by Walter Scott
NOTE I.--THE FAIRY BOY OF LEITH,
This legend was in former editions inaccurately said to exist in Baxter's"World of Spirits;" but is, in fact, to be found, in "Pandaemonium, orthe Devil's Cloyster; being a further blow to Modern Sadduceism," byRichard Bovet, Gentleman, 12mo, 1684. The work is inscribed to Dr. HenryMore. The story is entitled, "A remarkable passage of one named the FairyBoy of Leith, in Scotland, given me by my worthy friend, Captain GeorgeBurton, and attested under his hand;" and is as follows:--
"About fifteen years since, having business that detained me for sometime in Leith, which is near Edenborough, in the kingdom of Scotland, Ioften met some of my acquaintance at a certain house there, where we usedto drink a glass of wine for our refection. The woman which kept thehouse was of honest reputation amongst the neighbours, which made megive the more attention to what she told me one day about a Fairy Boy (asthey called him) who lived about that town. She had given me so strangean account of him, that I desired her I might see him the firstopportunity, 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; andcasting her eye into the street, said, 'Look you, sir, yonder he is atplay with those other boys,' and designing him to me. I went, and bysmooth words, and a piece of money, got him to come into the house withme; where, in the presence of divers people, I demanded of him severalastrological questions, which he answered with great subtility, andthrough all his discourse carried it with a cunning much beyond hisyears, which seemed not to exceed ten or eleven. He seemed to make amotion like drumming upon the table with his fingers, upon which I askedhim, whether he could beat a drum, to which he replied, 'Yes, sir, aswell as any man in Scotland; for every Thursday night I beat all pointsto a sort of people that use to meet under yon hill" (pointing to thegreat hill between Edenborough and Leith). 'How, boy,' quoth I; 'whatcompany have you there?'--'There are, sir,' said he, 'a great companyboth of men and women, and they are entertained with many sorts of musicbesides my drum; they have, besides, plenty variety of meats and wine;and many times we are carried into France or Holland in a night, andreturn again; and whilst we are there, we enjoy all the pleasures thecountry doth afford.' I demanded of him, how they got under that hill?To which he replied, 'that there were a great pair of gates that openedto them, though they were invisible to others, and that within there werebrave large rooms, as well accommodated as most in Scotland.' I thenasked him, how I should know what he said to be true? upon which he toldme he would read my fortune, saying I should have two wives, and that hesaw the forms of them sitting on my shoulders; that both would be veryhandsome women.
"As he was thus speaking, a woman of the neighbourhood, coming into theroom, demanded of him what her fortune should be? He told her that shehad 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 methat all the people in Scotland could not keep him from the rendezvous onThursday night; upon which, by promising him some more money, I got apromise of him to meet me at the same place, in the afternoon of theThursday following, and so dismissed him at that time. The boy came againat the place and time appointed, and I had prevailed with some friends tocontinue with me, if possible, to prevent his moving that night; he wasplaced between us, and answered many questions, without offering to gofrom us, until about eleven of the clock, he was got away unperceived ofthe company; but I suddenly missing him, hasted to the door, and tookhold of him, and so returned him into the same room; we all watched him,and on a sudden he was again out of the doors. I followed him close, andhe made a noise in the street as if he had been set upon; but from thattime I could never see him. "GEORGE BURTON."
[A copy of this rare little volume is in the library at Abbotsford.]