236 Fairy Beliefs in Galloway. 



I could not tell you the exact time that this part of the road 

 was made or widened by H anion, but the youngest of 

 Hanlon's family is now sixty-five years of age, of a family 

 of fourteen children, and Hanlon was married during- the 

 time that he was on this part of the road. " 



This story illustrates the fear of offending the fairies by 

 interfering with their tree ; in the next one, communicated 

 to me by the same person, the dread of the fairies' revenge 

 for disturbing their tree is again dwelt upon. 



" Another fairy tale which my mother remembers in her 

 time (she is now in her 87th year) is one in which the actors 

 were punished for interfering with a so-called fairy-thorn. 

 My mother's father, Robert Coupland, became tenant of the 

 farm of Orchard about the year 1836, in the parish of Old 

 Luce, on Dunragit estate. The Orchard farm in those days 

 was pretty much covered over with whins and thorns, and he 

 being an enterprising man, resolved to clear them off the 

 ground, and he, having an Irishman in his employ, sent him 

 to cut them down, which he did, all but a reputed fairy-thorn, 

 which he refused to interfere with in case some ill-luck might 

 befall him. My grandfather laughed at his employee's fears, 

 and ordered him back to complete his job, which he did, but ill- 

 luck was soon on this man's track, for the very next morning 

 after this event as coming down the stairs from his bedroom 

 he broke one of his arms and was otherwise injured, and had 

 to lie in bed for six weeks after, and my grandfather's 

 punishment was that he had to doctor and keep this man all 

 the above time, and out of his own pocket ; and he being a 

 man not too well off, caused him to feel it all the more, and 

 his neighbours believed that it was nothing else but a just 

 punishment by the fairies for interfering with this particular 

 tree. This is a true tale about the cutting of the thorn and 

 the breaking of the leg, but personally I am a little sceptical 

 about the fairies having anything to do with it." 



The next story illustrates the belief in the curative virtues 

 of the fairy-thorn, and the same informant as before goes 

 on to say : — " To give you further proof of the superstitions 

 in those days and the belief that the afore-mentioned tree was 

 really a fairy-thorn, my mother remembers when she was a 



