e
open pair of scissors, however, it should be observed, has double power;
for it is not only of the abhorred metal,--it is also in form a cross.
The use of the cross in baptism was probably one of the reasons for the
efficacy of that rite against felonious fairies. At all events, over a
very wide area the cross is thought a potent protection; nor is the
belief by any means confined to Christian lands. Mr. Mitchell-Innes
tells us that the fear of changelings exists in China. "To avert the
calamity of nursing a demon, dried banana-skin is burnt to ashes, which
are then mixed with water. Into this the mother dips her finger and
paints a cross upon the sleeping babe's forehead. In a short time the
demon soul returns--for the soul wanders from the body during sleep and
is free--but, failing to recognize the body thus disguised, flies off.
The true soul, which has been waiting for an opportunity, now approaches
the dormant body, and, if the mark has been washed off in time, takes
possession of it; but if not, it, like the demon, failing to recognize
the body, departs, and the child dies in its sleep."[64] How to hit the
exact moment between the flight of the demon and the advent of the true
soul doubtless puzzles many a Chinese mother fully as much as the cross
puzzles the two competing souls. But when she is successful she baffles
the evil spirit by deceit, of which the cross is made the instrument;
though we may well believe that the child is not disguised in this way
without reference to the cross's inherent sanctity; for it is a
religious symbol among nations who never heard the gospel of the
Crucified.

Spirits whose baleful influences are feared by man are happily easily
tricked. To this guilelessness on their part must be attributed another
strange method of defeating their evil designs on children. It appears
to be enough to lay over the infant, or on the bed beside the mother, a
portion of the father's clothes. A shepherd's wife living near Selkirk
was lying in bed one day with her new-born boy at her side, when she
heard a sound of talking and laughter in the room. Suspecting what
turned out to be the case, she seized in great alarm her husband's
waistcoat, which was lying at the foot of the bed, and flung it over
herself and the child. The fairies, for it was they who were the cause
of the noise, set up a loud scream, crying out: "Auld Luckie has cheated
us o' our bairnie!" Soon afterwards the woman heard somethin