living, with my brand
I'll clash his harns frae his harn pan."

Child Rowland drew his good claymore (_excalibar_) that never struck in
vain. A furious combat ensued, and the king was defeated; but Child
Rowland spared his life on condition that he would free his sister, Burd
Ellen, and his two brothers, who were lying in a trance in a corner of
the hall. The king then produced a small crystal phial containing a
bright red liquor, with which he anointed the lips, nostrils, ears and
finger tips of the two brothers, who thereupon awoke as from a profound
sleep, and all four returned in triumph to "merry Carlisle." The Rev.
Mr. Kirk's descriptions of the subterranean homes of the fairies and of
their social habits are just the counterparts of the fairyland of this
beautiful ballad legend. There can be little doubt that such beliefs are
but survivals in altered form of what were in still more ancient times
religious tenets. What were formerly divinities have given place to the
more lowly fairies, brownies, &c., and from the position of Pagan gods
they have, through the opposing influence of Christianity, been removed
to the other side, and became servants of the devil, actively opposing
the kingdom of Christ. Some have supposed that the fairies may have
originally been considered to be descendants of the Druids, for some
reason consigned to inhabit subterranean caves under green hills in wild
and lonely glens. Others have identified them with the fallen angels.
One thing is certain, that the notion that there exists supernatural
men, women, and animals who inhabit subterranean and submarine regions,
and yet can indulge in intercourse with the human race, is of very great
antiquity, and widely spread, existing in Arabia, Persia, India, Thibet,
among the Tartars, Swedes, Norwegians, British, and also among the
savage tribes of Africa. In the west of Scotland there was a class of
fairies who acted a friendly part towards their human neighbours,
helping the weak or ill-used, and generally busying themselves with acts
of kindness; these were called "brownies." The fairies proper were a
merry race, full of devilment, and malicious, tricky, and troublesome,
and the cause of much annoyance and fear among the people. Besides these
supernatural beings--brownies, fairies, &c.--there existed a belief in
persons who were possessed of supernatural powers--magicians, sorcerers,
&c. About the Reformation period, these persons were cons