on land, said they were" wild and unsociable" and assured themselves that the were cannibalistic, folklorist ·G.E. Woodbury has described them as: "a massive dim-featured race with an earthly rather than a celestial grandeur, embodiments of mighty forces, but dim to beauty, intelligence and light." The Irish historian Seumas Mac Manus is easier on them, describing them as a human race of II

"African sea-rovers." They were never, however, afforded the distinction of being described as Daoine (i.e. of mankind). In normal circum­stances, they were said about average in stature but capable of rising to the height of the tall­est tree through magical incantation.

Their chief stronghold was on Tory Island, off the northwest coast of Ireland. They were de­feated by the Tuatha at Sligo in Northern Ireland and went into exile from these "plains of the Tower of the Fomorians." Their place of exile was the western Isles of Alba, where they were said to remain bound by magic until the final wars at the end of time. Actually, they re­appear in Irish history, having come into

conflict with picts of Scotland, one colony retreated to Western Ireland where they re­established themselves as a people. Many of the northern clans of Scotland recognized their partial descent from the Fomor in re­fusing to consume fish. In the Celtic world particularly among the Gaels, the salmon was the sacrosanct royal fish. Ancient Irish kings wore the salmon brooch, and the Camp­bells of Locknell still maintain the special right to wear silver salmon buttons on their doublets. The killing of salmon was regard­ed as the perogative of the crown, and when one prince overcame another, his first act was to kill the salmon in his enemy's royal fishpond.

FRIDE- (G- from the verb FRID":;E- to rub, fray, irritate, fidgit, or to chafe or dance) These words in turn, come from the name of the Scandanavian goddess FRIGG, the consort of Odin (or Wodan). Her name has insulting con not a t ion sin An g I 0 - S a x 0 n, and, Ga eli c . A Fride is a gnome, a pigmy, or an alf of for foreign extraction. Today this Gaelic word means, an "itch or a pimple."

GAODHAL GLAS- (G- gray Gael or Gadhael) A re­mote ancestor of the ·Gaels. In legend he gave his name to their language.

*GHILLIE DHU- (G- black ravine) A Scottish solitray bogIe inhabiting birch thickets. A species of the "moss-men.," he dressed in clothing of leaves, moss and other natural fibre. A gill or ghillie is, strictly, a woody glen, a stream or a brook flowing through a ravine. Also, "a leech."

*GISREAG or aSEA~- (G- gis-a corruption of name "Jesus" reag-that which takes part in a chemical,reaction, a charm, a spell or a magic formula.) The Anglo-Saxon word "gist" arises from the same source, and sometimes means, "to shoot forth in a jet of energy." Hence, an alchemical reaction, the work of a baohb.

*GLASTIG- (G-blas- grey or grey green; s- Stig­a creature who frightens) A. Scottish fresh­water bogle,who preys, vampire fashion, upon young men.

*GOBHA, GHOBHJ\INN- (G- a larger mass or. lump) A poisonous morsel, also a large sum bf monev or a blacksmith. This last has re£erence to the fay who find iron, which is the product of the smith, an insidious poison. The first two ref­erences apply mostly to humans, but the "good neighbours" have been known to suffer from keep­ing large amounts of treasure on hand.

"GOD- Any permanent member of the Tuatha" DRoine

*GOOD FOLK- (AS- good-god-like; folk- clan or tribe) also GOOD NEIGHBOURS, WEE FOLK. ltdor"ess of respect meant to propitiate potentially harm­ful members of faery.

*GOOD SHIPWR~CK- (AS) Shipwrecks caused by elements of faery in which all humans aboard perish. Since those sailing in such a ship are obvious­ly predestined to death (an act allowed by "God) their possessions may be salvaged without fear of retribution by supernaturals.An exception 1S the case where some devil intrudes, causing an individual to place lights which deliberate­ly lead a ship into shoaler water.

*HOLLOW HILLS- (AS) The hills inhabited by the Scottish Trows and the other nations of faery. Our best known hollow hill is Bald Mountain in the Tobique River Region of New Brunswick. Know n as" Rum b 1 in g M0 u n t a in," i tis the sour c e of many subterranean noises, which can be heard from the surface. Sugar Loaf Mountain in the north and a similarly named mountain in cape Breton have the typical conformation of faery hills, repeated in the truncated red hats of certain faeries.

