's Isle, one of the Scilly
group.[E] The Bryn-yr-Ellyllon,[F] or Fairy-hill, near Mold, may be cited
as a similar instance in Wales, which must again be referred to.

[Footnote A: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 142.]

[Footnote B: _Op. cit._, p. 56.]

[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 115.]

[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 16 and 28.]

[Footnote E: _Ritson_, p. 62.]

[Footnote F: Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, p. 433.]

The pages of Keightley's work contain instances of hill-inhabiting fairies
in Scandinavia, Denmark, the Isle of Rugen, Iceland, Germany, and
Switzerland. It is not only in Europe, however, that this form of
habitation is to be met with; we find it also in America. The Sioux have a
curious superstition respecting a mound near the mouth of the Whitestone
River, which they call the Mountain of Little People or Little Spirits;
they believe that it is the abode of little devils in the human form, of
about eighteen inches high and with remarkably large heads; they are armed
with sharp arrows, in the use of which they are very skilful. These little
spirits are always on the watch to kill those who should have the
hardihood to approach their residence. The tradition is that many have
suffered from their malice, and that, among others, three Maha Indians
fell a sacrifice to them a few years since. This has inspired all the
neighbouring nations, Sioux, Mahas, and Ottoes, with such terror, that no
consideration could tempt them to visit the hill.[A]

[Footnote A: Lewis and Clarke, _Travels to the Source of the Missouri
River._ Quoted in _Flint Chips_, p. 346. The tale is also given in _Folk
Lore, Oriental and American_ (Gibbings & Co.), p. 45.]

The mounds or hills inhabited by the fairies are, however, of very diverse
kinds, as we discover when we attempt to analyse their actual nature. In
some cases they are undoubtedly natural elevations. Speaking of the
exploration of the Isle of Unst, Hunt[A] says that the term "Fairy Knowe"
is applied alike to artificial and to natural mounds. "We visited," he
states, "two 'Fairy Knowes' in the side of the hill near the turning of
the road from Reay Wick to Safester, and found that these wonderful relics
were merely natural formations. The workmen were soon convinced of this,
and our digging had the effect of proving to them that the fairies had
nothing to do with at least two of these hillocks." The same may surely be
said of that favourite and important fairy haunt