Tales about Fairies and Other Spirits

• Fairies and elves—Scott uses these terms interchangeably. His introductory essay in the Minstrelsy on fairy lore is too long and various to summarize in detail, but an essential passage on the “Fairies of Scotland” describes them “as a diminutive race of beings, of a mixed, or rather dubious nature, capricious in their dispositions, and mischievous in their resentment. They inhabit the interior of green hills, chiefly those of a conical form, . . . , on which they lead their dances by moon‐light; impressing upon the surface the mark of circles, which sometimes appear yellow and blasted, sometimes of a deep green hue; and within which it is dangerous to sleep, or to be found after sun‐set”. Sometimes, however, they “reside in subterranean abodes, in the vicinity of human habitations”, where they “establish an intercourse with men, by borrowing and lending”. Their “usual dress . . . is green; though, on the moors, . . . heath‐brown, or in weeds dyed with stoneraw, or lichen”. Their weapons are “elf‐shot” formed from “elf‐arrow heads”, associated with prehistoric flint points. They mine and shape the rocky landscape, and rounded stones in brooks are called “fairy cups and dishes”. “They often ride in invisible procession, when their presence is discovered by the shrill ringing of their bridles” and also “are addicted . . . to the pleasures of the chace”. But their “most formidable attribute” is the “practice of carrying away, and exchanging, children”, and also “stealing human souls from their bodies” (Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 2:159–65).
• Brownies—Belonging to “a class of beings, distinct in habit and disposition from the freakish and mischievous elves”, the brownie exists as a solitary being, “meagre, shaggy, and wild in his appearance”. “In the day time, he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses which he delighted to haunt; and, in the night, sedulously employed himself in discharging any laborious task which he thought might be acceptable to the family, to whose service he had devoted himself”. The “Scottish Brownie”, however, “does not drudge from the hope of recompense”, but “on the contrary, so delicate is his attachment, that the offer of reward, but particularly of food, infallibly occasions his disappearance for ever” (Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1:xcix, c–ci). In the 1820s, brownie characters were popularized by the prose tale, The Brownie of Bodsbeck (1818), by James Hogg (1770–1835); and the poem “The Brownie of Blednoch” by William Nicolson (1782–1849), available, e.g., in The Popular Rhymes of Scotland, collected by Robert Chambers (1826) (Henderson, “Folk Belief and Scottish Traditional Literatures”, 32). Hoggʼs tale, to which Ruskin alludes in “The Emigration of the Sprites”, ends with a rational explanation of the brownie, who turns out to be human, a Covenanter in hiding.
• The water kelpie—To do the work of describing this spirit, Scott relies on a modern ballad composed as a “specimen of Scottish writing” in the manner of “our ancient bards”, transmitting “the superstitions of the vulgar” in “the county of Angus”. According to Scottʼs note, the ominous spirit that rises from the River Esk can be in the shape of a man or a horse. In the poem, it is part‐man, part‐fish, covered with shells, and composed of rushes and sedges for hair, mussels for eyes, all entwined with eels, newts, and other writhing creatures, and a torrent issuing from its wide mouth. It knows the fatal spot of those destined to be drowned, and “‘With ruefow cries, that rend the skies, / Thair fate I seem to mourn, / . . . / Douce [i.e., sober], cautious men aft fey are seen; / Thai rin as thai war heyrt [i.e., furious], / Despise all reid, and court their deid [i.e., death]; / By me are thai inspirʼt’”. Scott glosses fey at length as “affording presages of approaching death, by acting a part directly the reverse of their proper character” (Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 3:383–98).