“ All in ye Merrie Month of May ” 
Wales the Peziza coccinea is called “ Fairy Hat.” The 
fairies are associated with so many things ! In the waters 
of the River Teviot odd little stones are sometimes found, 
called “ fairy stones,” which are said to bring luck to the 
finder. Wise men, however, declare these are concretions 
of a fossil worm covered with sand. Such, I believe, was 
the opinion of the late Mr. Milne-Home, Fellow of the 
Scottish Geological Society. Small stone hatchets, some- 
times found in Scotland, go by the name of “ Fairy 
Hammers ” ; while “ fairy greens ” or “ fairy rings ” have 
long been deemed the spots whereon the fairies dance at 
night. Fairy hillocks, some people say, conceal their 
dwellings. 
A sort of fungus ( Tremella arboreo ) found on the roots 
of old trees is in some places called “ Fairy Butter,” 
because after rain it looks rather like butter, and the 
fairies are supposed to make it in the night. The follow- 
ing is an old recipe for “ Fairy Butter.” As it is well 
known that fairy gifts, if the recipient betray their origin, 
promptly disappear, I may not further divulge whence my 
recipe came, except that it was found by me in a turret- 
room full of lumber, in the old Castle, the home of our 
clan. “ Here be,” as Boy used to say: “ Take the Yolks 
of four Hard Eggs and half a Pound of Loaf-sugar, beat and 
sifted, half a Pound of fresh Butter. Bray them in a clean 
Bowl with two Spoonfuls of Orangeflower Water ; when it is 
well mixed, force it through a Corner of a thin canvas 
Strainer in little Heaps on a Plate. It is a very pretty 
Supper dish.” I wonder it is not among the menu of the 
feast set before the King of the Fairies as described by 
Herrick. There is a Border superstition that the fairies flit 
whenever the plough and harrow turn up their country 
haunts : 
Where the scythe cuts and the sock rives 
Hae done wi’ fairies and beebykes. 
And no wonder ; the long straight “ rig and fur ” is not 
as pretty as the grassy field with their beloved thyme and 
harebells and Peeseweep grass ( Luzula campestris ) and 
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