FOLK-LORE FROM UNST. 187 



He band da mare He bound the mare 



We his ain hair. With his own hair, 



An made her swear And made her swear 



By midder's meicht, By mother's might 



Dat sho wad never bide a neicht That she would never abide a night 



Whar he had rod, dat man o' Where he had ridden, that man of 

 meicht. might. 



Notwithstanding the dame's soothing "Noo, my 

 dear; sho'U no trouble you mair," I went off" into 

 hysterics, doubtless produced by vain efforts to restrain 

 unseemly mirth ; and I fear poor Mam Kirsty's faith 

 in her incantation must have been shaken in conse- 

 quence. There are different versions of this incan- 

 tation, and I forget which it was that the old nurse 

 used on the occasion mentioned. Therefore, I have 

 given the one which is most familiar to me, and which 

 seems more Scandinavian (or I should, perhaps, say, 

 more heathen) than the other. It was considered very 

 rash — even sinful — to mention the name of a dead 

 person, as the individual was likely " to appear " to the 

 one who had named him. Also it was considered un- 

 safe to name people who were believed to have dealings 

 with the unseen world. Probably some such reasons 

 have prevented the hero of the incantation from receiv- 

 ing any more particular designation than that of " the 

 man o' meicht." 



It is true in the other version there is an " Arthur 

 Knight" mentioned, and he is represented as riding 

 with "drawn sword and candlelight," but that is 

 evidently a later version applying to some king- 

 honoured, church-blessed knight. 



" We nedder swird nor faerd nor leicht " seems more 



