THE WILL-O'-THE^WISP AND ITS FOLK-LORE. 73 



hammer, and by " false fires," drew Mm on to the worst ore in the 

 mine. Countless are the stories told in Devonshire of thesQ Pixy illu- 

 sions ; and a popular means of counteracting them was to turn one's 

 coat inside out a remedy which appears to have been in use in other 

 parts of England, b3ing mentioned by Bishop Corbet in his "Iter Bo- 



reale " : 



"... William found 



A mean for our deliverance. Turne your cloakes, 



Quoth hee, for Puck is busy in these oakes ; 



If ever wee at Bosworth Hill be found, 



Then turne your cloakes, for this is fairy ground." 



In Cornwall, a strong belief prevails about the mischievous pranks 

 of the piskies, and they are the subject of numerous superstitions. 

 They are said to control the mist, and to have the power, when so 

 disposed, of casting a thick veil over the traveler as he returns home 

 after sunset. Hence the peasant may occasionally be heard uttering 

 the following petition with a certain degree of faith : 



"Jack o' the Lantern, Joan the wad, 

 Who tickled the maid and made her mad, 

 Light me home, the weather's bad." 



By the Dorsetshire folk, this mysterious fairy is called a Pexy and 

 Colpexy ; and in Hampshire the Colt-pixy was the supposed sprite 

 who led horses into bogs and other outlandish places. Once more, 

 as a further proof of the connection of the elfin or fairy-face with the 

 ignis fatuus, it may be noted that " Mab4ed," pronounced Mob-led, 

 signified led astray by a Will-o'-the-Wisp. Why, however, the fairy 

 Queen Mab should be thus introduced originated, no doubt, in her 

 fondness for playing jokes, as alluded to by Shakespeare in the pas- 

 sage already quoted above from " A Midsummer-Night's Dream." 



According to Sir Walter Scott, the Will-o'-the-Wisp is a strolling 

 demon or specter, bent upon doing mischief, who once upon a time 

 gained admittance into a monastery as a scullion and played the 

 monks all kinds of pranks. The followers of Marmion attributed the 

 mysterious disasters that befell them at Gifford Castle to the guidance 

 of the assumed ecclesiastic "The Cursed Palmer" and expressed 

 the belief that it had been better for them had they been lantern-led 

 by Friar Rush : 



"What else but evil could betide, 

 With that cursed Palmer for our guide? 

 Better we had through mire and bush 

 Been lantern-led by Friar Eush." 



The wandering demon, it seems, was known in many parts of 

 Scotland by the familiar name of " SjDunkie," whose freaks and mis- 

 chievous character form the subject-matter of numerous lengthened 

 tales. Mr. Guthrie, in his "Scenes and Legends of the Yale of 