*KELPIE- (G) A water bogle, usually horse-like in form, which may reside in larger rivers but is generally found at the sea-coast. It provides preternatural lights and noises to warn those scheduled to drown, but if these signs are ignored they will assist in the drowning. They are related to the Necks of Scandanavia, and are shape-changers of the Formuir line. They have been seen at sea as a horse, or as a handsome man who is half horse. On land they may be observed as a old man with a long beard resembling sea­weed, out of which water incessantly drips, or as a handsome completely-formed youth,

most often of the male sex. They are re­puted to be great musicians, who will ex­change instrumental instructions upon the sacrifice of a black lamb. They have, in the past, courted and won human mates, with whom their genes are compatible, and they are attentive suitors, but very severe in their reaction to haughty femal es. The horse form also comes ashore, and may under certain circumstances be worked or ridden. In the last case the ride may start with the rider being ejected into some body of fresh water. In no account must the kelpie be allowed to come within view of salt water as he will carry his rider to sea and tear his body to bits. See also "Nuck."

The word kelp is very archaic, and of un­known origin, but it is a Lamanauen sea plant, known here as "oarweed," and it does resemble an oar in configuration. It occurs in vast brown undersea forests, which In Scotland, were once harvested to provide the raw matter for producing feriilizer" iodine, glass and soap.

KEWPIE- (AS- cue- assmall portion) A No rth American faerie, loosely based on the British pixie, created by Rose O'Neill in 1909.

KILLMOULIS- (G- to kill, moulis-the mill) A bodach, which infests the grain-grinding business, characterized by the lack of a mouth, it instead feeds through the nose.

LA w- (G) A ro un de d or con i cal hill; a h 0 11 ow hill.

LUGH or LUG- (G- to pull with force)Y son of Mannanan Mac Lir, the sea-god. The grand­son of Balor of the Evil Eye, he was respon­sible for killing the Formuir king with his sling, thus ending the war between men and the giants. The immediate Successor of King Nuada after the Fomorian War; predecessor o f King Dagda and his royal line. He claimed talents as "chief professor of arts and sciences at Tara;."

LUNANTISIDHE- (G- Lunanti- moon; sidhe- faery) The bogles which are the guardians of Thorn

trees. Thorn trees were once sacred to the Baal Molock, and are said to identify the entrances to the hollow hills.

MANANNAN- (G) In British myth, a formuir, the son of Ler and patron of saidors; ruler of the faery isles and father of Niamh.

MOR, fl1HOR, MHOI R, MOIRE, MUIR, MOORE, MU RE- (G­to contain within walls) The sea.

MORPEOPLE, MUI FPEOPLE, also called HAAFISH or FIN NFO LK- (G) The Ha v s, 0 r hal f p eop ;L e 0 f Scandanavian legend. The men are pictured as large, having green or black hair and beards, and are usually thought beneficient. The women are beautiful by human standards, but may be malicious. These are the direct progeny of the deadly Formuir, and still live in their ancient undersea kingdoms. In these specific areas, they can breathe the waters of the ocean, but to come ashore must shape­ch ange into a creature half man and half fish or don the intermediate skin of a seal. A~ the coast they have magic to become com­pletely human in form. The female may some­times be seen driving her white cattle to feed on the dunes of Sable Island or other remote islands of our area. She may appear at the fires of fishermen, looking pathetic in unsuitable clothing which are dripping wet. At the least her appearance indicated a storm or poor-fishing ,but if she is ac­cepted into a human circle she may seduce one of the men to a premature death by drowning. The muir people occasionally assist mankind by providing information by divination.

MIDER- (G) TheC~ltic god of the underworld, assailed and robbed by his kindred and mor­tals. Mider was the one god who cooperated with the Formuir in their battle against man. This is why he is currently restrain­ed to the lower world, awaiting the final conflict of good and evil.

MILESIUS- (G)Ad~erents of King Miled or Milesius of Spain, whose two sons conquered Ireland about 1300-1000 B.C. They overthrew the Tuatha and the gods, becoming the ancestors of the modern Irish and Scottish.

MOTHE~ GOODY- (AS- god-like mother) ~ female bodach, the descendant of the goddess Bri9it, the patron of house and home. A particular resident of the Western Isles of New Bruns­wick.

*MOSS PEOPLE- (AS- a morass, swamp or peat bog) A group of retiring bogle9, who find a place in heavily forested regions. Largely a beneficient clan, but heavily hunted by other unsely faeries.

NATHAIR, NArHRACH, NATHRAICBEAN- (G- Nath- star; air- that which surrounds and influences) The Celtic equivalent of the Hebrew "Satan," the old serpent. The word "star" has several imp ications as it means "strewn" and "having five or more points" and also "principle leader," all relating to the fall from grace of this former god. Nathair is now used to identify any subtle, dangerously fascinating person of human kind.

