Patrick Buchan

“ Keep close by me until we pass yon den,—
There monsters entrance bar to mortal men,—
And take this ring, 'twill keep thee safe from all
Can hurt or harm within our Fairy Hall.
I but repay a debt I owe to thee
For leaving still unploughed upon the lea
That elfin ring, where oft, in days of yore,
My forebears danced, before they left this shore;
And other kindly things that I and mine
Have got from you and yours in 'auld langsyne.'
While here, ne'er eat nor drink; not for your life!
For, if ye do, ye'll ne'er see your Goodwife. ”

“ As that venerable order taught a saogh hal, or world beyond the present, their followers, when they were no more, fondly imagined that seats, where they exercised a virtue so beneficial to mankind, were still inhabited by them in their disembodied state. In the autumnal season, when the moon shines from a serene sky, often is the wayfaring traveller arrested by the music of the hills, more melodious than the strains of Orpheus. ”

“ But, ah! how oft our best resolves are vain;
We fall, resolve, fall and resolve again.
No hearts are adamant, no minds are steel;
Let none condemn poor Inglis who can feel
A woman's love, or tries to drown desires,—
"All tempers yield or soften in those fires."
The safest plan and best—as wise folks think—
Is ne'er to mell with rogues, or love, or drink. ”

“ The fondness of female fays for human society were fertile themes of Persian poetry and early European romances, such as "Sir Launfal and Sir Gruelan," wherein the Fairies of Normandy and Bretagne are endowed with all the splendour of Eastern description.
The Fairy Malusina, who married Guy de Lusignan under condition that he should never intrude on her privacy, was of this class. She bore him many children, and erected for him a magnificent castle by her art. They lived in uninterrupted harmony until the prying husband concealed himself to behold his wife in her enchanted bath. ”

“ In fact, we may search the whole range of English, French, Spanish, and Italian literature, and there will not be found one author "who dips so deep into the dark profound," or one who is possessed of that magic wand that can give the same vitality to the beings of a shadowy world as the Germans, or one who, can conjure up before the mind's eye, in such enchanting colours, the magical representations of beings and forms of no mark or likelihood, and with whose names even we were previously totally unacquainted. ”

“ Often struck with a more solemn scene, he beholds the visionary hunters engaged in the chase and pursuing the din of the clouds, while the hollow rocks, in long-sounding echoes, reverberate their cries. There are several now living who assert that they have been suddenly surrounded by visionary forms, have seen and heard their aerial hunting, and been assailed by a multitude of voices. ”

“ They were a kind of intermediate beings, partaking of the nature of both men and spirits: they had material bodies and the power of making them invisible, and of passing through any opening. They were generally, in their natural state, small in stature, of fair complexion—hence their name in England; while, for their kind dispositions, in Scotland they were called "the good people." Says Dr Rogers, in his work "Scotland Social and Domestic," in which will be found much of interest regarding "Folk Lore":—"The forms of the Scottish fairies were beautiful. ”

“ At night, in particular, when fancy assimilates to its own preconceived ideas every appearance and every sound, the wandering enthusiast is frequently entertained by their music, more melodious than he ever heard. ”

“ How much is the invention of the great poet we shall probably never be informed, and his successors have not rendered the subject more clear by adopting the graceful world he has created, as though it had been interwoven with the popular mythology and formed a part of it." [C]
With the spread of education and increase of knowledge, the superstitious belief in fairies has almost died out, except in some very few localities and among very uneducated people. ”

“ They pay the teind to hell;
And I'm sae fat and fair of flesh,
I fear 'twill be mysel'!"
And so the brave Janet, actuated by that greatest of all feelings—a true woman's love—took her lover from the procession on Hallow-e'en, by "pulling him down" from the "milk-white steed" on which he rode, and holding him fast in spite of all the "horrible and awfu'" changes he underwent in her hands, discovering, when he returns to his true likeness, that he is her old boyish love, son of Randolph, Earl of Murray, whom the fairies had, years before, stolen away. ”

