Many devices were employed to thwart Fairy inroads. A burning ember (_eibhleag_) was put into ‘sowens’ (_cabhruich_), one of the weakest and most unsubstantial articles of human food and very liable to Fairy attack. It was left there till the dish was ready for boiling, _i.e._ about three days after. A sieve should not be allowed out of the house after dark, and no meal unless it be sprinkled with salt. Otherwise, the Fairies may, by means of them, take the substance out of the whole farm produce. For the same reason a hole should be put with the finger in the little cake (_bonnach beag ’s toll ann_), made with the remnant of the meal after a baking, and when given to children, as it usually is, a piece should be broken off it. A nail driven into a cow, killed by falling over a precipice, was supposed by the more superstitious to keep the elves away. One of the most curious thefts ascribed to them was that of querns,[11] or handmills (_Bra_, _Brathuinn_). To keep them away these handy and useful implements should be turned _deiseal_, _i.e._ with the right hand turn, as sunwise. What is curious in the belief is, that the handmill is said to have been originally got from the Fairies themselves. Its sounds have often been heard by the belated peasant, as it was being worked inside some grassy knoll, and songs, sung by the Fairy women employed at it, have been learned. STEALING WOMEN AND CHILDREN. Most frequently it was women, not yet risen from childbed, and their babes that the Fairies abducted. On every occasion of a birth, therefore, the utmost anxiety prevailed to guard the mother and child from their attacks. It is said that the Fairy women are unable to suckle their own children, and hence their desire to secure a human wet-nurse. This, however, does not explain why they want the children, nor indeed is it universally a part of the creed.