Daoine Shie

DAOINE SHIE, OR THE MEN OF PEACE.

They are, though not absolutely malevolent, believed to be a peevish,
repining, and envious race, who enjoy, in the subterranean recesses, a
kind of shadowy splendour. The Highlanders are at all times unwilling to
speak of them, but especially on Friday, when their influence is supposed
to be particularly extensive. As they are supposed to be invisibly
present, they are at all times to be spoken of with respect. The fairies
of Scotland are represented 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, in Gaelic termed _Sighan_, on which they lead
their dances by moonlight, impressing upon the surface the marks 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 sunset. The removal of those large portions of turf, which
thunderbolts sometimes scoop out of the ground with singular regularity,
is also ascribed to their agency. Cattle which are suddenly seized with
the cramp, or some similar disorder, are said to be elf-shot, and the
approved cure is to chafe the parts affected with a blue bonnet, which,
it may be readily believed, often restores the circulation. The
triangular flints frequently found in Scotland, with which the ancient
inhabitants probably barbed their shafts, are supposed to be the weapons
of fairy resentment, and are termed elf arrowheads. The rude brazen
battle-axes of the ancients, commonly called "celts," are also ascribed
to their manufacture. But, like the Gothic duergar, their skill is not
confined to the fabrication of arms; for they are heard sedulously
hammering in linns, precipices, and rocky or cavernous situations, where,
like the dwarfs of the mines mentioned by George Agricola, they busy
themselves in imitating the actions and the various employments of men.
The Brook of Beaumont, for example, which passes in its course by
numerous linns and caverns, is notorious for being haunted by the
fairies; and the perforated and rounded stones which are formed by
trituration in its channels are termed by the vulgar fairy cups and
dishes. A beautiful reason is assigned by Fletcher for the fays
frequenting streams and fountains. He tells us of

"A virtuous well, about whose flowery banks
The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make them free
From dying flesh and dull mortality."

It is sometimes accounted unlucky to pass such places without performing
some ceremony to avert the displeasure