J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 2

FAIRY STORIES, 69
•' gon robh mo phathadh air a' bhanachaig." Cha deacli e ach mu
thuairean fichead slat air falbh, an uair a choinnich boireaniiach e,
agus cota briagh, uain' urr' air a cheanghal mu 'miadhon, agus
cuman blathaich aic' eadar a da laimh. Thairg i da deoch, 's cba
ghabhadh e i. " Fbir a db' iarr mo dbeoch, 's nacb do gbabh mo
dheoch, na mu fada 'bhios tbu beb." Gbabh e 'ionusuidh a choalais,
agus gbabh e bat' a siu thairis, 's a' tighinn thairis air a' chaolas
chaidh a bhathadh.
From Malcolm MacLean, who learnt it from his grandfather,
Hugh MacLean.
North Uist, August 11, 1859.
The Argyleshire stories, wliich I can well remember as
a child, are of the same stamp. The fairies lived in hills,
tliey came out now and then and carried people away ;
and they spent their time inside their dwellings in dancing
to the pipes. They stole milk, and they were overcome
by charms, which men sold to those who believed in them.
They could not withstand a rowan-tree cross ; nor could
they follow over a running stream.
There is a small waterfall in a wood which I know,
where it used to be said that the fairies might be seen on
moonlight nights, fishing for a magic chain from boats of
sedge leaves. They used to drag this chain through the
meadows where the cattle fed, and the milk came all to
them, tni a lad, by the advice of a seer, seized one end of
the chain and ran for his life, with the fairy troop in pur-
suit ; he leaped the lin and di'opped the chain ; and the
lin is called the chain lin still.
'MAN.
The Manks fairy creed is again the same. Similar
beings are supposed to exist, and are knowm by the name
of Feri.sh, which a Manksman assured me was a genuine
Manks word. K so, fairy may be old Celtic, and derived