SCOTLAND
James Campbell lived near Aberdeen. He had a daughter called Mary, who was married to young John Nelson. Shortly after they married the young couple went to live in Aberdeen, where John carried on his trade as a goldsmith. They lived happily together, until the time approached for Mary to produce her first baby.
The midwives who were with Mary had had too much to drink. Near the hour of 12 at night, they were frightened by a dreadfial noise. All of a sudden the candles went out, causing great confusion. The midwives called in the neighbors to bring lights. When they looked at Mary, they saw that she was dead.
The next day, while preparations were made for Mary’s fianeral, the Reverend Mr. Dodd looked at her corpse and said, “This is not the body of a Christian. Mrs. Nelson was carried away by the fairies and what you take to be her body is not her, only some substance left in her place.”
The others could make no sense of what he said and did not believe him, so Mr. Dodd stayed away from the fianeral. The following day Mary was buried.
After sunset, John, the grief-stricken husband, was riding across his own field when he heard pleasant music. He saw coming toward him a woman dressed in white. She wore a veil, so he could not see her face. He rode up to her and asked her in a fiiendly way who she was to walk alone so late.
At this she lifted her veil and burst into tears. She said, “I am not permitted to tell you who I am.”
John knew she was his wife and asked what disturbed her and why she had appeared at that hour.
She said, “Appearing at any hour is of no consequence. Though you believe me dead and buried, I am not, but was taken away by the fairies. You only buried a piece of wood in my place. I can be recovered if you take the proper means. The child has three nurses to attend it, but I fear it cannot be brought home. I depend more than anyone on my brother Robert, who is captain of a merchant ship and will be home in ten days’ time.”
John asked what he had to do to win her back. She told him he would find a letter the following Sunday on the desk in his room, addressed to her brother. In it there would be instructions for winning her back.
“Since I was taken from you, I have been treated like a queen,” she added, “and if you look behind me you will see my companions.”
He did, and a short distance away he saw a king and queen sitting beside a moat on thrones in splendor. To each side he saw other kings.
He said, “I fear it will not be possible to win you back from such a place.”
She said, “Were my brother Robert here in your place, he would be able to bring me home, but you must not attempt it, as that would mean that I would be lost to you forever. I am threatened with severe punishment for speaking to you. To prevent that, you must ride up the moat and threaten to bum all the brambles around it, unless you get a firm promise that I shall not be punished.”
John promised and instantly lost sight of all he had seen. He rode resolutely up to the moat and vowed he would bum everything around it if he did not get a promise that his wife would come to no harm.
A voice asked him to throw away a book that was in his pocket and then make his request. John answered that he would not part with his book and insisted that his request be granted. The voice said that upon its honor Mary would be forgiven but he should suffer no prejudice to approach the moat. He agreed to this and heard most pleasant music.
John then returned home. He sent for the Reverend Mr. Dodd and told him what had happened. Mr. Dodd stayed with him until the following Sunday morning. Then, as his wife had said, John saw a letter on his desk. It was addressed to Mary’s brother, who came home a few days later and read it:
Dear Brother,
My husband can relate to you my present circumstances. I request that you will, the first night after you see this, come to the moat where I partedfrom my husband. Let nothing daunt you, but stand in the center of the moat at the hour of 12 at night, and call me. I, with several others, will then surround you. I shall have on the whitest dress of any in the company.
Take hold of me, and do not forsake me; you must not be surprised at all the frightful methods they shall use, but keep your hold, even if they continue till cock crow, when they shall vanish all of a sudden, and I shall be safe and return home and live with my husband. If you succeed in your attempt, you will gain applause from all your friends, and have the blessing of your ever-loving and affectionate sister,
Mary Nelson
Robert vowed to win back his sister and her child or die in the attempt. He went back to his ship and told his sailors the contents of the letter. He stayed with them till ten at night, when he left. His loyal sailors oftered to go with him, but he relused to take them: he had to go alone.
As soon as he left his ship a terrifying lion came roaring at him. He drew his sword and struck at it. The sword passed straight through—the lion was of no substance, only the appearance of a lion to terrify him. This encouraged him.
He went to the moat where he saw a white handkerchief Suddenly he was surrounded by screaming women uttering frightful cries. He saw his sister in the whitest dress of any around him. He seized her right hand and said, “With God’s help, I will save you from all infernal imps.”
At this the moat seemed to fill with flames and the sky rang with dreadfiJ thunderclaps. Terrifying birds and beasts seemed to lunge at Robert from out of the fire, which he knew wasn’t real, so nothing daunted his courage. Steadfastly, he kept hold of his sister for an hour and three-quarters.
Then the cocks began to crow, the fire disappeared, and the frightfial imps vanished. Robert took his sister in his arms and thanked God for his help that night. Mary’s dress was thin and he wrapped her in his overcoat for warmth. She embraced him, saying she was safe now. He took her home to her husband and there was great rejoicing.
John said he would destroy the moat in revenge for the child the fairies had taken from them, but instantly they heard a voice saying, “You shall have your son safe and well, on condition that you will not plow the ground within three perches of the moat, nor damage bushes or brambles around that place.”
They agreed at once and a few moments later the child appeared on his mother’s knee.
World History
