WEBVTT - Elfshot, Part 1 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:03.440 It was my fault for letting the cattle graze so 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:06.760 near the old wood, in the circular stones, where the 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:10.799 roots grow elf twisted and rain water filled elf cups, 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.760 in the rock where strange lights danced some nights, and 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:19.160 the moonlight shines brighter than elsewhere. I'd lost cows before, 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.160 but never like this. I found her bloated and dead 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.840 by the tree line. As I strolled up to the 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.040 poor heifer, I saw neither bite nor puncture on her hide. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.560 I scanned the surrounding grass for signs of tracks or blood. 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.120 I saw neither. But that's when something caught my eye, 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.760 A small stone point like an arrow head, with neither 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.920 shaft nor fletchings, and carved by some art not practiced 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.600 by mortal men. I stooped to pick it up, and 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.720 that's when I felt a white hot pain in my 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.240 upper left side. I felt for blood underneath my shirt, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.000 such was the pain, but found only unpierced flesh, even 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.320 as the agony of it brought me to my knees. 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.800 In the tall grass, a scan the tree line. They 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.080 were invisible to my eyes, but I felt them somehow, 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.720 The elves watching on from the shadows of the wood, 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.119 perhaps snickering in their sublime odd tongue as the elf 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.760 bolt racked my body. But I clutched the stone in 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.840 my hand. I knew what I had to do. I 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.280 dragged myself back across the field, sweat pouring down my 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.000 face and my spleen swelling fit to burst with elf cake. 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.160 Even then, when I arrived back at the house, I 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.399 dropped the little of stone in a pan of water. 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.080 I clutched my bible for good measure. I strained remember 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.760 words and incantations by either priest or wise woman. But 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.200 the best I could manage was a vague prayer to 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.600 be interpreted by whatever heard me. In my moment of need, 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.680 I drank the stone, touched water down all of it, 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.400 though it chilled my teeth and stung my tongue. And 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.400 then I realized, too late that the charm was no good, 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.080 for it had touched the ground, sunlight had fallen upon it. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.760 The power of the elves had all but drained from 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.160 the thing, and I was afforded only passing relief. And 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.160 so I write this letter by candlelight, and I will 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.680 weigh it down on the table with the Queer stone 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:16.640 as proof, for I am now Elf marked and Elf taken. 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.880 I swell, I ache to the moon rises once more 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:31.120 in the sound of their music fills the night. Welcome 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.079 just about to blow your mind the production of My 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:42.680 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to blow your mind. 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.840 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.280 that little cold open definitely takes some liberties with the 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.480 folklore we're going to be discussing here today. When just 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.640 trying to get a little seasonal Halloween flavor here going 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.840 in this episode, which I guess is kind of kick 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.679 starting or how lloween season here on Stuff to blow 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:05.160 your mind. But but today we're going to be talking about, 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.800 as you might guess from the opening, elf shot or 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:14.000 elf stones, Pixie arrows, elf arrows, and many other names, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.520 the missiles of the others. Yeah, yeah, So the basic 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:22.040 idea here, I think is basically embedded in the fiction 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.320 we just shared here. The idea that and this is 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:28.360 just roughly so. Like with with many folk traditions, as 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.440 we'll discuss, there a number of variations over time and space. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.560 But the idea here is that the elves, out of 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:40.200 trickery or pure malice, they might shoot cattle or humans 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.240 in some cases with their invisible arrows, and these invisible 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.680 arrows leave little or no physical trace in again in 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:53.280 many tellings, but cause otherwise unexplainable pain or disease or 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.080 perhaps even death. The notion was supported via the evidence 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:02.560 of discovered Neolithic arrowheads and other curios, and the ideas 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.880 especially tied to the British Isles, but one sees examples 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.360 of it from elsewhere in Europe as well as from 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:13.120 the America's after colonial arrival. Right. So, the belief in 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.200 elf shot, I think is best understood not as a 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:20.200 single belief but as a sort of uh complex of 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:25.640 related explanations for totally different types of natural phenomena that 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.000 are all sort of unified under under a common theory 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.960 of of fairy weapons and fairy malice. Yeah. Yeah, and 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.400 without diving any deeper we can we can see the 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.760 appeal of these ideas. Right. It's a superstitious, supernatural script 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.440 that can help explain several different things, help explain and 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:50.200 otherwise unexplained illness, otherwise unexplained pain or another malady, otherwise 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:54.560 unexplained illness or death, and cattle and otherwise unexplained artifacts 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.480 found on or in the Earth. Now it makes sense, 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.800 I think at this point to discuss the elves of it, 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.120 because I know, for for many of us out there, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.920 you you say the word elf, and there are probably 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.159 a few different key images and ideas that are gonna 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.560 immediately come come to life in your mind. I mean, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.719 especially now with the Rings of Power on TV and 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.680 so forth, many of and also you know the resurgence 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.840 of Dungeons and Dragons, people are going to think about 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.760 the fantasy elves of Tolkien and Tolken derived works like 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.080 Dungeons and Dragons. Uh. For for others of you out there, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:34.120 you might instantly think about Santa's elves or Keebler elves. