Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/342

312 revealed our presence, and we were forcibly expelled. I have since been told that advice to practice kindness towards their horses and to be methodical in the performance of their work was the sum and substance of the ceremony.

The "miller's word" was a still more rare and valuable possession, as by it a mill could be set to work and corn ground without human assistance. I only heard of two millers who possessed it; one lived near Skene, the other, I think, was the Ardo miller.

Charm-stones of various kinds were treasured by old people as potent agents for the cure of disease. This "adder stone"—a natural flint pebble with a hole through it—for example, was used as a cure for certain diseases of cows and horses. It was placed in a basin of water with some salt and an odd number of pieces of saltpetre, and some mysterious words were repeated over it. The solution had then to be swallowed by the diseased animal. This elongated stone was used for the cure of sore eyes and headache. The other specimens—Druid beads, adder stones, and concretions—are charms found in the same district.

The parish of St. Fergus, on the north-east coast of Aberdeenshire, where I spent many happy days each year during my boyhood, teemed with superstitions. A veritable fairy hollow adjoined my uncle's farm, and a well at the entrance to this hollow required a "witch-water-stone" to prevent these wicked beings from poisoning the water. I exhibit this stone with two others, also from Aberdeenshire. Flint arrow-heads, several of which I also show, were common in the district, and were used as charms for the cure of disease affecting man or beast. My uncle informed me that his father had ploughed up what, judging from the multitude of neolithic flint implements found in the field, I think must have been the remains of a tumulus or stone circle. None of the farm servants dared plough over it, and some people collected on a neighbouring hill expecting to see the earth open and swallow up both horses and ploughman.

Every magpie's egg was believed to contain a drop of the devil's blood.

All the bridges over the streams in the district were frequented by witches and fairies during my uncle's boyhood, but in my time they had lost their evil reputation, except the Bridge of Savock, which was the habitat of witches till early in the seventies. Few