The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various CountriesKeightley, Thomas
General
The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
Keightley, Thomas
Fairies; Fairy tales; Folk literature; Folklore
Every means now was resorted to for the recovery of Rory, but to no
purpose. His family gave him up for lost, when a _Duin Glichd_ or Wise
man, told Donald to go to the place where he had lost his brother, a
year and a day from the time, and placing in his garments a
rowan-cross, to enter the Shian boldly, and claim him in the divine
name, and if he would not come voluntarily, to seize him and drag him
out; for the fairies would have no power to prevent him. After some
hesitation Donald assented. At the appointed time he approached the
Shian at midnight. It was full of revelry, and the merry dance was
going on as before. Donald had his terrors no doubt, but they gave
way to his fraternal affection. He entered and found Rory in the midst
of a Highland Fling, and running up to him, seized him by the collar,
repeating the words dictated by the Wise man. Rory agreed to go
provided he would let him finish his dance; for he had not been, he
assured him, more than half an hour in the place, but Donald was
inexorable, and took him home to his parents. Rory would never have
believed that his half-hour had been a twelvemonth, "did not the
calves grown now into stots, and the new-born babes now toddling about
the house, at length convince him that in his single reel he had
danced for a twelvemonth and a day."
_The Two Fiddlers._
Nearly three hundred years ago, there dwelt in Strathspey two fiddlers,
greatly renowned in their art. One Christmas they resolved to go try
their fortune in Inverness. On arriving in that town they took lodgings,
and as was the custom at that time, hired the bellman to go round
announcing their arrival, their qualifications, their fame, and their
terms. Soon after they were visited by a venerable-looking grey-haired
old man, who not only found no fault with, but actually offered to
double their terms if they would go with him. They agreed, and he led
them out of the town, and brought them to a very strange-looking
dwelling which seemed to them to be very like a Shian. The money,
however, and the entreaties of their guide induced them to enter it, and
their musical talents were instantly put into requisition, and the
dancing was such as in their lives they had never witnessed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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