5?2 [Proc. B.N.F.C. 



Will o' the Wisp, or Jack o' Lantern as he is called in some 

 places, and in parts of Ireland the Water Sherrie, is a kind of 

 malicious fairy, who, by showing a light in marshes and dan- 

 gerous bogs, lures benighted travellers into danger, and some- 

 times to death. According to another account, he is the spirit 

 of a man who was very wicked on earth, and also managed to 

 trick and outwit the devil ; and, in fact, made himself so feared 

 by the prince of darkness, that after death he could not enter 

 heaven, nor was even allowed into the other place, so afraid of 

 him were the authorities there, and he must, therefore, wander 

 about with his torch over dreary bogs and wastes for ever. 



Another kind of fairy known in Ireland is the Cluricaune. 

 He is a good-natured imp, and finds his pleasure in drinking 

 whisky or anything of that nature, and in attending horse-races; 

 in these respects not unlike a good many people we have heard 

 of. As the Cluricaune are not bigger than one's finger, and are 

 invisible to all who do not possess the fairy sight, they can 

 indulge their taste for horse-racing by perching, three or four of 

 them at once, on the saddles before the jockeys, and thus 

 enjoying all the excitement of the race. 



There is a kind of fairy called a Linnaun or Lennan-Shee. 

 This means a fairy companion, or fairy sweetheart ; both men 

 and women are supposed to have had these companions, who 

 are very jealous of any interference with them. It is not told 

 how the friendship is formed in the first place. The Linnaun 

 is generally invisible to all except the person concerned, and 

 sooner or later the affair ends badly for the person ; generally a 

 violent death is the end of it, or madness. In one case, a family 

 who lived near Oban had, as they supposed, a delicate child ; it 

 was advancing in years, but not growing a bit. At length a 

 visitor from Ireland came to the castle, and recognised her as 

 the fairy sweetheart of an Irish gentleman of his acquaintance ; 

 he addressed her in Irish, saying : ll There thou art, little fairy 

 sweetheart of Brian Mac Broadh." So offended was the elf at 

 being exposed, that she ran out of the castle and leaped into the 

 sea from the point called Ruadh-na-Sirach, the Fairy's Point, to 

 this day. 



