Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/412

378 means of restoring them to their senses. Near this pool lived a farmer who had a bull that went mad: he put it into the pool, but after this the water lost the effect that it previously had."

The same informant spoke of a method of curing illness in horses by means of water taken "from under a bridge where the dead and the living cross." He either did not know or did not care to give the full particulars; a silver coin was put into the pail, and if this stuck to the bottom when the water was poured out, the horse's illness was at once ascribed to witchcraft (compare Folk-Lore, 1897, p. 92). An old Highlander, resident in Stirling, told my brother how his daughter's child was cured from the effects of the Evil Eye by giving it warm water to drink, into which nine pointed iron instruments had been dipped. After the cure had been effected the old man asked his daughter where she got the water. "Did you go down to the bridge for it?" "No, indeed," said she, "I just took it out of the pipe; aren't the dead and the living going down the street every day?" This is how folklore is adapted to modern conditions.

From a native of Skye I have two stories, which are perhaps worth recording as a contrast to the more serious side of popular belief. The one is of a man who was passing a churchyard by night, when a ghost came out and blocked his way. Thinking that it was likely to attack him, he gave it a word of warning: "You had better not lay hands on me," he said; "I have as many friends in there as you have." The other represents the triumph of the sceptic over the believer. A young fellow told his companions how he had looked over a rock into the waters of a lake, and had seen the river-horse lying asleep. "What was it like?" they asked. "Well, it was just like a big ass." "Oh," said one, "it had been your own shadow, man."

It is very much to be desired that persons possessing a thorough knowledge of the Gaelic dialects in the various localities would devote some time to recording the folklore of their districts. While the fairy-tales have received a good deal of attention since Campbell's day, very little has been done to preserve the many