The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 54

A superst.i.tion prevails in Devons.h.i.+re, England, that any individual neglecting to kill the first b.u.t.terfly he may see for the season, will have ill-luck throughout the year.

_Child-Stealing Elves._

According to Irish as well as Scottish fairy superst.i.tions, the elves, though in the main harmless, or at most tricky, have the bad reputation of stealing children from the cradle and subst.i.tuting for them a changeling who bears a resemblance to the stolen infant, but is an ugly little creature, and never thrives. On such a theft of a female infant, who is carried to Fairyland, but in the course of years returns to her parents, James Hogg founded his fine ballad of "Kilmeny" (Queen's Wake).