614 - REPORT—1896. 
gather in all the sheep. By morning, when the family was astir, the 
sheep were all in the ‘rees.’ ‘It must have been a hard job for you, 
said the guidwife, on seeing what had been done. ‘I had mair trouble,’ 
said the Brownie, ‘ wi a little broon ane wi’ waggin’ horns nor a’ the laive 
thegither.’ The little ‘broon ane wi’ waggin horns’ was a hare. A 
married daughter came to live at the mill. One day she gave him a 
pair of her husband’s breeks. He was so offended that he left at once. 
Before going away he took out the two millstones and threw them into 
the weal below the bridge over the Bladnach. He would have nothing 
more than his fixed wages—‘the cogful of brose.’ 
3. Mochrum.—tThe following story was told to my informant when a 
boy by an old woman eighty years of age. It was on the Sacrament 
Sunday, ‘the langest day in June.’ She was a girl at the time, and was 
left to look after the house in the absence of the other members of the 
family at church. She went outside and sat down on a stone ‘t’ read her 
beuk.’, While sitting and reading she saw ‘the bonniest wee man she 
ever saw in her life come oot amon’ the thorn busses, go to the kiln 
knowe, and sit doon on the loupin-on-stane, and for twa oors he played 
on the bagpipes “The Birks o’ Aberfoyle,” the bonniest music she ever 
heard in her life.’ The bonnie wee man was dressed in green, braided 
with yellow, and had a four-cornered hat. 
4. Mochrum.—About forty-eight years ago, as some men were approach- 
ing the bridge over the Airlour Burn, a big black dog with fire flying out 
of his mouth was seen crossing the road into a wood on the opposite side 
of the road. Before any of them could come up to him, he had entered 
the wood and disappeared. 
5. Mochrum.—It is considered to be unlucky to cart away ‘standing 
stones,’ z.¢. the stones of the circles called Druidical. 
6. Mochrum.—It is unlucky to cart away any of the soil from a grave- 
yard, however long it has ceased to be used. There is a farm called 
Kirkland in the parish of Mochrum. On it is a spot said to have been 
used as a burial-ground long ago. It remained untouched till about 
sixty years ago. At that time the tenant set about carting away the soil. 
Hardly had he begun work when two of the horses fell dead. 
7. Mochrum.—To forget the Sabbath-day and to begin to work as on 
week-days was very unlucky. The farmer of D once forgot that it 
was the Sabbath, and yoked the plough as usual. A man going to church 
saw him ploughing ; he ran to him and told him what day it was. The 
farmer said he had forgotten. Within a year the farmer, his wife, and 
the farm had all gone to ruin. 
8. Mochrum.—If£ one was leaving a house with a grudge and did not 
wish the incoming tenant to thrive, the following ceremony was gone 
through. After all the furniture was taken out, the house was swept 
clean and all the ashes were removed from the hearth, which was also 
swept quite clean. Stones were then placed upright on the hearth, in the 
same way as peats are placed to make a fire. Those that entered the 
house would be as bare as the house, and there would be no luck to the 
indwellers till that fire (of stone) would burn. My informant has seen 
such. 
9. Mochrum.—On taking up one’s abode in a house from which others 
had removed, in case ‘ill had been left on the house,’ a hen, a cat, a dog, 
or other living creature was thrown into it. 
10. Wigtownshire (General).—When one is meeting a reputed witch, 
