Page:History of Buckhaven.pdf/24

24 for fear of being seen, and be made to carry skate fish and dulce, They think witches are the warst kind of devils, and make use of cats to ride upon, or kail kebbers and besom shafts, and that they sail over the sea in cockle shells, and bewitches lads and lasses and disables bridegrooms. They think Willie and the Wisp is a fiery devil, and leads people off their road to drown them in the sea They think Kelpy is a sly devil, and roars before a loss at sea, And they believe that the Fairies lift new born bairns from their mothers and that none of them are safe to lie with their mothers, for a night or two after they are born, unless the mother gets a pair of men's breeches under her head, which sits the fairies adrift. But if they neglect to do this, they say the fairies will carry off the child, and leave a block of wood with the mother.