Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Scottish Fairies

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Mermaids / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

The Mermaid Wife

A STORY is told of an inhabitant of Unst, who, in walking on the sandy margin of a voe, saw a number of mermen and mermaids dancing by moonlight, and several seal-skins strewed beside them on the ground. At his approach they immediately fled to secure their garbs, and, taking upon themselves the form of seals, plunged immediately into the sea.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

The Bogle

THIS is a freakish spirit, who delights rather to perplex and frighten mankind than either to serve or seriously to hurt them. Shellycoat, a spirit who resides in the waters, and has given his name to many a rock and stone the Scottish coast, belongs to the class of bogles.

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Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

A Changeling In Nithsdale

In his The Science of Fairy Tales’ (1891), Edwin Sidney Hartland gives the following description of a Changeling in Dumfries and Galloway. ‘In Nithsdale the elf-child displays a superhuman power of work. The mother left it on one occasion in the charge of a servant-girl, who sat bemoaning herself.

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Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

Changelings In The Borders

Edwin Sidney Hartland gives the following account of Dumfries and Galloway Changelings in his ‘The Science of Fairy Tales’ (1891). ‘A Kirkcudbrightshire tale represents a child as once left in charge of a tailor, who "commenced a discourse" with him. "’Will, hae ye your pipes?’ says the tailor. ‘They’re below my head,’ says the tenant of the cradle.

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English Fairies / Fairies / Folklore / Irish Fairies / Manx Fairies / Scottish Fairies / Welsh Fairies

Changelings

Changelings are part of Western Folklore, a child of a fairy type (Elf, Troll etc) which has been secretly swapped for a human baby and left in its place. George Waldron gave the following description of one he saw in the Isle of Man and it was subsequently reprinted in ‘The Science of Fairy Tales’ (1891) by Edwin Sidney Hartland.

Fairies / Folklore / Scottish Fairies

Loch Na Fideil

Loch Na Fideil was reputedly the home of a legendary female creature or spirit known as the Fideal after which the body of water is named (Loch of the Fideal). Depending upon which source you read, she attacks either men or women and children, dragging them down under the water in order to devour them.