“ Thus, the Hawkestone at St Madoes, the well-known boundary of the ancient possessions of the Hays of Erroll in Perthshire, is mentioned by Boethius as existing in his day (anno. 1500) , and as having been set up immediately after the defeat of the Danes, in 980. Also the Stone so carefully preserved at Slains Castle, and which from time immemorial has been venerated by the family as that on which their ancestor sat down after the conflict. For the origin of these and similar traditions it would be difficult to account, had there been no foundation whatever for the narrative of Luncarty. ”

“ A humiliating tale, which, if true, would seem to show that men are quite as curious and inquisitive as women are popularly supposed to be.
So common was the idea of the union of human beings with the females of Fairyland in early times, that it was firmly believed the ancestor of the English monarchs, Geoffrey Plantagenet, had married one of these beings.
In the ballad of "Thomas of Ercildoune," the Queen of Fairyland is represented as becoming enamoured of True Thomas. Among the Icelanders the belief was common. ”

“ Whatever conjecture may be adopted, it is certain our Saxon ancestors, long ere they left their German forests, believed in the existence of a kind of diminutive demons, or middle species between men and spirits, to whom they attributed performances far exceeding human art. Although we are now a great literary people, yet, in this description of legendary lore, we are far behind the Germans ”

“ In the wreck of Gothic mythology consequent on the introduction of Christianity, the amiable characteristics of the Peris or Fairies became degraded amid the mischievous attributes ascribed to subordinate spirits, more unamiable in their persons and practices, yet more congenial to the habits of thought of the northern peoples.
In Eastern tales, however vaguely they are described, the females are uniformly represented as beings of great beauty, amiability, and beneficence—the fairest creatures of romantic fancy. ”

“ Whether from infidelity to her royal spouse, or from his having fallen into temporary disgrace, tradition sayeth not, but her offer is celebrated in ballad lore—
"An' I will gie to thee, luve Thomas,
My han', but an' my crown;
An' thou shalt reign o'er Fairylan'
In joy, an' gret renown.
"An' I will gie to thee, luve Thomas,
To live for evermair;
Thine arm sall never feckless grow,
Nor hoary wax thy hair.
"Nae clamorous grief we ever thole,
Nae wastin' pine we dree;
An endless life's afore thee placed
O' constant luve an' lee." ”

“ The Scots at first gave way, and fled through a narrow pass, where they were stopped by a countryman of great strength and courage, and his two sons, who had no other weapons than the yokes of their ploughs, they having been at work in a field not far from the scene of action. Upbraiding the fugitives for their conduct in flying from the field, these peasants succeeded in rallying them. ”

“ The Fairies of our own land were, on the whole, a genial, frolicsome, happy race—occasionally given to mischievous tricks—benefiting those who were kindly disposed to them and paid them due honour, but revengeful and doing harm to those who were differently inclined. ”

“ It is impossible to trace the origin of the belief. Some imagine it has been conveyed to us by the tradition of the Lamiæ, who took away young children to slay them, and that this, mixed up with the tales of Fauns and Gods of the woods, originated the notion of Fairies. Others, that the belief was imported into Europe by the Crusaders from the East, as Fairies somewhat resemble the Oriental Genii. It is certainly true that the Arabs and Persians, whose religion and history abound with similar tales, have assigned the Genii a peculiar country. ”

“ He adds, in a note:—"A belief in fairies prevailed very much in the Highlands of old, nor at this day is it quite obliterated. The small, conical hill Siensluai was assigned them for a dwelling, from which melodious music was frequently heard, and gleams of light seen on dark nights." In the account of the parish of Kirkmichael, we read: "Not more firmly established in this country is the belief in ghosts than that in fairies. ”

“ It is but a few years ago since the most unfounded fictions were currently believed as to the origin of the Scottish families. The Stuarts were universally held to be the descendants of Banquo—the Douglases of 'the dark grey man,' who fought under King Salvathius against the Danes. It would be endless to enumerate all the fictions with which vanity and flattery peopled the blank of time ”

“ An' syne he tauld her a', baith crap an' root,
That drink was just the cause o't, oot an' oot.
"Well! all that may be true," the Queen replies;
"I fear you hear your doom in these wild cries."
"Nae doubt," quo Inglis, "sair eneuch's my case,
Unless I pity get at your sweet face.
It's nae just for mysel' I beg my life,
But for her sake at hame—my dear Guidwife."
syne the knicht spak' oot, "My Gracious Queen,
This culprit and his forebears all have been
Neighbours to us and ours for many a day,
And aye were kindly, and ne'er wrought us wae ”

