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FAIRY STORIES. 7 I
believe in PiSKiES;" they are "never seen, but tliey are
often beard laughing at people in the dark, and they lead
them away." My informant said that when he was yoimg
he used to hear so many stories about piskies from the old
women about the fireside, that he used to be frightened to
go out at night.
" When the young colts are out running mid, their
manes get rough and hang dovm on both sides, and get
tangled with the %vind like; not like manes of horses that
are well kept (here the speaker pointed with his whip at
tlie sleek pair which he was driving); and when the far-
mers find stirrups like in the hair of the mane, they say
tlie piskies has been a ridin' of them."
In short, this notice of fairy belief might be extended
to fill volumes ; every green knoll, every well, every hUl
In the Highlands, has some fairy legend attached to it. In
the west, amongst the unlearned, the legends are firmly
believed. Peasants never talk about fairies, for they live
amongst them and about them. In the east the belief is
less strong, or the believers are more ashamed of their
creed. In the Lowlands, and even in England, the stories
survive, and the beUef exists, though men have less time
to think about it. In the south the fairy creed of the
peasants has been altered, but it still exists, as is proved
occasionally in courts of law. There is a ghost which
walks under the North Bridge in Edinburgh ; and even in
the cultivated upper strata of society in this our coimtry,
in France, and elsewhere, fairy superstition has only gone
down before other stronger beliefs, in which a table is
made the sole partition between this world and the next.
Whether we are separated from the other world by a deal
board or a green mound, does not seem to make much
difterence ; and yet that is the chief difference between
the vagrant beliefs of the learned and unlearned.
An old highlander declared to me that he was once in
a boat with a man who was struck by a fairy arrow. He
believe in PiSKiES;" they are "never seen, but tliey are
often beard laughing at people in the dark, and they lead
them away." My informant said that when he was yoimg
he used to hear so many stories about piskies from the old
women about the fireside, that he used to be frightened to
go out at night.
" When the young colts are out running mid, their
manes get rough and hang dovm on both sides, and get
tangled with the %vind like; not like manes of horses that
are well kept (here the speaker pointed with his whip at
tlie sleek pair which he was driving); and when the far-
mers find stirrups like in the hair of the mane, they say
tlie piskies has been a ridin' of them."
In short, this notice of fairy belief might be extended
to fill volumes ; every green knoll, every well, every hUl
In the Highlands, has some fairy legend attached to it. In
the west, amongst the unlearned, the legends are firmly
believed. Peasants never talk about fairies, for they live
amongst them and about them. In the east the belief is
less strong, or the believers are more ashamed of their
creed. In the Lowlands, and even in England, the stories
survive, and the beUef exists, though men have less time
to think about it. In the south the fairy creed of the
peasants has been altered, but it still exists, as is proved
occasionally in courts of law. There is a ghost which
walks under the North Bridge in Edinburgh ; and even in
the cultivated upper strata of society in this our coimtry,
in France, and elsewhere, fairy superstition has only gone
down before other stronger beliefs, in which a table is
made the sole partition between this world and the next.
Whether we are separated from the other world by a deal
board or a green mound, does not seem to make much
difterence ; and yet that is the chief difference between
the vagrant beliefs of the learned and unlearned.
An old highlander declared to me that he was once in
a boat with a man who was struck by a fairy arrow. He
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| Early Gaelic Book Collections > J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 2 > (89) |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/81418129 |
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| Description | Volume II. |
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| Shelfmark | Cam.2.g.4(2) |
| Attribution and copyright: |
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| Description | Orally collected with a translation by J.F. Campbell. |
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| Shelfmark | Cam.2.g.4(1-4) |
| Additional NLS resources: | |
More information
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| Description | Volumes from a collection of 610 books rich in Highland folklore, Ossianic literature and other Celtic subjects. Many of the books annotated by John Francis Campbell of Islay, who assembled the collection. |
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| Description | Selected items from five 'Special and Named Printed Collections'. Includes books in Gaelic and other Celtic languages, works about the Gaels, their languages, literature, culture and history. |
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