
The Maid and the Fairy
“O, open the door, my honey, my heart,
O, open the door my ain kind dearie;
For dinna ye mind upo’ the time,
We met in the wood at the well sae wearie?
O, gi’e me my ca’stick [cabbage stalk], my dow, my dow, [dove]
O, gi’e me my castick, my ain kind dearie;
For dinna ye mind upo’ the time,
We met in the wood at the well sae weary?
O, gi’e me my brose [oatmeal broth], my dow, my dow,
O gi’e me my brose, my ain kind dearie;
For dinna ye mind upo’ the time,
We met in the wood at the well sae weary?
O, gi’e me my kail, my dow, my dow,
O, gi’e me my kail, my ain kind dearie;
For dinna ye mind upo’ the time,
We met in the wood at the well sae wearie?
O, lay me down, my dow, my dow,
O, lay me down, my ain kind dearie;
For dinna ye mind upo’ the time,
We met in the wood at the well sae wearie?
O, woe to you now, my dow, my dow,
O woe to you now, my wile fause [wicked false] dearie;
And Oh! for the time I had you again,
Plunging the dubs at the well sae wearie!”
This song is sung my some form of water sprite, probably imagined to be male, although this is rare for this kind of fresh water being, as creatures such as Jenny Greenteeth and Nelly Longarms testify. The spirit may have seduced the girl, but certainly now has followed her home and intends to pursue the connection- an encounter which is very likely to be fatal, or at least very perilous, for the mortal. Wearie’s Well is a spot known from another Scots ballad, Lady Isabel and the Elfin Knight (also called ‘As the gowans grow gay‘) in which the faery Knight tries to drown the lady in it. In this ballad it seems that a young woman previously met with a fairy man when doing her washing at the well. Now he pleads to be allowed into the house, first for food, then to lie on the bed beside her. When she refuses to open the door, he warns her to watch out the next time she’s washing her clothes. This brief and menacing verse reminds us that fairies could be dangerous sexual predators, quite at odds with many modern conceptions of their character and conduct.

The Mermaid
“To yon fause stream that near the sea
Hides mony a shelve and plum, [deep pool]
And rives wi’ fearful din the stanes,
A witless knicht did come.
The day shines clear- far in he’s gane
Whar shells are silver bright.
Fishes war loupin’ a’ around
And sparklin’ to the light:
Whan as he laved [bathed], sounds cam sae sweet
Frae ilka rock an’ tree,
The brief [word] was out, ’twas him it doomed
The Mermaid’s face to see.
Frae ‘neath a rock, sune, sune she rose,
And stately on she swam,
Stopped in the midst an’ becked [beckoned] and sang
To him to stretch his han’.
Gowden glist the yellow links [her golden hair shone],
That round her neck she’d twine,
Her een war o’ the skyie blue,
Her lips did mock the wine;
The smile upon her bonnie cheek
Was sweeter than the bee;
Her voice excelled the birdies sang
Upon the birchen tree.
Sae couthie, couthie [kindly] did she look,
And meikle had she fleeched [flattered];
Out shot his hand, alas, alas!
Fast in the swirl she screeched.
The Mermaid leuch [laughed], her brief was gane,
And Kelpie’s blast was blawin’,
Fu’ low she duked, ne’er raise again,
For deep, deep was she fawin’ [sinking into].
Aboon the stream his wraith was seen.
Warlocks tirled lang at gloamin’;
That e’en was coarse [rough], the blast blew hoarse.
Ere lang the waves war foamin’.”
This song was collected in Ayrshire and is a splendid account of the deadly freshwater beast called the kelpie. They are to be found lurking at fords and in deep pools and their mission is to drag down the unwary. Often, they appear as stray horses which the incautious may mount; sometimes they are met with in female human form, what we might loosely call mermaids. It is in this alluring but deadly form that most artists have chosen to depict them over the last few centuries.
There is a related version of this song in Pinkerton’s Select Scottish Ballads. It is only a fragment and does not end with the swimmer’s death, although you cannot but suspect that the mermaid’s blandishments are all a stratagem to lure the swimmer to his doom:
“Whar yon clear burn, frae down the loch,
Rins saftlie to the sea,
There latelie bathed, in hete o’ nune,
A squire of valour hie,
He kend nae that the fause Mermaid
There used to beik [bask] and play,
Or he had neir gane to the bathe,
I trow, that dreirie day.
Nae suner had he deft [doffed/ took off] his claiths,
Nae suner ‘gan to swim,
Than up she raised her bonnie face
Aboon the glittering stream.
O comely youth, gin ye will cum
And be my leman deir [loving sweetheart],
Ye sail hae pleasance o’ ilk sort,
Bot any end or feir.
‘I’ll tak’ you to my emrand ha’, [emerald hall]
Wi’ perles lighted round,
Whar ye sail live wi’ luve and me,
And neir by bale be found.’”
The heartless violence of this creature may come as a shock to some readers, but the kelpie’s character is entirely consonant with the overall impression painted by the ballads and by most of our folklore. I have discussed these inland mermaids at length elsewhere, especially in my 2020 book, Beyond Faery.