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:41.600 Little you know, curious people making novelties and imaginary idealistic workshops. Right, 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:43.920 I would say that the influence of Tolkien is so 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.320 strong that, uh, at least in America. I don't I 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.479 don't know if this would be as true in the 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.560 rest of the English speaking world even, but but at 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.720 least in America, when you say elf, I think what 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:58.120 people mostly think is a Tolkien style high elf an 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.160 l Rond or Galadriel to figure a kind of noble 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.880 and elegant fantasy aristocrat who has, you know, wisdom and 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.839 magic arts to offer. Yeah, and generally just super blonde hair, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.640 like real, real, pristine blonde wig going on in many cases. 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.400 I guess el Ron Elron didn't have blond hair. Elrond 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.880 have red hair. I don't know, dark hair. I don't 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.640 know he's I mean, there's an Elrond, young Elrond, the 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.880 younger version of Elrond is in the Rings of Power, 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:32.040 and I'm I'm suddenly at at a loss to remember 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.800 what color is hair is mainly remember the ears. I 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.640 remember thinking around the year two thousand two or so. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.599 It's like live Tyler. That's an elf. I guess. The 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.560 interesting thing is that, of course both of these ideas, 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.120 obviously Tolkien's ideas of elves have have their roots in 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.960 actual folklore and mythology, as one would expect. But but 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.600 even like Santa's ells and Keepler elves, I guess they're 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:01.760 not They're not completely removed from the mythologic called roots here, 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.360 but that but perhaps less connected. Yea, as you're saying, 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.799 Once you get outside of the very sort of narrowly 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:12.360 Tolkien influenced idea, the elf is actually an extremely broad 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.160 tradition right right, and you get into into many of 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:21.440 these traditions and beliefs of old and elves get more 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.800 mysterious and also more dangerous. They become less human and 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.760 harder to fathom. So I want Two of the sources 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.080 I often turn to when when thinking about these things 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.240 are Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which is is 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.720 you know, which is a pretty pretty good book even 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.560 today for for for highlighting some of this stuff. And 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.600 then of course I always look at the books of 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.280 Folklore's Carol Rose in particular for this one Spirits, Ferries, 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.040 Leprikaans and Goblins, which is still very much in print. 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.480 I always recommend that one to two fans of mythological 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.400 and folkloric beings. But in Brewers Dictionary Phrase and Fable, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.800 the definition of elf is quote a dwarfish being of 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.400 Teutonic mythology possessed of magical powers which is used for 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.960 the good or ill of mankind. Carol Rose, in uh 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.280 in the Spirits Fairies, Lepricuns and Goblins, mentions that in 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:17.920 Teutonic mythology, the alpha are subdivided into dark elves and 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.840 light elves, and Rose refers to them as well as 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:26.720 a type of sprite found in British, Icelandic, Scandinavian and 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.560 Teutonic legend. They are the the alf the alf. There 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.040 are several different spellings that are kind of like elf 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.280 or alf or yielf for or in some cases you 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.760 have like the Ellen or el folk and Danish you 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.960 have the elvore in Swedish traditions, and then they're the 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:47.679 spay Wise and Icelandic traditions and many more. Now there 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.120 have been attempts to understand elves as both um sort 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:56.559 of folkloric and mythological reverberations of our understandings of indigenous 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.960 people's which certainly ties in with some of the themes 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:03.200 will be exploring here, as well as with people born 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:07.720 with certain birth defects or people that have certain illnesses. Um. 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.080 And these are perhaps broader explorations, but but I think 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.000 we can see the validity of both avenues combined of course, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.160 as always with the self sustaining power of myth, folklore 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.040 and belief. You know, we we often mentioned on the 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:23.400 show we can't we can't discount the power of human 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:28.840 imagination and creativity, be that uh, you know, imagination acting 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:33.200 out of pure whimsy, or imagination seeking to understand things 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:38.280 or just even make shape of various realities of life. Yeah, 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.280 And another way I would put that is that yes, 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.400 people often did probably see something that they didn't understand 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.480 and then try to put together a mythical theory of it, 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.360 a kind of supernatural explanation that would make sense of it. