J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 2

THE SCOTTISH BOllDEK. • 169
abstracting mortals. They are termed " the good
*' people ;" ai^d when an eddy of wind raises loose dust
and sand, the vulgar believe that it announces a Fairy
procession, and bid God speed their journey.
The Scottish Fairies, in like manner, sometimes reside
in subterranean abodes, in the vicinity of human habi-
tations, or, according to the popular phrase, under the
*« door-stane," or threshold ; in which situation, they
sometimes establish an intercourse with men, by bor-
rowing and lending, and other kindly offices. In this ca-
pacity they are termed *' the good neighbours,"* from
supplying privately the wants of their friends, and as-
• Perhaps this epithet is only one example, among many, of the
extreme civility which the vulgar in Scotland use towards spirits of a
dubious, or even a determinedly mischievous, nature. The archfiend
himself is often distinguished by the softened title of the " good-man."
This epithet, so applied, must sound strange to a southern ear ; but, as
the phrase bears various interpretations, according to the places where
it is used, so, in the Scottish dialect, the good man of such a jilace sig-
nifies the tenant, or life-renter, in opposition to the laird, or proprie-
tor. Hence, the devil is termed the goodman, or tenant, of the infer-
nal regions. In the book of the Universal Kirk, 13th May, 1594,
mention is made of " the horrible superstitioune usit in Garioch, and
" dyvers parts of the countrie, in not labouring a parcel of ground dedi-
" cated to the devil, under the title of the Guid-Man''s Croft." Lord
Hailes conjectured this to have been the tcncnos adjoining to some an-
cient Pagan temple. The unavowed, but obvious, piupose of this
practice, was to avert the destructive rage of Satan from the neigh-
bouring possessions. It required various fulminations of the General
_ Assembly of the Kirk to abolish a practice bordering so nearly upon
the doctrine of the JNIagi.