Farquhar Macneill
: The Scottish Fairy BookOnce upon a time there was a young man named Farquhar MacNeill. He had
just gone to a new situation, and the very first night after he went to
it his mistress asked him if he would go over the hill to the house of a
neighbour and borrow a sieve, for her own was all in holes, and she
wanted to sift some meal.
Farquhar agreed to do so, for he was a willing lad, and he set out at
once upon his errand, after
path that he was to follow, and told him that he would have no
difficulty in finding the house, even though it was strange to him, for
he would be sure to see the light in the window.
He had not gone very far, however, before he saw what he took to be the
light from a cottage window on his left hand, some distance from the
path, and, forgetting his Mistress's instructions that he was to follow
the path right over the hill, he left it, and walked towards the light.
It seemed to him that he had almost reached it when his foot tripped,
and he fell down, down, down, into a Fairy Parlour, far under the
ground.
It was full of Fairies, who were engaged in different occupations.
Close by the door, or rather the hole down which he had so
unceremoniously tumbled, two little elderly women, in black aprons and
white mutches, were busily engaged in grinding corn between two flat
millstones. Other two Fairies, younger women, in blue print gowns and
white kerchiefs, were gathering up the freshly ground meal, and baking
it into bannocks, which they were toasting on a girdle over a peat fire,
which was burning slowly in a corner.
In the centre of the large apartment a great troop of Fairies, Elves,
and Sprites were dancing reels as hard as they could to the music of a
tiny set of bagpipes which were being played by a brown-faced Gnome, who
sat on a ledge of rock far above their heads.
They all stopped their various employments when Farquhar came suddenly
down in their midst, and looked at him in alarm; but when they saw that
he was not hurt, they bowed gravely and bade him be seated. Then they
went on with their work and with their play as if nothing had happened.
But Farquhar, being very fond of dancing, and being in no wise anxious
to be seated, thought that he would like to have a reel first, so he
asked the Fairies if he might join them. And they, although they looked
surprised at his request, allowed him to do so, and in a few minutes
the young man was dancing away as gaily as any of them.
And as he danced a strange change came over him. He forgot his errand,
he forgot his home, he forgot everything that had ever happened to him,
he only knew that he wanted to remain with the Fairies all the rest of
his life.
And he did remain with them--for a magic spell had been cast over him,
and he became like one of themselves, and could come and go at nights
without being seen, and could sip the dew from the grass and honey from
the flowers as daintily and noiselessly as if he had been a Fairy born.
Time passed by, and one night he and a band of merry companions set out
for a long journey through the air. They started early, for they
intended to pay a visit to the Man in the Moon and be back again before
cock-crow.
All would have gone well if Farquhar had only looked where he was going,
but he did not, being deeply engaged in making love to a young Fairy
Maiden by his side, so he never saw a cottage that was standing right in
his way, till he struck against the chimney and stuck fast in the
thatch.
His companions sped merrily on, not noticing what had befallen him, and
he was left to disentangle himself as best he could.
As he was doing so he chanced to glance down the wide chimney, and in
the cottage kitchen he saw a comely young woman dandling a rosy-cheeked
baby.
Now, when Farquhar had been in his mortal state, he had been very fond
of children, and a word of blessing rose to his lips.
"God shield thee," he said, as he looked at the mother and child, little
guessing what the result of his words would be.
For scarce had the Holy Name crossed his lips than the spell which had
held him so long was broken, and he became as he had been before.
Instantly his thoughts flew to his friends at home, and to the new
Mistress whom he had left waiting for her sieve; for he felt sure that
some weeks must have elapsed since he set out to fetch it. So he made
haste to go to the farm.
When he arrived in the neighbourhood everything seemed strange. There
were woods where no woods used to be, and walls where no walls used to
be. To his amazement, he could not find his way to the farm, and, worst
of all, in the place where he expected to find his father's house he
found nothing but a crop of rank green nettles.
In great distress he looked about for someone to tell him what it all
meant, and at last he found an old man thatching the roof of a cottage.
This old man was so thin and grey that at first Farquhar took him for a
patch of mist, but as he went nearer he saw that he was a human being,
and, going close up to the wall and shouting with all his might, for he
felt sure that such an ancient man would be deaf, he asked him if he
could tell him where his friends had gone to, and what had happened to
his father's dwelling.
The old man listened, then he shook his head. "I never heard of him," he
answered slowly; "but perhaps my father might be able to tell you."
"Your father!" said Farquhar, in great surprise. "Is it possible that
your father is alive?"
"Aye he is," answered the old man, with a little laugh. "If you go into
the house you'll find him sitting in the arm-chair by the fire."
Farquhar did as he was bid, and on entering the cottage found another
old man, who was so thin and withered and bent that he looked as if he
must at least be a hundred years old. He was feebly twisting ropes to
bind the thatch on the roof.
"Can ye tell me aught of my friends, or where my father's cottage is?"
asked Farquhar again, hardly expecting that this second old man would be
able to answer him.
"I cannot," mumbled this ancient person; "but perhaps my father can tell
you."
"Your father!" exclaimed Farquhar, more astonished than ever. "But
surely he must be dead long ago."
The old man shook his head with a weird grimace.
"Look there," he said, and pointed with a twisted finger, to a leathern
purse, or sporran, which was hanging to one of the posts of a wooden
bedstead in the corner.
Farquhar approached it, and was almost frightened out of his wits by
seeing a tiny shrivelled face crowned by a red pirnie, looking over the
edge of the sporran.
"Tak' him out; he'll no touch ye," chuckled the old man by the fire.
So Farquhar took the little creature out carefully between his finger
and thumb, and set him on the palm of his left hand. He was so
shrivelled with age that he looked just like a mummy.
"Dost know anything of my friends, or where my father's cottage is gone
to?" asked Farquhar for the third time, hardly expecting to get an
answer.
"They were all dead long before I was born," piped out the tiny figure.
"I never saw any of them, but I have heard my father speak of them."
"Then I must be older than you!" cried Farquhar, in great dismay. And he
got such a shock at the thought that his bones suddenly dissolved into
dust, and he fell, a heap of grey ashes, on the floor.
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