NUADA- (G) King of the Tua tha Daoine. He lost a hand to the Firbolg Sreng, in the battle in which the FirLolgs of Ireland were over­thrown. Although it was replaced with one of silver, he was deposed because of the blemish. Bress the Formuir ruled in his place, but was deposed, after which Nuada again ruled. Unfortunately, this led to the "War of the 'Giants," and he was slain by Balor. Perhaps by coincidence, the Egyptian primal fluid, or chaos, out of which the world was created was termed "Nu."

NUGK, NOOK or NICK- (G- corner place or angular head land a cape, a promontory, remote and secluded) Similar to the SVledish "nacke" or the the Danish "nakke, nis or neck." A water sprite which is half fish,. being very similar to the Kelpie, especially in being able to shape­change into a horse. It seems to differ from the latter in being a creature of the deep. sea, consequently possessing greater destruc­tive powers.

The word "nuck" or "nick" is also applied 0

to the last sheath of grain cut in the Celtic Harvest Home ceremony, and the designation "Old Nick" is given the Nathair or Celtic devil, so that this animal cannot be consider­ed friendly. This is hardly surprising con­

sidering the damage the Nuck has suffered at the hands of man. In recent times a case is reported, form Eagle Head, N.S. in which a Nuck attempted to "astound two gentle­men" by entering the seaside inn in which they were accomodated, prancing around the bed in the form of a horse. Misunderstand­ing the situation, they bridled this "horse" and took it to a blacksmith to be shod. In the light of day, they were surprised to find a woman in the place ot that animal, with horseshoes nailed to her hands and feet.

The Scandanvian Neck is sometimes seen in the form of a golden-haired boy, wearing a red cap and sitting on the water's surface. But, like the Kelpie, he may appear as an elderly man, or as a handsome youth of either sex. The wise seaman places a penny under the mast of his ship, or sticks a knife into the keel board to divert the Nuck's attention, for he is able to raise huge seas. It is generally understood that drowned men have red noses, because they have been clear of air by these sea-folk.

NIMBLE NICK- Commercial faery patterned after ROse O'Neill's Kewpies but aimed at the Christmas market.

NIUL- A grandson of ·Gaodhal·Glas, invited to teach in ancient Egypt, he married Scota, the daughter of the Pharoah. It was his wife after whom Ireland, and later Alba, came to be named "Scotia." Niul's people left Egypt "under a cloud" and wandered to spain. A remote descendant, King Miled married another Scota, and their eight sons invaded Ireland where they defeated the Tuatha Daoine

NUCKALAVEE or NICKEL l'VEE- (C- nuck- cape + lavee­sea washed) The name has reference to the place preferred by this creature, described as a completely psychotic Nuck. It has been theorizes that these descendants of the Farmuir are closest to them in their hate for mankind and in their early habits. These seem to have been ordinary Nucks or Kelpies, which for unknown reasons, have been arrested in performing shape-shanging, so that they possess characteristics of a man, seal, horse, and sea-serpent. Their bad temper is perhaps due to their incapacity to arrive at a stable

configuration. A close relative of the "Old Serpent," a being thought responsible for the thousand derelict submerged ships adrift in the Gulf of Mdine in the 1880s.

OLD 'COOT, OLD NICKi OLD SCRATCH; OLD SERPENT or THE H0 R-l ED 0 NE - Po S ) Va rio u s s 1 i g h tin g n a me s applied to the Scottish devil, as opposed to The Cevil or Nathair. The Scots prefer to n am e the i r fay imp 1 i cit 1 y as" Au 1 d Coo tie s " or "Auld Reekie," since more exact forms are believed to catch the attention of the elemental being named. Most of these are slighting references, after the fashion of "whistling in the dark."

In the Maritimes the last sighting of the devil, on record, was made in 1978. At that time, he was cited as "male, all fiery red with horns." Horns or thorns are expected with the unsely, which use them to "prick so as to make uncomfortable." As we note elsewhere, the Maritime devil quite frequent­ly appears as a massive black dog. His pre­occupation seems to be to persuade humans to sign a "lease for life;" curse their parents, and sign a contract in blood. It is probably the last, which makes his task difficult. Auld'R ekie, according to Nova Scotians, will be with you all week if you sneeqe on Sunday. However, if you sneeze, cast a pinch of salt over your left shoulder, which may please the devil so that he will not enter your home. A private liquor sales-mn at Lower South River, N.S. once leaned away from a card game to retrieve a fallen card. In doing so he noticed thet the stranger nearest him had cloven hoofs rather than polished shoes. He should have been buoyed by the Maritime sayinq: "See the devil in this world, you won't in the next." Our '!Christian doors" are supposed to keep devils out, although I have some concern that most of these bear an inverted wooden "cross."

