_Ash Sap--The Ash_ (Vol. iv., p. 273.).--The reason for giving ash sap
to new-born children in the Highlands of Scotland is, first, because it
acts as a powerful astringent, and, secondly, because the ash, in common
with the rowan, is supposed to possess the property of resisting the
attacks of witches, fairies, and other imps of darkness. Without some
precaution of this kind, they would change the child, or possibly steal
it away altogether. The herd boys in the district of Buchan, in
Aberdeenshire, always prefer a herding stick of ash to any other wood,
as in throwing it at their cattle, it is _sure_ not to strike on a vital
part, and so kill or injure the animal, which they say a stick of any
other wood _might_ do.
"Rowan, ash, and red thread,
Keep the devils frae their speed."
It is common practice with the housewives in the same district, to tie a
piece of red worsted thread round their cows' tails, previous to turning
them out to grass for the first time in the spring. It secures their
cattle, they say, from an evil eye, from being elf-shot by fairies, &c.
&c.