The traditional attributes of Cain, the Man in the Moon, or Cann, the full moon, are a dog, a lanthorn, and a bush of thorn. The dog is the _kuon_ or _chien_ of St. Kit, the Kaadman or the Good Man, and the lanthorn is probably Jack-a-lantern or Will-o-the-wisp, known of old as Kit-with-a-canstick or Kitty-with-a-candlestick. The thorn bush was sacred to the Elves for reasons which will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. It is sufficient here to note that the equivalent of the sacred hawthorn of Britain is known in the East as the Alvah or Elluf.[163] The Irish title of the letter _a_ or _haw_ is _alif_, as also is the Arabian: the Greek _alpha_ is either _alpa_ or _alfa_. The Welsh Archbard Taliesin makes the mystic statement:-- Of the ruddy vine, Planted on sunny days, And on new-moon nights; And the white wine. The wheat rich in grain And red flowing wine Christ's pure body make, Son of Alpha. The same poet claims, "I was in the Ark with Noah and Alpha," whence it would seem that Alpha was Mother Eve or the Mother of All Living. Alfa the Elf King and his followers the elves were deemed to be ever-living, and the words _love_, _life_, and _alive_ are all one and the same. That Spenser appreciated this identity between _Elfe_ and _life_ is apparent in the passage:-- Prometheus did create A man of many parts from beasts derived, That man so made he called Elfe to wit, Quick the first author of all Elfin kind, Who wandering through the world with wearie feet Did in the gardens of Adonis find A goodly creature whom he deemed in mind To be no earthly wight, but either sprite Or angel, the author of all woman-kind.[164] _Quick_ as in "quick and dead" meant living, whence "Elfe, to wit Quick," was clearly understood by Spenser as life. It meant further, all _vie_ or all _feu_, for the ancients identified life and fire, and they further identified the _fays_ or elves with _feux_ or fires. The place-name Fife is, I suspect, connected with _vif_ or _vive_, and it is noteworthy that in Fifeshire to this day a circular patch of white snow which habitually lingers in a certain hill cup is termed poetically "the Lady Alva's web". Whether this Lady Alva was supposed to haunt Glen Alva--a name now associated with a more material spirit--I do not know.