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.319 But then other times, clearly people just make things up. 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.679 I mean, people have imagination and they dream things up. 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.640 So you get you get both in our mythical traditions, 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.400 I think. Can it's limiting to assume that you're always 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:05.959 looking at one thing or the other right right, But 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.040 once the once the script is established, the script is 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:13.880 generally nourished and maintained. Um so so like other similar 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.400 beings in folklore, such as say that the Irish tradition 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.840 of the Tata done and uh, fairies and so forth, 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.960 there's kind of a ghost species are to the elves, 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:28.439 they're the sublime other that occupies places that we cannot occupy. 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.079 They hold powers that we scarcely comprehend, and they may 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.640 wish as well, they may wish us ill, or they 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.920 may just sort of be neutral in all matters. Uh. 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.120 And there are reasons are hard to fathom they might 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.520 do the things they do on a whim, or they 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.480 might have seemingly good reason to act against us or 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:53.240 or forests. They're also associated with a host of unexplained phenomena, 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.680 including visual phenomena, making them a core supernatural script for 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:02.000 the unexplained that I think alone and many have pointed 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.760 this out aligne closely with twenty and twenty one century 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.800 uses of the UFO script of the the Alien Visitor 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.920 Script for the unexplained as a way of shaping and 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.120 processing things that we don't understand, for examples pointed out 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.800 by both in both Roses book and in Brewers. We 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.720 have a number of elf related phenomenon in folk traditions, 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.640 and they include the following. There's elf bore, which is 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.920 apparently This is the apparently a piece of wood from 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.400 which the knot has been dropped out. I don't know 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.160 how how much I really need a supernatural script to 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.760 explain that, but fair enough. There's elf cake. This is 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.719 an enlargement of the spleen elf child. This is a 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.319 change link getting into changeling traditions. This one was new 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.040 to me. An elf cup elf cup This would be 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.760 where you have stone that has a hollow form from 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.160 dripping water and water collects there. Well, that's the elf cup, 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.200 and I guess the elves drink from it. Elf are 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.120 getting interditions of the willow the wisp, which we've covered 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.680 on the show before. Now here's one that people with 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.240 long longer hair, or with children with longer hair can 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.640 definitely comment on. Elf locks. These are tangles and knots 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.120 in the hair caused by elves in the night. If 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.200 one is elf marked, that may refer to birth defects 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.320 or birth marks caused by the elves. If you are 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.880 elf taken, that means you're a bewitched or an enchanted person. 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:32.400 Elf twisted may refer to someone who has suffered a stroke, 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:37.000 but it also can refer to deformed vegetation elf twisted vegetation. 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.240 And then this is an interesting one I ran across 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:40.880 as well. I don't think this was in neither of 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.760 these texts, but elf milling the sound of woodworms chewing. 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:47.840 And then of course we have our elf pharaohs are 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.120 elf shot um, which again is a perfect script to 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.280 turn to in an attempt to explain the unexplainable, and 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.760 also is alluded to in the cold Open the artifacts 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.120 associated with elf shot. The little found uh uh stones 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.360 and arrowheads are also associated with various folk medicine and 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:11.120 magical practices, generally thought to heal or alleviate illness in 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:16.000 animals or humans. Generally, uh illness is caused or perceived 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.520 to be caused by the elf shot. Like if you 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.440 get shot by a fantasy arrow, by a magical arrow 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.600 from an uh from the elves, well, if you can 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.640 find that that artifact, well, then maybe we have a 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.920 chance of curing things. Or if we happen to have 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:34.040 any in the collection of the local healer, maybe a 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.760 little satchel of of elf stone somewhere, well, those can 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.680 be used uh in the curative arts, drawing on the 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.400 traditional logic of like cures like or sympathetic magic, the 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:49.240 idea that if your if your ailment is caused by 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.160 a certain type of object or or action, then it 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.600 can also be maybe cured by a similar or related 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:01.880 type of object or action, right right, And sometimes these stones, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.880 these elf arrows and so forth, they're thought to be 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:09.760 be essentially the ones that were fired. Other times they 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.640 may have been dropped by the elves. And some other 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.000 cases you have situations where these things are interpreted as 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.680 having like fallen from the sky and so forth. Yeah, 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.760 a lot of the older sources that I read quoted 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.600 said that they were dropped from the air. Now for 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.720 a couple of related concepts. Here in Scotland, there are 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.840 also tales of fairy riding, by which a livestocks paralysis 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:35.040 has explained as being due to exhaustion caused by fairies 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.720 riding the animals around his mounts all through the night. