_'Corrigans' as Fairies._--Some Breton legends give _corrigans_ the chief characteristics of fairies in Celtic Britain and Ireland; and Villemarqué in his _Barzaz Breiz_ (pp. 25-30) makes the Breton word _corrigan_ synonymous with _fée_ or fairy, thus:--'_Le Seigneur Nann et la Fée (Aotrou Nann hag ar Corrigan)_.' In this legend the _corrigan_ seems clearly enough to be a water-fairy: 'The _Korrigan_ was seated at the edge of her fountain, and she was combing her long fair hair.' But unlike most water-fairies, the _Fée_ lives in a grotto, which, according to Villemarqué, is one of those ancient monuments called in Breton _dolmen_, or _ti ar corrigan_; in French, _Table de pierres_, or _Grotte aux Fées_--like the famous one near Rennes. The fountain where the _Fée_ was seated seems to be one of those sacred fountains, which, as Villemarqué says, are often found near a _Grotte aux Fées_, and called _Fontaine de la Fée_, or in Breton, _Feunteun ar corrigan_. In another of Villemarqué's legends, _L'Enfant Supposé_, after the egg-shell test has been used and the little _corrigan_-changeling is replaced by the real child, the latter as though all the while it had been in an unconscious trance-state--which has a curious bearing on our Psychological Theory--stretches forth its arms and awakening exclaims, 'Ah! mother, what a long time I have been asleep.'[98] And in _Les Nains_ we see the little _Duz_ or dwarfs inhabiting a cave and guarding treasures.[98] In his introduction to the _Barzaz Breiz_, Villemarqué describes _les korrigan_, whom he equates with _les fées_, as very similar to ordinary fairies. They can foretell the future, they know the art of war--quite like the Irish 'gentry' or Tuatha De Danann--they can assume any animal form, and are able to travel from one end of the world to another in the twinkling of an eye. They love feasting and music--like all Celtic fairy-folk; and dance in a circle holding hands, but at the least noise disappear. Their favourite haunts are near fountains and dolmens. They are little beings not more than two feet high, and beautifully proportioned, with bodies as aerial and transparent as those of wasps. And like all fairy, or elvish races, and like the Breton _Morgans_ or water-spirits, they are given to stealing the children of mortals. Professor J. Loth has called my attention to an unpublished Breton legend of his collection, in which there are fairy-like beings comparable to these described by Villemarqué; and he tells me, too, that throughout Brittany one finds to-day the counterpart of the Welsh _Tylwyth Teg_ or 'Fair Family', and that both in Wales and Brittany the _Tylwyth Teg_ are popularly described as little women, or maidens, like fairies no larger than children.