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The ingenious reader must not suppose that, because the
fairies were once angelic, they have continued so in this corrupt world to
the present day. They will be found to exhibit in their conduct as signal
proofs of degeneracy from their original innocence and worth, as their
mortal contemporary man; and, as may be concluded, this degeneracy has
entailed upon them those passions and infirmities, from which they were,
no doubt, once on a time exempt.
The fairies are remarkable for the amorousness of their
dispositions, and are not very backward in forming attachments and
connections with people that cannot with propriety be called their own
species. We are told it is an undeniable fact, that it was once a common
practice with both sexes of the fairy people to
form intimacies with human swains and damsels, whom they would visit at
times and in places highly unbecoming and suspicious; and these improper
intimacies not unfrequently produced, as may be well believed,
their natural consequences.
It exposed the fairy-females to that
indisposition to which, before their fall, they were no doubt strangers—we
mean the pains of child-birth, which, it seems, they suffer in common with
their earthly neighbours. To the more sceptical part of our readers, the
idea of fairy fruition may appear somewhat incredible. In order, however,
to remove any doubt on the subject, we submit the particulars of a fairy
accouchement, which took place, no doubt, "a considerable time ago," in
the wilds of Cairngorm.
"A considerable time ago there was a woman living in
the neighbourhood of Cairngorm in Strathspey, by profession a midwife, of
extensive practice, and esteemed, indeed, the best midwife in the
district. One night, while she was preparing for bed, there came a loud
knocking to her door, indicating great haste in the person that knocked.
The midwife was accustomed to such late intrusions, and concluded, even
before she opened the door, that her presence was too much required at a
sick-bed. She found the person that knocked to be a rider and his
horse, both out of breath,
and most impatient for her company. The
rider entreated the midwife to make haste, and jump up behind him without
a single moment’s delay, else that the life of an amiable woman was lost
for ever. But the midwife, having a great regard to cleanliness and
decorum, requested leave to exchange her apparel before she set out; a
motion which, on the pert of the rider, was met with a decided negative,
and nothing would satisfy the rider but that the midwife would immediately
jump up behind him on his grey horse. His importunities were irresistible,
the midwife mounted, and off they flew at full gallop. The midwife being
now seated, and fleeing on the road, she began naturally to question her
guide what he was—where he was going—and how far. He, however, declined
immediately making any other reply to her questions than merely saying,
that she would be well rewarded, which, however consoling, was far from
being satisfactory information to the midlife. At length the coarse they
pursued, and the road they took, alarmed the midwife beyond measure, and
her guide found it necessary to appease her fears by explaining the
matter, otherwise she would, in all probability, prove inadequate to the
discharge of her duty. ‘My good woman,’ says the fairy to the midwife, ‘be
not alarmed; though I am conducting you to a fairy habitation to assist a
fairy lady in distress, be not dismayed, I beseech you; for, I promise you
by all that is sacred, you shall sustain no injury, but will be safely
restored to your dwelling when your business is effected, with such boon
or present as you shall choose to ask or accept of.’ The fairy was a sweet
good-looking young fellow, and the candour of his speech, and the mildness
of his demeanour, soothed her fears, and reconciled the Ben-Ghlun,
in a great measure, to enterprise. They were not long in reaching the
place, when the midwife found the fairy lady in any thing but easy
circumstances, and soon proved the auspicious instrument of bringing to
the world a fine lusty boy. All was joy and rejoicing in consequence, and
all the fairies in the turret flattered and caressed the midwife. She was
desired to choose any gift in the power of fairies to grant, which was
instantly to be given her. Upon which she asked, as a boon, that
whomsoever she, or her posterity, should attend in her professional
capacity, a safe and speedy delivery should be insured them. The favour
was instantly conferred on her, and all know to this day, that
Muruch-na-Ban, the man-midwife, possesses, in no inconsiderable
degree, the professional talents of his great-grandmother."
Before concluding this chapter, we owe it, in justice
to both the human and fairy communities of the present day to say, that
such intercourse as that described to have taken place betwixt them is now
extremely rare; and, with the single exception of a good old shoemaker,
now or lately living in the village of Tomantoul, who confesses having had
some dalliances with a "lanan shi" in his younger days, we do not
know personally any one who has carried matters this length. |
