256 The Field Naturalist' s Quarterly Nov. 



many people, some of them her own relations, who have 

 seen the spectre. No, it is not white, she says ; but has the 

 appearance of a huge animal, generally supposed to resemble 

 a bear. 



Ask the aged wheelwright at Thorney, Henry Whittam 

 in his seventy-fifth year, and he will curdle your blood with 

 stories of the shagfoal. In some villages the shagfoal may 

 be seen in the cow-pastures, in the hills, even in the village 

 streets, but at Thorney he is only seen beside the thicket on 

 the Wisbech road. 



It is not for me to examine too critically this piece of 

 Midland folk-lore which has come down to the twentieth 

 century through many ages. The working folk-lorist, like 

 the field naturalist, records things as he finds them, and 

 generally leaves to others the task of drawing parallels or 

 critically examining the origin or meaning of the legends 

 and lore he discovers. Whether the shagfoal is a survival 

 of Norse, or Scandinavian, or Saxon, or some other legend, 

 is a question for scientific folk-lorists to discuss, as also the 

 further question, when the origin has been determined, what 

 light it throws on the history of this country and people. 

 But in the meantime — board schools and certificated 

 teachers notwithstanding — the legend still holds a place in 

 the minds of many of the residents in the districts referred 

 to — ay, even amongst those who, while affecting to disbelieve 

 in him, have yet had his deeds or misdeeds so dinned into 

 them from infancy that they cannot quite shake him off. 

 Not that I can discover that he ever did any harm to 

 anybody — or good either. He is feared perhaps for what he 

 may do. 



But the shagfoal is not a common object, he is only seen 

 at rare intervals. At Thorney he is never seen in any other 

 month of the year but August, and he is then very particular 

 about the time of day or night that he discloses himself, 

 being content to take his walks abroad in the dusk of the 

 evening. Like all whose deeds are evil, he disdains light ; 

 but he also disdains the dark, and limits his manifestations 

 to between lights. 



This question of time may be significant, for it might be 

 contended, after all, that the shagfoal is but a question of 



