Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/514

204 Jealousy consumed him, and the next day he hurried to the same place and heard the same song, which now included the nice new verses. Jealous of his neighbour's good fortune, for he was a sullen, discontented man, he joined in, "Friday, Saturday." But this did not have the desired effect, for a wrathful voice demanded, "Who will be spoiling my nice song?" and the fairy man emerged and dragged him inside. With somewhat arbitrary cruelty he added the neighbour's hump to that already on his back and drove him out.

(4) A midwife of Kilmaluag, going out in the evening to bring her cows home, was laid hold of by a fairy man, and despite her efforts to get away was quite unable to do so. "And who will be taking the cows home?" she remonstrated. But it was of no avail, for she was told that the cows would be looked after, but that she must come to the aid of the fairy man's wife, who was in dire straits and in need of her assistance. There was nothing to do but to obey, and with her skilled help a fairy child was born. For eight days, until her patient was fit to be left, the nurse was kept in the fairy hill, though to her the time seemed only half a day. Then she was allowed to go home, when she found that, according to promise, her cows had been carefully tended.

(5) A well-to-do couple in the neighbourhood of Edinbane had but one lack in their prosperity—they had no child. But, at length, to their pride and joy, the wished-for child arrived. A bountiful harvest demanded all hands at work, and the mother carried her infant out, and left it comfortable and apparently safe in the charge of a young girl. But the latter was heedless and false to her trust, and she left the sleeping infant to the many dangers which menace infant life. During her absence the fairies, attracted by the beauty of the human child, stole it, leaving in its place a peculiarly unattractive infant of their own species. From that time the healthy child "dwined," always wailing and refusing to eat. After all ordinary means had been tried and had failed the mother consulted a "wise man." This person bade the mother listen if she could hear the crying of her own child, which she soon perceived to be coming from a little hill. By the advice of the