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.560 There's also the use of thunder stones, of which I 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.440 guess elf shot is kind of a subset or at 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:47.240 least the very related concepts in which people have reinterpreted stone, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.360 axe heads, tools, and also fossils as sacred objects that 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.960 may have fallen from the sky or experienced some other 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.280 supernatural entry into our world. And we see examples of 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.320 this in European, Native American and Asian traditions as well. 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.960 I found an interesting quote on this. This is from 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:11.880 eight in need Fire publishing The Illustrated Archaeologists by archaeologist 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:16.600 Jay romilly Allen. Quote. There is hardly a single prehistoric 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.240 remain in the country whose name does not show that 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.960 common people associated with fairies, which is hags or the devil. 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.640 So too, with the implements and objects found on ancient sites. 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:30.960 The stone celt is looked upon as a thunderbolt, the 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:35.520 flint arrow and elf arrow, the spindle wheel, a fairies millstone, 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.760 the colored glass bead, an adder bead adder beads by 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:41.680 the way where these were thought to have been created 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.760 by snakes, and they were used in folk medicine as well, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.920 and of course in general, the idea of invisible missiles 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.520 sent by a supernatural enemy that causes illness. This is 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:56.400 also comparable to other concepts of magic, spells and curses 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.960 that can be found in cultures throughout the world from 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:01.040 you know their exam puls, like the traditions of the 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.440 skin walkers among the Navaho, the concept of google poison, 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.040 and the Han Chinese traditions um, and you know many 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.480 such traditions around the world that involve the work of 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:14.960 outsiders or secret outsiders that bring about sickness in a 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:23.440 given people. Thank yeah, now, I thought it would be 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:27.360 a good idea for elf shots, specifically to uh look 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.400 at a paper that collected some direct accounts of folk 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:34.280 beliefs about elf shot, especially in Scotland, UM, where a 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.840 lot of this folklore work was done. Uh. And this 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.880 paper is by Thomas Davidson. It's called elf Shot Cattle. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:45.080 It was published in the journal Antiquity in nineteen fifty six. Uh. Now, 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.200 I do want to preface. In the next episode, I 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.080 think we're going to talk about a couple of papers 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.800 that um offers some criticism of the subject of elf shot, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.920 maybe questioning some things about this alleged folk belief. But 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.280 I thought it would be good to first look at 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.280 some of the more prevailing notions from from previous scholarship. Now, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:07.000 this paper by Davidson kicks off offering a number of accounts. 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.240 The first one is one that was recorded in Scottish 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:15.199 Notes and Queries in the first series. And uh this uh, 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.120 this is rendered with a wonderful bit of transliterated Scottish accent, 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.520 which I will not attempt to do in my own 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.680 voice as I read it. But it is quoting a 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.000 Buccan farmer. Uh. This is a this is a region 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.679 of Scotland, a Buccan farmer in the late autumn of 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:37.159 eighteen eighty four, and his complaint was as follows, quoted 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.639 in Scottish Notes and Queries. Oh, and there are a 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:41.400 couple of terms in here. I'll have to come back 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.840 and define in a minute, probably, but uh. The quote 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.240 goes like this, I've gotten an ill job this morning, 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.439 in the death of a fine stirk by elf shot. 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.760 And the pity is he wasn't fastened to a hair tether, 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.840 which is a halter made of hair. Uh. Fan, the 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.280 weapon would have fallen short of him. And then Davidson writes, 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.800 when asked whether it might not have been due to 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.800 quarter ill, he replied that couldn't be. My neighbor and 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.240 me open up the beast, and there was a hole 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.800 through his heart, so a couple of things there. He 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.280 says that this happened to a stirk. A stirk is 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.480 a yearling bullock or heifer, so I think a calf 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.919 young cattle. Uh. And then there's this reference to quarter 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.119 ill as the the opposite explanation. Uh. Quarter Ill is 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.440 a common disease found in livestock, also known as black leg. 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.560 It's caused by an infection, often in one of the 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:37.280 limbs by Clostridium bacteria. And I've read in other sources 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.320 that death can be very rapid after symptoms first present, 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:42.600 sometimes just a matter of hours. So you could have 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:46.200 a calf fall dead of quarter ill without really much 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.879 warning at all. I love the detail about the hole 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.560 through the heart. This lines up with some other accounts 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.600 I was looking at where while you know which, elf 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.119 shot is not thought to present a traditional wound. In 0:18:58.160 --> 0:18:59.960 some cases there's no wound at all, but other times 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:02.679 there is a wound if you know what to look for, 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.960 if you look closely enough. And of course this easily 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.200 falls in with the realities we see mirrored and other 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.720 supernatural scripts, like if you you know the mark of 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.479 the witch, well, if you look closely enough and you 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.760 want to find it enough, you will find the mark 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:21.320 of the witch. If you want to find the you know, 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.720 the the hidden sensor that the aliens put in a 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.159 person's flesh, well, just keep looking. You'll find something that 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.440 seems a little odd, and surely that is the mark. Yeah, 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:33.640 there are all kinds of methods to detect the mark. 