* * * * * The evidence from Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany, which the living Celtic Fairy-Faith offers, has now been heard; and, as was stated at the beginning of the inquiry, apparently most of it can only be interpreted as belonging to a world-wide doctrine of souls. But before this decision can be arrived at safely, all the evidence should be carefully estimated according to anthropological and psychological methods; and this we shall proceed to do in the following chapter, before passing to Section II of our study. SECTION I THE LIVING FAIRY-FAITH CHAPTER III AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE EVIDENCE Anthropology is concerned with man and what is in man--_humani nihil a se alienum putat_.--ANDREW LANG. The Celtic Fairy-Faith as part of a World-wide Animism--Shaping Influence of Social Psychology--Smallness of Elvish Spirits and Fairies, according to Ethnology, Animism, and Occult Sciences--The Changeling Belief and its explanation according to the Kidnap, Human-Sacrifice, Soul-Wandering, and Demon-Possession Theory--Ancient and Modern Magic and Witchcraft shown to be based on definite psychological laws--Exorcisms--Taboos, of Name, Food, Iron, Place--Taboos among Ancient Celts--Food-Sacrifice--Legend of the Dead--Conclusion: The background of the modern belief in Fairies is animistic. THE CELTIC FAIRY-FAITH AS PART OF A WORLD-WIDE ANIMISM The modern belief in fairies, with which until now we have been specifically concerned, is Celtic only in so far as it reflects Celtic traditions and customs, Celtic myth and religion, and Celtic social and environmental conditions. Otherwise, as will be shown throughout this and succeeding chapters, it is in essence a part of a world-wide animism, which forms the background of all religions in whatever stage of culture religions exist or to which they have attained by evolution, from the barbarism of the Congo black man to the civilization of the Archbishop of Canterbury; and as far back as we can go into human origins there is some corresponding belief in a fairy or spirit realm, as there is to-day among contemporary civilized and uncivilized races of all countries. We may therefore very profitably begin our examination of the living Fairy-Faith of the Celts by comparing it with a few examples, taken almost at random, from the animistic beliefs current among non-Celtic peoples.