[Footnote 2: If the patient be a woman, the grave chosen must be that of
the last young man buried, and that of the last young woman in the case of
a man patient.]
_Piskies._--An old woman, the wife of a respectable farmer at a place
called "Colmans," in the parish of Werrington, near Launceston, has
frequently told my informant before-mentioned of a "piskey" (for _so_, and
not _pixy_, the creature is called _here_, as well as in parts of Devon)
which frequently _made its appearance_ in the form of small child in the
kitchen of the farm-house, where the inmates were accustomed to set a
little stool for it. It would do a good deal of household work, but if the
hearth and chimney corner were not kept neatly swept, it would pinch the
maid. The piskey would often come into the kitchen and sit on its little
stool before the fire, so that the old lady had many opportunities of
seeing it. Indeed it was a familiar guest in the house for many months. At
last it left the family under these circumstances. One evening it was
sitting on the stool as usual, when it suddenly started, looked up, and
said,--
"Piskey fine, and Piskey gay,
Now Piskey! run away!"
and vanished; after which it never appeared again. This distich is the
first utterance of a piskey I have heard.
The word "fine" put me in mind of the expression "_fine_ spirit," "_fine_
Ariel," &c., noticed by DR. KENNEDY lately in NOTES AND QUERIES (Vol. ii.,
p. 251.). It is worth notice that the people here seem to entertain no
doubt as to the identity of piskies and fairies. Indeed I am told, that the
old woman before mentioned called her guest indifferently "piskey" or
"fairy."
The country people in this neighbourhood sometimes put a prayer-book under
a child's pillow as a charm to keep away the piskies. I am told that a poor
woman near Launceston was fully persuaded that one of her children was
taken away and a piskey substituted, the disaster being caused by the
absence of the prayer-book on one particular night. This story reminds me
of the "killcrop."