Page:Elizabethan People.djvu/342

 "Another part of this conversation generally turns upon fairies. These, they tell you, have been frequently heard and seen; nay, there are some still living who were stolen away by them, and confined seven years. According to the description they give of them, who pretend to have seen them, they are in the shape of men, exceeding little: they are always clad in green, and frequent the woods and fields; when they make cakes (which is a work they have been often heard at) they are very noisy: and when they have done, they are full of mirth and pastime. But generally they dance in moonlight when mortals are asleep, and not capable of seeing them, as may be observed on the following morn; their dancing places being very distinguishable. For as they dance hand in hand and so make a circle in their dance, so next day there will be seen rings and circles on the grass. "Another tradition they hold, and which is often talked of, is, that there are particular places allotted to spirits to walk in. Thence it was that formerly, such frequent reports were abroad of this and that particular place being haunted by a spirit, and that the common people say now and then, such a place is dangerous to be passed through, because a spirit walks there. Now, they'll further tell you, that some spirits have