The job description "horned one" relates to a basic religious ceremony practices from the New Stone Age until the eighteenth century, and possivly beyond. In it a mixed circle of both xexes danced around a central figure who played pipes, or a flute, or in more sophisti­cated times, a fiddle. The central figure was

a priest repre8enting the fertility spirit, a man dressed as a Pan, with horns and a tail. As the dance progressed it became decidedly licentious. Christianity had an easy mark in the "gods" of the picts and Celts, but Pan and his beguiling practices were not so easily dislodged. All gods were false "devils" to the 'Christians yet the Horned One was particularly reviled as the one who should not be named; the Nathair or Devil, the horned one. who could only be referred to obliquely. Dancing in the round was particularly denounced, and such dances survive in the Highlands only as parallel reels. Nevertheless, in Scotland and

nada ritual dances often start and end with circular dancing around a central fi?ure. When Highland dancers raise their hands above their heads in the crescent form, they still, unKnowingly, represent the horns or antlers of this stone-age deity.

*OLD SOW- (G- auld- old + sou or sough- a rushing sound, to sigh, to rustle, a sob, a hollow moaning) The world's largest intertidal whirlpool located in passamaquoddy Bay at the south western extreme of D2er Island, N.B. produces the last named sou~d. This natural phenomena is only present at certain phases of the moon and tide, but it is definitely associated with the local world of the muir. Those who have been close to it claim that the sound is supernatural, and that the bed of the sea may be seen at the lower end of this sea funnel. One eye-witness, who was a member of the Legislative Assembly, and hence an honest man, says his boat required full power in reverse to keep him on the edge of the Old Sow for the fifteen minutes needed for it to dissipate. It is of interest to note that a "quiet sough" is a silence, and that "sou" alond can mean to "breathe heavily at the point of death." More modern meanings of rhe word have included, "a singing chant used in preaching," or to "pray, particularly in a whining tone of voice." The "sow" is a "pig~'" but mariners prefer not ot use that name, which is considered the pinnacle of bad taste and luck. The Middle English "sow" was originally a verb meaninq "to beget or bear," and alluded to the fecundity of that animal.C~rtainly a whirlpool witll"scatter"

or "spread" its victims which is a second­ary meaning of the word. Historically, it is understood that swine receive9 their cloven-hoofs from the devil, and that Christ favoured them as a place for casting-out evil spirits. In any event, no knowledge­able local seaman will ever refer to that " pig ," but will call him 0 r her " Mr. D.e n n is, Mr. . G"r. u f for s imp 1 y, Tu r f - roo t e r ." A11 k now that the penalty for oversight is assevere storm at sea with more victims for the "Auld Sow," or "Old Pig," a name synonymous with "Auld Reekie" and "Auld Cootie." The habit of tattooing a pig on the knee was follow­ed by the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II as a means of propitiating this mal­ign spirit of the sea. It .is said "li. pig on the knee, means sadety a t sea!"

PICT- An Iberian race, which came to Ireland and assisted the ancient Tuatha or the Milesians in driving an invading race of Britons from the River Slaney. A~ a re­ward they were granted land in the region but soon proved troublesome in their own right. These pictish chiefs were given Irish wives and directions for finding Jll b a (pre sen t day S cot 1 and). All t his was on the condition that they become permanent tourists, and accept a succession based on the female royal line. They later contend­ed unsuccessfully with the Earse Scots for control of what is now Scotland.

*RED CAP- (AS) A Scottish border bogle, who re­dyes his cape in human blood after each night of foraging.

*ROWING MAN- (AS) The entire coast of the Maritj_mes reports circumstances where the sounds of a row boat have been detected in the f6g, culminating with the sound of a beaching, when no craft 0ad actually come ashore. This may be attributed to the mischief of some muir-creature.

SCOTA-or SCOTIA- A daughter of the pharoah married to Niul. Also, another Scota was the consort of King Miled. The legendary source of the name scotia or Scotland.

*SELKIE- (c:- silken skinned) Known as the Roane of Ireland. Descenda~ts of the Formuir, these

)1'

~".

