Page:Ancient and modern history of Buck-haven in Fife-shire (3).pdf/23

                   ( 23 ) Willy with the Wisp, and the Kelpy, Fairies and Mau- kens, and boggles of all sorts. The Ghosts, like old horses, go all night for fear they are seen, and be made to carry scate or fish or be carted; and witches are the warst kind of devils, and make use of cats to ride upon, or kill-kebbers and besoms, and sail over seas in cockle shells, and witch the lads and lasses, and disable, bridegrooms. As for Willy and the Wisp, he is a fiery devil, and leads peo- ple off their road in order to drown them, for he sparks sometimes at our feet, and then turns before with his candle, as if he were twa or three mile before us, many a good boat has Spunkie drown’d; the boats coming to land in the night time they observe a light off the land, and set in upon it and drownit. The Kelpy is a sly devil, he roars before a loss at sea, and frightens both young and old upon the shore. Fairies are terrible troublesome, they gang dancing round foucks lums, and rin through the hous- es they haunt, and play odd trick, and lift now-born bairns from their mothers, and none of them are safe to lye with their mothers, a night or two after they ate born, unless the mother gets a pair of men's breeches under her head for the first three nights; when the Fairies are frighted, they will leave an old stock with the woman, and whip away the child. One tried to burn an old stock that the Fairies left in the cradle; but when the fire was put on, the old stock jumped on upon a cat and up the lum. Mauk- ens are most terrible, and have bad luck, none will go to sea that day they see a Maukin or if a wretched body put in a Maukin’s fit in their creels, they need not lift them that day, as it will be bad luck, either broken backs or legs, or arms, or hear bad accounts of the boats at sea. They are terrified for all sorts of boggles both by land and sea.