J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

RHYMES CONNECTED WITH SUPERSTITIONS. 107
But gin ye ca' me seelie wicht,
I'll be your freend baith day and nicht.
Husbandmen used to avoid, with superstitious reverence,
to till or destroy the little circlets of bright green grass
which are believed to be the favourite ball-rooms of the
fairies ; for, according to the appropriate rhyme,
He wha tills the fairies' green,
Nae luck again shall hae ;
And he wha spills the fairies' ring,
Betide him want and wae ;
For weirdless days and weary nights
Are liis till his deein' day !
Whereas, by the same authority,
He wha gaes by the fairy ring,
Nae dule nor pine shall see ;
And he wha cleans the fairy ring,
An easy death shall dee.
There is an old adage —
Whare the scythe cuts, and the sock rives,
Hae done wi' fairies and bee-bykes !
Meaning, that the ploughing, or even the mowing, of the
ground, tends to extirpate alike the earth-bee and the fairy.
In various places the fairies are described as having been
seen on some particular occasion to gather together and
take a formal farewell of the district, when it had become,
from agricultural changes, unfitted for their residence.
THE BROWNIES.
The brownie was a household spirit of a useful and
familiar character. In former times, almost every farm-
house in the south of Scotland was supposed to be haunted
by one. He was understood to be a spirit of a somewhat
grotesque figure, dwarfish in stature, but endowed with
great personal strength. It was his humour to be un-
seen and idle during the day, or while the people of the
house were astir, and only to exert himself while all the
rest were asleep. It was customary for the mistress of the
house to leave out work for him — such as the supper-dishes
to be washed, or the churn to be prepared — and he never
failed to have the whole done in the morning. This drud-
gery he performed gratuitously. He was a most disin-