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THE power of the fairies was not
confined to unchristened children alone; it was supposed frequently
to be extended to full-grown persons, especially such as in an
unlucky hour were devoted to the devil by the execration of parents
and of masters; or those who were found asleep under a rock, or on a
green hill, belonging to the fairies, after sunset, or, finally, to
those who unwarily joined their orgies. A tradition existed, during
the seventeenth century, concerning an ancestor of the noble family
of Duffus, who, "walking abroad in the fields, near to his own
house, was suddenly carried away, and found the next day at Paris,
in the French king’s cellar, with a silver cup in his hand. Being
brought into the king’s presence, and questioned by him who he was,
and how he came thither, he told his name, his country, and the
place of his residence! and that on such a day of the month, which
proved to be the day immediately preceding, being in the fields, he
heard the noise of a whirlwind, and of voices, crying ‘Horse and
Hattock!’ (this is the word which the fairies are said to use
when they remove from any place), whereupon he cried ‘Horse and
Hattock’ also, and was immediately caught up and transported
through the air by the fairies, to that place, where, after he had
drunk heartily, he fell asleep, and before he woke, the rest of the
company were gone, and had left him in the posture wherein he was
found. It is said the king gave him the cup which was found in his
hand, and dismissed him." The narrator affirms "that the cup was
still preserved, and known by the name of the Fairy Cup." He
adds that Mr. Steward, tutor to the then Lord Duffus, had informed
him that, "when a boy at the school of Forres, he and his
school-fellows were upon a time whipping their tops in the
churchyard, before the door of the church, when, though the day was
calm, they heard a noise of a wind, and at some distance saw the
small dust begin to rise and turn round, which motion continued
advancing till it came to the place where they were, whereupon they
began to bless themselves; but one of their number being, it seems,
a little more bold and confident than his companions, said,
‘Horse and Hattock with my top,’ and immediately they all saw
the top lifted up from the ground, but could not see which way it
was carried, by reason of a cloud of dust which was raised at the
same time. They sought for the top all about the place where it was
taken up, but in vain; and it was found afterwards in the
churchyard, on the other side of the
church." |