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:35.919 I'll talk about that a bit in a minute. One 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:38.160 of them I read about is like a the oldest 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.080 member of the family should wear a blue bonnet, and 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.879 then the blue bonnet will be rubbed all over the cow, 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.280 and somehow the rubbing of the flower or the actually 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:49.159 I don't know if that refers to a flower or 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:51.960 an actual bonnet, it says blue bonnet in the paper. 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:53.960 But whichever one it is, you rub that on the 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.280 cow and that will reveal where the where the animal 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:00.920 was struck. But anyway, so to recap this story from 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:04.400 from eighteen eighty four, this farmer is saying a healthy 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.919 young calf drops dead in its first year suddenly, no 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.639 apparent explanation. Uh. Though again, of course there are diseases 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:15.040 that caused sudden death in bovines. And the farmer and 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.879 his neighbor confirmed the cause of death was elf shot 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.040 because they did an autopsy and found that even though 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.560 the animal had no external wounds, there was a hole 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:29.040 in the animal's heart. Okay. Second account cited by Davidson. 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:32.680 This was originally published in Proceedings of the Society of 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:38.399 Antiquaries in Scotland. Uh, And it goes like this, Davidson writes. Quote. 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.400 Some years before, in eighteen sixty seven, a Mr. Hugh 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.200 Morrison saw a cow which was said to have been 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.240 killed by the fairies. When he pointed out to the 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.640 farmer that her death had been caused by rolling over 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.000 and her long horns penetrating the ground had kept her 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:57.760 in a position from which she could not rise. He 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.680 was told that that was a common way in which 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.320 cow's fall when struck by the UH. And then this 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.119 is something that is spelled like like it looks like 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.200 sage head sith, but I believe this is sage she 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:14.560 or side she, which is Scott's galelic for ferry arrow. 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.520 So Davidson connects these beliefs to as we already mentioned, 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.720 the discovery of neolithic flints in the fields and the 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:27.359 countryside where uh. He claims that these were not generally 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:33.159 associated with prehistoric human technology. Now, there are some associations 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:34.800 of that kind going all the way back to the 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.040 seventeenth century, but they're not generally accepted by the people, 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:43.280 Davidson says, and he quotes the story of a reverend 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:46.840 John Frasier who was writing a letter dated to the 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.320 year seventeen o two was recorded in a work called 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:54.040 The Darker Superstitions of Scotland by J. G. Dal Yell, 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:57.679 and the letter is talking about how Frasier thought it 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.720 was strange quote that these lf stones, whether little or 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:06.960 Michel Michel meaning large little or Michel, has still the 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.280 same figure, though certainly known to fall from the air. 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:15.399 The commonality superstitiously imagines that the fairies hath made and 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.760 gives them that shape, and that they do hurt by them, 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.159 which we call elf shot. And then he goes on 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:26.159 to quote a wonderful work the seventeenth century minister and 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:31.280 proto folklorist Robert Kirk's treatise The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:36.240 Fawns and Fairies, which is a fantastic historical read if 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.400 you ever get time to check that out. So Kirk 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:43.320 is describing the beliefs of the people of Scotland and 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.280 talking about the weapons made by elves and fairies, and 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:51.439 so to quote here from Davidson. Similarly, Kirk describes the 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:55.680 weapons as being quote most what solid earthly bodies, nothing 0:22:55.720 --> 0:23:00.560 of iron, but much of stone, like to a soft flints, 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:04.359 shaped like a barbed arrowhead, but flung like a dart 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:09.080 with great force. These arms cut by airt and tools. 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.920 It seems beyond humane. And I think aert as a 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:15.359 noun often means like a compass point, but it could 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:19.200 mean like art or guidance. But again Kirk is saying 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:21.760 that they're beyond human. Said I think I said humane, 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:25.320 but I'd probably just be human. Here have have something 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:30.280 of the nature of thunderbolt subtlety and mortally wounding the 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:34.920 vital parts without breaking the skin. So I love this idea. 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:40.040 They have something of the nature of thunderbolt subtlety. Uh. 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:43.439 This description from the seventeenth century reminds me of what 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:45.880 the farmer and the much later account in the nineteenth 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:49.040 century said about opening up the calf and finding that 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:52.040 even though the skin had not been broken, the heart 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:54.120