Two men went poaching, and having placed nets, or rather sacks, over what they supposed to be rabbit holes, but which were in reality fairies' houses, the fairies rushed into the sacks, and the poachers (believing them to be rabbits), content with their prey, marched homewards again. One fairy missing another in the sack, called out (the story was told in the broad Lancashire dialect)--"Dick" (dignified name for a fairy), "where art thou?" To which fairy Dick replied,-- "In a sack, On a back, Riding up Barley Brow." The story has a good moral ending; for the men were so frightened that they never poached again.[81] The Rev. William Thornber[82] characterizes the elves and fairies as kind, good-natured creatures, at times seeking the assistance of mortals, and in return, liberally rewarding them. They have a favourite spot between Hardhorn and Staining, at a cold spring of water called "Fairies' Well" to this day. Most amusing stories of fairies are told around that district. A poor woman, when filling her pitcher at the well just named, in order to bathe the weak eyes of her infant child, was mildly accosted by a handsome man, who presented her with a box of ointment, and told her it would be a specific remedy. She was grateful for the gift, but love for her child made her somewhat mistrustful; so she first applied the ointment to one of her own eyes. Shortly afterwards, she saw her benefactor at Preston, stealing corn from the mouths of the sacks open for sale, and, much to his amazement, accosted him. On his inquiry how she could recognise him, since he was invisible to all else around, she told him how she had used his ointment, and pointed to the powerful eye; when he immediately struck it out. A milkmaid, observing a jug and a sixpence placed at her side by some invisible being, filled the jug with milk, and took the money; this was repeated for weeks, till, overjoyed with her good fortune, she could not refrain from imparting it to her lover; but the jug and sixpence never appeared again. A ploughman when engaged in his daily labour, heard a plaintive cry, "I have broken my _speet_."[83] Hastily turning round, the ploughman beheld a lady, holding in her hand a broken _spittle_, a hammer, and nails, and beckoning him to repair it. He did so, and instantly received a handsome reward; and then the lady vanished, apparently sinking into the earth. FOLK-LORE. Under this general head we bring together a few scattered notices not naturally falling under any precise classification, but all showing the nature and character of common and popular notions, beliefs, and superstitions. Where, however, the subject will admit of it, many examples of this Folk-lore will be found in later pages, under the general head of "Superstitions." FOLK-LORE OF ECCLES AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.