“ The kingdom of Fairyland was supposed to be peculiarly beautiful, somewhere in the interior of the earth. The Ettrick Shepherd's description of this fair land is, perhaps, unequalled in Scottish poetry. ”

“ The belief is still held by the Laplanders.
The origin of the noble family of Hay dates from a remote period in our national history. In Normandy there were lands and a lordship denominated Hay, and in the roll of the adventurers who accompanied William the Conqueror into England in 1066, Le Sieur de la Haya is expressly mentioned; but the origin of the Erroll family is thus told by tradition:—The Danes, having landed in Aberdeenshire, ravaged the country as far as the town of Perth. King Kenneth hastened to give them battle, and the hostile armies met on the Leys of Luncarty, in Perthshire. ”

“ This is described in the ballad of "Tamlane," who, while he relates the delights of his home in Fairyland, and even, somewhat selfishly, values them higher than the affection of his true love, fair Janet, does not relish the possible finale in his being made the Kain to hell:—
"But we, that live in Fairyland,
No sickness know, nor pain;
I quit my body when I will,
And take to it again.
"I quit my body when I please,
Or unto it repair;
We can inhabit, at our ease,
In either earth or air.
"Our shapes and size we can convert
To either large or small ”

“ They took particular fancies to certain people and families. Sometimes their favour was obtained by compulsion, as in the case of Musgrave of Edenhall, near Penrith, in Cumberland. The legend is, that the butler of the family, having gone one night to draw water at the well of St Cuthbert, a copious spring in the garden of the mansion of Edenhall, surprised a group of fairies disporting themselves beside the well, at the margin of which stood a drinking glass. ”

“ Some people will believe that spirits of a different sort had a little to do with the worthy minister's conviction, and that his "ain gude grey mare" had more to do with bringing him to his own door than the fairies. Toshack, the last chief of clan Mackintosh, occupied a castle or keep on the margin of the river Turret, in Perthshire. ”

“ She was dismissed; but one of the wicked wights, when she demanded her child, spat in her eye and extinguished its light for ever. About the middle of last century, a clergyman at Kirkmichael, Perthshire, whose faith was more regulated by the scepticism of philosophy than the credulity of superstition, would not be prevailed upon to yield his assent to the opinion of the times. ”

“ With all the passions and wants of human beings, fairies are represented as great lovers of cleanliness and propriety, for the observance of which they were said frequently to reward good servants by dropping money into their shoes ”

“ Hoo auld Tam Gray has buiket young May Mason;
An' "Bogie," wi' his quean maun stan' the Session;
Hoo "Brosie Tam" is heckled by his wife;
An' sic-like news aboot the country rife.
Ilk gies his tale while at the drinkin' thrang,
Till Lundie cries, "Come, Inglis, gie's a sang!
We'll drink your health till ye get into tune,—
Nae moulie draps, noo,—clean-cap-oot a' roun'."
"Hoot, Lundie, man! ye ken I hae the cauld,—
Nae han' at best, an' a' my sangs are auld;
But, gin I maun—an' ye're sae singin'-fain—
I'll try ane on a forbear o' mine ain:—
Air—"Muirland Willie." ”

“ Those snatched to Fairyland might be recovered within a year and a day, but the spell for the recovery was only potent when the fairies made, on Hallow-eve, their annual procession. Sir Walter Scott relates the following:—"The wife of a Lothian farmer had been snatched by the fairies. During the year of probation, she had repeatedly appeared on Sundays in the midst of her children, combing their hair. On one of these occasions she was accosted by her husband, when she instructed him how to rescue her at the next Hallow-eve procession. ”

“ Again, Homer is supposed to have been among authors the originator of the idea, as, in his third Iliad, he compares the Trojans to cranes when they descend to fight against pigmies or fairies. Pliny, Aristotle, and others give countenance to the belief in a race of fairies; Herodotus described a nation of dwarfs living on the head waters of the Nile; Strabo thought that certain men of Ethiopia were the original dwarfs ”