thing, a personification of fear. It is a silent,
cloudy shape which haunts lonely moors, and follows travellers, but
rarely does more than scare them.

_My Fairy Lover_.--Fairies fell in love with human beings, and deserted
them when their love was returned. Women of unsound mind, given to
wandering alone in solitary places, were believed to be the victims of
fairy love.

_Yon Fairy Dog_ (An Cu Sith) was heard howling on stormy nights. He was
"big as a stirk," one informant has declared The "fearsome tail" appears
to have been not the least impressive thing about it. The MacCodrums
were brave and fearless, and were supposed to be descended from Seals,
which were believed to be human beings under spells.

_My Gunna_.--This kindly, but solitary, elf herded cattle by night, and
prevented them from falling over the rocks. He was seen only by those
gifted with the faculty of "second sight." The Gunna resembles the
Lowland "Brownie."

_Her Evil Eye_.--Belief in the Evil Eye is still quite common, even
among educated people, in the Highlands. Not a few children wear "the
cord," to which a silver coin is appended, as a charm against the
influence of "the eye."

_The Little Old Man of the Barn_ (Bodachan Sabhaill).--Like the Gunna,
he is a variety the kindly Brownie, and assisted the needy.

_Nimble Men_ (Na Fir Chlis) are "The Merry Dancers," or Aurora Borealis.
It was believed that, when the streamers were coloured, the "men and
maids" were dancing, and that after the dance the lovers fought for the
love of the queen. When the streamers are particularly vivid, a pink
cloud is seen below them, and this is called "the pool of blood." It
drips upon blood-stones, the spots on which are referred to as fairy
blood (fuil siochaire). A wizard could, by waving his wand, summon the
"Nimble Men" to dance in the northern sky.

_The Water Horse_ haunted lonely lochs, and lured human beings to a
terrible death. When a hand was laid on its main, power to remove it was
withdrawn.

_A Cursing_--The Gaelic curses are quaint in translation, but terrible
in the original.

_Bonnach Fallaidh_.--It was considered unlucky to throw away the
remnants of a baking. So the good-wife made a little bannock, which was
pierced in the middle, as a charm against fairy influence. It was given
to a child for performing an errand, but the charm would be broken if
the reason for gifting it were explained. That was the good-wife's
secret. It was also un