Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales:

Book Description:

"A fairy (also fey or fae or faerie; collectively, wee folk, good folk, people of peace, and other euphemisms) is the name given to an alleged metaphysical spirit or supernatural being.

The fairy is based on the fae of medieval Western European (Old French) folklore and romance. Fairies are often identified with related beings of other mythologies (see list of beings referred to as fairies). Even in folklore that uses the term "fairy," there are many definitions of what constitutes a fairy. Sometimes the term is used to describe any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature.

Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and as having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously the dead, or some form of angel, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. Folklorists have suggested that their actual origin lies in a conquered race living in hiding, or in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity. These explanations are not always mutually incompatible, and they may be traceable to multiple sources.

Much of the folklore about fairies revolves about protection from their malice, by such means as cold iron (fairies don't like iron and will not go near it) or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs. In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well. Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Introduction; The Three Green Men Of Glen Nevis; Nursery Stories; The Story Of The White Pet ; The Milk-white Doo ; The Croodin Doo ; The Cattie Sits In The Kiln-ring Spinning ; Marriage Of Robin Redbreast And The Wren ; The Tempted Lady ; The Fause Knight And The Wee Boy ; The Strange visitor ; Rashin-coatie ; Stories Of Animals ; The Fox Outwitted; The Fox Troubled With Fleas; The Fox And The Bag-pipes; The Fox's Stratagem; The Fox And The Wrens; The Fox And The Cock; How The Wolf Lost His Tail; Frog And Crow; The Grouse Cock And His Wife; The Eagle And The Wren ; The Wren's Presumption; The Two Foxes; The Bee And The Mouse; The Two Mice; Alexander Jones; Fairy Tales; The Fairies Of Scotland ; The Fairy And The Miller's Wife ; Sir Godfrey Macculloch ; The Laird O' Co' ; Habitrot ; The Tulman ; The Isle Of Pabaidh ; Sanntraigh ; Water Fairies ; Fairy Transportation ; The Poor Man Of Peatlaw ; The Fairy Boy Of Leith ; "mind The Crooked Finger" ; The Two Young Ploughmen ; The Smith And The Fairies ; The Lothian Farmer's Wife ; Redemption From Fairy Land ; The Fairy And The Bible-reader ; Thom And Willie ; The Gloaming Bucht ; The Fairy's Song ; The Faithful Purse-bearer; The Brownie, The Bogle, The Kelpy, Mermen, Demons; The Scottish Brownie ; The Brownie Of Bodsbeck ; The Brownie And The Thievish Maids ; The Bogle ; The Doomed Rider ; Graham Of Morphie ; The Fisherman And The Merman ; The Mermaid Wife ; The Seal-catcher's Adventure ; The Mermaid Of Knockdolion ; The Young Laird Of Lorntie ; Nuckelavee ; The Two Shepherds ; Fatlips ; The Silly Mutton; Witchcraft; Macgillichallum Of Razay ; The Witch Of Laggan ; The Blacksmith's Wife Of Yarrowfoot ; The Miller Of Holdean ; Ronaldson Of Bowden ; The Farmer's Wife Of Deloraine ; Laird Harry Gilles ; The Missing Web ; The Witches Of Delnabo ; The Brazen Brogues; Comic Tales; The Wee Bunnock ; The Tale Of The Shifty Lad, The Widow's Son ; Lothian Tom ; The Ploughman's Glory; Or, Tom's Song; The Witty Exploits Of Mr. George Buchanan, The King's Fool ; Literary Tales ; The Haunted Ships ; Elphin Irving ; Cou