A Highland Joke.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1935, 29 November 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Highland Joke.

Thougii belief in fairies and fairy lore is fast dying out in the Highlands before the influence of the schoolmasters, ii continued to exercise a most practical influence upon our $cotch Highlanders even in the last generation, and nowhere was. such superstition more deeply rooted than among the wild glens and on the remote shores of Boss and Cromarty. •In one of Hugh Miller's least-known sketches of some of his contemporaries, he relates a very amusing scene enacted in the fishing town of Cromarty, by a party of young men who had contrived at various times to extract considerable amusement from the superstitious terrors of the fisherfolk, never rnisaing a chance of counting them as they wended their way to the boats, or of asking their destination— both deemed omens of evil luck. But the form of fairy malice which was most dreaded was that of kidnapping human children, and substituting for them fairy babies, which wero called changelings, and invariably proved cross-grained, ill-tempered and voracious. A poor baby who was attacked with any sort of wasting illness, or became unusually fretful and troublesome, was very apt to be looked upon as a changeling, and to receive anything but tenderness from the family who were forced to endure its wailing. Prom this popular belief, the young men in question resolved to extract some amusement, by effecting a general exchange of babies throughout the village, and then watching the result. Of course, in a fisher-town, all the women and elder children take their full share of work, in collecting shell-fish and baiting the lines, carrying them and the nets on board the boats, and finally, when the men are starting for their night's fishing, all the women go to the beach to help in launching the' boats, and see their husbands, sweethearts, and brothers start on what they well know may prove a service of danger. Even the little toddling bairns generally follow their elders to the shore ; and many a house is left without one human inmate, save the latest baby, safely ensconced in his wooden cradle. These babies were the special game which attracted the mirthful and mischievous young men. Having taken care to ascertain exactly which cottages were certain to furnish unprotected babies, they watched their opportunity when, in the twilight, the fisher-folk trooped down to the shore, without a thought of impending misadventure for their youngest treasures. Then the marauders, dispersing throughout the village, stole gently into each oottage— cautiously, so as not needlessly to alarm the babies, or attraot attention from any bedridden old man or woman who might chance to be lying in some dark corner. Lifting each poor little baby from its warm nest, one of these jokers quickly deposited it in some other cradle, thence removing the rightful occupant to carry it elsewhere. Ere the boats had started, all the babies in Cromaity had been so effectually shuffled that not one remained in its own home. Then the young men, delighted with their complete success, concealed themselves among the ruins of a deserted hut, and there watched to see what would happen next. Of oourse, the nursing mothers were the first to hurry back to their offspring, followed more leisurely by those whose bigger babies were securely tied into their cradles, as the only safe means of disposing of them. They were greeted by an unwonted chorus of weeping from the younger babies, and lusty roaring from the frightened elder ones, and, somehow, the wailing voices sounded unfamiliar to the maternal ears, as, hurrying to calm their cries, each mother approached her baby's cradle, -and therein, to her indescribable horror, beheld an unknown child 1 Under other circumstances she might very likely have recognised a neighbor's bairn, but there was no time for such thought— it sufficed that it was not her baby, so there could be no manner of doubt that it was a changeling, a horrid fairy brat, left in exchange for her beloved and preoious darling. " Naturally," says Hugh Miller, "the scene that ensued baffles description. The women shrieked and screamed, and wrung their hands, and rushing out to the lanes like so many mad creatures, were only the more unhinged to find the calamity so universal." By this time all the women in the place had assembled to add their questions and counsels to the general chorus. Some urged that they should place all the changelings in creels, and suspend them from the iron hook and chain which hang above the fires, as that was well known to be a sure method of bringing back the fairy mother, who, on hearing the pitiful cries of their half-roasted babies, would certainly come to their deliverance, and restore the stolen human children. The calmer women counselled that the minister should be summoned, to exorcise the powers of evil ; and so one advised one thing, ! and the next urged something different; while the poor mothers heeded no one, but tore their hair, and tossed their arms aloft, in an infectious' frenzy of despair, shrieking and hallooing; while the howls of the terrified elder children,' and the wailing of babies, all added to the dire confusion and uproar. : , v'jA.Ueiwk one woman r wiBerltnan her ,neigh- , the. meaning < of .sqqh*an leiufnxoKSthe state of matters, trndjiecollectlng ,

suggested this view of the case, and recommended that all the babies should be assembled in one place, so that 'each mother might see whether her own was to be found. So admirable a solution of the difficult;, was at once carried into effect. Each womav rushed back to her cradle, and snatching up the poor baby (now well-nigh exhausted with prolonged crying) she brought it to <this im provised baby-show. Needless to say, f v minutes elapsed ere each happy mother recognised her own darling, and joyfully clasped it to her bosom, soothing its alarm, and hushing its pitiful cries. In the general confusion the perpetrators of the joking, having thoroughly enjoyed its success, escaped from their hiding-place, and made good their retreat. The subject was made a matter for much good-natured banter, and thenceforward the good folk of Cromarty seem to have in a great measure got over their dread of fairy interference in their domestic affairs. — C. F. Gordon Gumming.