Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/473

 Miscella nea. 451

Alexander Stewart, a crofter residing at Holm, had seen the tooth in Melbost, but could not say where it was now. That was thirty years ago, when he saw his mother showing it to another woman. The Sheriff asked witness what the tooth was like. Witness said it was larger than a man's tooth, one end of it red, and the other commencing to decay. It went by the name of " Fairy Dog's Tooth."

Mrs. Stewart, from the same township, heard Mrs. MacCaskill say that she wished the tooth was in "such and such" a place. Wit- ness would not say where. Mrs. MacCaskill also said that if she possessed the tooth, she would put it down the chimney of Mrs. Mackay's house, and thereby set said house on fire. Witness had seen the tooth thirty-four years ago, when an " old wife " in the Holm had it. Witness had paid one shilling for holding the tooth. She had carried it from Melbost to Bayble to cure some cattle that were sick, and the cattle were made to drink water in which the tooth was dipped. It cured them. Water in which the tooth had been dipped would cure sick men or animals. The tooth was supposed to work cures better and cheaper than a doctor, and was considered by many people to be doing great good.

Mrs. MacCaskill gave evidence on her own behalf, and admitted that there had been some " words," but nothing that amounted to breach of the peace. Mrs. Mackay had been twitting her about the tooth, and witness thought it was time to say something on her own behalf. She did say to Mrs. Mackay that if she had the tooth, she (Mrs. Mackay) would be the first person that she would kill with it. She said no more than that. Witness denied saying anything about sending the tooth down Mrs. Mackay's chimney. She did not have the tooth, and could not say where it was now. The tooth cured disorders. It was said witness's great-grandfather was the first to have it.

The Sheriff— How did he get it ?

Witness answered that one late night, as tradition said, when her great-grandfather was coming home from Stornoway something met him and gave him this tooth, so the report ran. The Sheriff inquired whether her great-grandfather had any drink that night. Witness could not tell. She could not tell if it was a fairy that met her great-grandfather on the night in question.

The Sheriff said the case seemed to him to be a neighbours' squabble, with two parties concerned, one a Mackay party and 2 G 2