Scottish Folk Lore and Legends Author:Anonymous

PREFATORY NOTE

The distinctive features of Scotch Folk-lore are such as might have been
expected from a consideration of the characteristics of Scotch scenery.
The rugged grandeur of the mountain, the solemn influence of the
widespreading moor, the dark face of the deep mountain loch, the babbling
of the little stream, seem all to be reflected in the popular tales and
superstitions. The acquaintance with nature in a severe, grand, and
somewhat terrible form must necessarily have its effect on the human
mind, and the Scotch mind and character bear the impress of their natural
surroundings. The fairies, the brownies, the bogles of Scotland are the
same beings as those with whom the Irish have peopled the hills, the
nooks, and the streams of their land, yet how different, how
distinguished from their counterparts, how clothed, as it were, in the
national dress!