- ­ .------...._, '-, .

muir-people, are able to pass from sea to land using a "wet-suit in the f m of a seal skin. The males raise storms to avenge the indiscriminate slaughter of seals, no~ large­ly haulted by the lobbying of selkie off­spring, who are the product of onshore-off~ shore unions.

*~HELLYCOAr or CHAFFINCH- (AS- the latter meaning to clatter) A Scottish bogIe festoone~ with fresh water shells, who clatters them to distract Christian travellers from their path.

*SIDHCHEAN- (G- sidh-faery or faultless being; chean

or Sean- old man) The little people, the Trows~

*SIDHSNEACHD- (G- sidh- faery; sneachd- snow) Small and delicate faeries who ride the snow birds in on the first snow of the Maritime winter. The snowbirds are rarely seen as they are entirely white in cO~Gur, but their cousin in the bird world, is the common Northern Junco. These are mostly a North American species, for while it can be cold in the winter, Scotland has relatively little snow. A Scot's clergyman was once criticized for warning his Sutherlandshire parishioners that continued sin would take them to a hell of perpetual cold. "Shouldn't that be per­petual heat?" The Scot answered,"Nae, mono In that case, they'll all wont to gie thairl"

*TAN GI E - (c.). Abo d a c h named after the sea plant called Tang, indistinguishable in other as­pects from the Kelpie.

*TOMMYKNOCKER- 'AS~ Tommy- one who accepts goods in lieu of wages; e.g. British soldiers during the World Wars; G- knock- round hill) A bogle of the mines. Supposed to show, by knocking sounds where ore is located, or to warn of the danger of underground explosions. The Bodach of the Mine, or the Brown Man of the Mine, had this job in Scotland; in Den­mark it was a Ni)j: ,and in ·Germany the Polter ·G2ister, or noisy ghost. Scotland has fewer mines than Nova Scotia, but in that province they are common in areas settled by the Scottish

"I've heard of Tommy Knockers being heard before an accident."(Springhill)

"Tommy Knockers used to be heard in the mlnes in Queens County." (N Port Mouton)

TRAILGIL- (G- trail-tto draw or drag; gill- a stream in a ravine) A creature closely re­sembling the Scandanavian Troll, a Troll­ravine faery, a bogle very inimicable to man.

TRDW- (G- trows or trousers) A general category once understood to embrace all Scottish faery F rst used to indicate the wearing of Trows, necessitated by the fact that they were horse­men. Now understood to mean a malignant or evil spirit whatever the source; an elf; gob­lin; also a devil of the Devil. Note synonymous

with Troll, which means the Scandanavian dwarfs living in gigantic caves in the north­ern mountains.

TUAiTHl\ DE DAOINE or TUAlI'H.A.NA DANAAN- (pronounded­Tootha day danan) Folk of the goddess Danu, who invaded Ireland, overthrew the Firbolgs and contended successfully with the Formuirs and the underworld. But the Tuatha with the "gods" were conquered by the M-ilesians. Their number included humans and human magi­cians, but their magic was unequal to the war technology of the Iberians, who notwithstand­ing worshipped them as gods. With this de­feat, the powerful Tuatha began to shrink in size, and were bound by magic to back country "hollow hills" and other remote locations. There they became the D~oine sidhe, or faery people. The

The last battle of the Tuatha is said to have beenat Tail t e . .Nf t e r ward s, the r1 i 1 e s ian poe t Amergin was given the task of dividing Ireland between the surviving Tuatha and the Milesians. With technical shrewdness, he awarded his own people all land above ground, allowing the Tuatha to retain all that was below ground. The Tuatha facing this uncertain prospect took counsel of the immortal god Manannan. He sug­gester that they accept his offer of immortal­ity and take refuge under the hollow hills. In accepting this magical solution, this once powerful people reiected technology and became bound to an imposed peace as fugitive hill and cave dwellers, of diminishing importance to Milesians and the world ln general.

URISK- (G) A bogle who haunts small lonely pools. He seeks human company, but his satyr body and peculiar face usually drives off all chance of friendship.

URUSAIG..:.. (G- as a verb, to be attentive, look out for, or avoid) Any human monster, or bogle. A~ so applied to the long horned wild o~,;thought to be the source of all European c~ttle.

*W II 0 0 PER - ( AS - ash 0 u tor cry 0 f war, pur sui t, en _ thusiasm, vengeance or terror, in this case the last two) The Woods whooper travels in a cir ­cuitous manner through local forests, with a retinue of lost souls of human and canine extrac­tion. His uncanny cry is meant to warn poten­