He also testified that Calton Hill had ‘invisible gates’ on
it that only fairy people can see. Before he had been interviewed by George
Burton, the boy had been playing on the street with other children and was
known to be a ‘strange fairy child’ – which is why he was interviewed.
The other two stories are the Fairy Boy of Culzean and the
Fairy Boy of Borgue, short tales of people’s encounters with these strange
boys, although, there is not any date of when these occurred.
Below, are the tales of these three boys.
THE FAIRY BOY OF LEITH.
THE worthy Captain George Burton communicated to Richard
Bovet, gentleman, author of the interesting work entitled Pandæmonium, or the
Devil's Cloister Opened, the following singular account of a lad called the
Fairy Boy of Leith, who, it seems, acted as a drummer to the elves, who weekly
held rendezvous in the Calton Hill, near Edinburgh.
"About fifteen years since, having business that
detained me for some time at Leith, which is near Edinburgh, in the kingdom of
Scotland, I often met some of my acquaintance at a certain house there, where
we used to drink a glass of wine for our refection; the woman which kept the
house was of honest reputation among the neighbours, which made me give the
more attention to what she told me one day about a fairy boy (as they called
him), who lived about that town. She had given me so strange an account of him
that I desired her I might see him the first opportunity, which she promised;
and not long after, passing that way, she told me there was the fairy boy but a
little before I came by; and, casting her eye into the street, said, Look you,
sir, yonder he is at play with those other boys; and, designing him to me, I
went, and, by smooth words, and a piece of money, got him to come into the
house with me; where, in the presence of divers people, I demanded of him
several astrological questions, which he answered with great subtlety; and,
through all his discourse, carried it with a cunning much above his years,
which seemed not to exceed ten or eleven.
"He seemed to make a motion like drumming upon the
table with his fingers, upon which I asked him whether he could beat a drum? To
which he replied, Yes, sir, as well as any man in Scotland; for every Thursday
night I beat all points to a sort of people that used to meet under yonder hill
(pointing to the great hill between Edenborough and Leith.) How, boy? quoth I,
what company have you there?
There are, sir, said he, a great company both of men and
women, and they are entertained with many sorts of musick, besides my drum;
they have, besides, plenty of variety of meats and wine, and many times we are
carried into France or Holland in a night, and return again, and whilst we are
there we enjoy all the pleasures the country doth afford. I demanded of him how
they got under that hill? To which he replied that there was a great pair of
gates that opened to them, though they were invisible to others; and that
within there were brave large rooms, as well accommodated as most in Scotland.
I then asked him how I should know what he said to be true? Upon which he told
me he would read my fortune, saying I should have two wives, and that he saw
the forms of them sitting on my shoulders; that both would be very handsome women.
As he was thus speaking, a woman of the neighbourhood, coming into the room,
demanded of him what her fortune should be? He told her that she had two
bastards before she was married, which put her in such a rage that she desired
not to hear the rest. "The woman of the house told me that all the people
in Scotland could not keep him from the rendezvous on Thursday night; upon
which, by promising him some more money, I got a promise of him to meet me at
the same place, in the afternoon, the Thursday following, and so dismist him at
that time. The boy came again, at the place and time appointed, and I had
prevailed with some friends to continue with me, if possible, to prevent his
moving that night.
He was placed between us, and answered many questions,
until, about eleven of the clock, he was got away unperceived by the company;
but I, suddenly missing him, hasted to the door, and took hold of him, and so
returned him into the same room; we all watched him, and, of a sudden, he was
again got out of doors; I followed him close, and he made a noise in the street
as if he had been set upon; but from that time I could never see him.
~ GEORGE BURTON.
The Fairy Boy of Borgue
In the village of Borgue there lived a young boy who the
locals suspected had a relationship with the faeries. He would disappear for
days at a time and they all believed that he was spending time with them. In
Katherine Briggs 'The Fairies in Tradition and Literature' she says the Kirk
Session in Borgue records the questioning of the Boy of Borgue, who claimed
intercourse with the fairies. Other accounts say the boy never spoke of the
matter to either confirm or deny it. His grandfather sought help from a
Catholic priest who gave him a wooden cross to place around the boy's neck.
Once the cross was in place the boy did not wander off to visit the faerie folk
again, however, according to the story his grandfather was punished by being
shunned by his Kirk. Apparently they did not like faeries much but as evil as
they can be they would have accepted the situation, but to have dealings with a
papist, that they would not forgive.
The Fairy Boy of Culzean
Hundreds
of years ago the Laird of Co' who owned Culzean Castle in Ayrshire was visited
by a small boy with a tiny wooden cup. He came to beg for some ale saying that
it was for his sick mother, the Laird then asked his butler to fill the boys
cup. To the butlers astonishment the half the barrel failed to fill the boys
cup and he was loathed to open another barrel but the laird ordered him to fill
the cup no matter how much ale was spent so the butler opened another barrel
and just as the first drop landed the cup was full, the boy thanked the laird
and went on his way. Some years later during wars in Flanders the laird was
caught and taken prisoner and sentenced to death. The night before he was to be
executed the door of his dungeon swung open and the boy appeared saying,
"Laird o' Co', rise an go". Once outside the little boy (who was a
fairy) took the laird apon his shoulders and whisked him back to his castle in
a flash, a he set the laird down on the ground he said" Ae guid turn
deserves another. Tak ye that for being sae kind to my auld mither".
There are bound to be many other tales of children’s
encounters with fairies in documents out there. In times past, superstition and
belief in the supernatural certainly does make for interesting story telling. Today,
no boy would be believed if one came forward with such stories. Perhaps a wane
in belief in the 20th and 21st centuries makes fairy
interaction with people less likely to occur.
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| From 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain' - Readers Digest |
