Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/131

 weapons of warfare made of iron took the place of the old stone implements, their wonderful powers and superiority over the latter were no doubt attributed to magic. Hence the peculiar virtue of steel may be accounted for; and the proverbial expression “as true as steel,” when speaking of anything that is reliable or trustworthy. When an animal or even a person had died suddenly, they were supposed to be elf-shot; and it was said that the elfin arrow was sometimes found: a minute, three-sided dagger of the finest steel.

The old Shetland sixern or haf boat is now becoming obsolete. The great storm of 1881 appears to have given the deathblow to this time-honoured craft and to the old mode of fishing. The model is still preserved in the build of small boats, which in proportion to their size are the safest craft afloat.