Transcriber's Note: All apparent printer's errors retained.
THE
GUIDMAN O' INGLISMILL.
LEGENDS OF THE NORTH.
THE
GUIDMAN O' INGLISMILL,
AND
THE FAIRY BRIDE.
WITH GLOSSARY AND INTRODUCTIONS, HISTORICAL
AND LEGENDARY.
EDINBURGH:
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS.
PETERHEAD: DAVID SCOTT.
1873.
PRINTED AT THE "SENTINEL" OFFICE, PETERHEAD,
FOR
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS,
EDINBURGH.
| LONDON, | HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. | |
| CAMBRIDGE, | MACMILLAN AND CO. | |
| GLASGOW, | JAMES MACLEHOSE. | |
| MANCHESTER, | WILLIAM HALE. | |
| PETERHEAD, | DAVID SCOTT. |
TO THE VERY REV.
DEAN RAMSAY, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E.,
THE GENIAL AUTHOR OF
REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER,
THIS LITTLE WORK
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
The Guidman o' Inglismill was written, not to fill up "hours of idleness,"but as a relaxation from the cares of a more important and arduous occupation.
Its object is the encouragement of temperate habits, and the enjoyment of"ane's ain fireside."
It is hoped it will be no less acceptable to the reader as another attemptto assist in preserving the pure Doric of "auld langsyne," which is fast beingsuperseded by a language less pithy, less expressive, though more fashionable.
Every "toon's laddie"—or he is no true son of the "bruch"—howeverold, however placed as regards wealth or poverty, or wherever he may be onthis habitable globe, can sympathise with the lines to the spot "where wewere born." There is a charm in the true Buchan dialect to a child of thedistrict, which neither time, age, nor distance can destroy. When "far awa,"it falls on the ear like the breathings of some holy melody, and calls up in theimagination a fleeting panoramic picture of early days, and homes, and play-mates,—swellingthe heart and dimming the eyes as they try to gaze down thevista of the past,—dotted, it may be, with the resting-places of those whohave gone "to the land o' the leal."
INTRODUCTION.
The superstition with which the tale is interwoven—
The silver token, and the circled green"—
has, for unknown ages, and in all coun