"You'll ha'e whiles seen the _gude neighbours_, master?" said the gaberlunzie.
"Never," answered Eustace; "the fairies are but figments of the imagination."
"Dinna ca' them by that name, whatever you may think o' them," said the other hastily. "You may freely ca' them _gude neighbours_; but _seelie wichts_ is the name they like best; for they say themsells--
"'Gin you ca' me _Imp_ or _Elf_, I rede you look weel to yourself: Gin you ca' me _Fairy_, I'll work you muckle tarrie: Gin _Gude neighbour_ you ca' me, Then gude neighbour I will be: But gin you ca' me _Seelie wicht_, I'll be your friend baith day and nicht."
"My forbears ha'e seen them: and I saw them twice mysel' langsyne on the green at the burn-side ahint our laird's Grange. What mair proof wad you seek? And as to their rings on the grass, the auld rhyme says--na, we maun gang on a bit," he said, checking himself, "we maun get ayont the bourochs before I venture on a rhyme that ca's the seelie wichts by a wrang name."
They jogged on beyond the knolls, and then Willie, believing himself out of supernatural danger, recited the following words of warning--which, however, he did not presume to aver were the composition of some fairy versifier:--
"He wha gaes by the fairy ring, Nae dule nor pine shall see; And he wha cleans the fairy ring, An easy death shall dee. But he wha tills the fairies' green, Nae luck again shall ha'e; And he wha spills the fairies ring, Betide him want and wae; For weirdless days and weary nichts Are his till his dying day."
Our travellers soon reached the outskirts of the village, which was situated at the foot of a hill, with a shallow stream running in front of the cottages, which all stood, in irregular order, on its farther bank. A few old and gnarled trees raised their leafy heads above the roofs. In the back-ground appeared a lofty square tower of the order known on the Border as _Peels_ or _Peelhouses_, to which the neighbouring cottagers usually resorted for protection against an inroading enemy. The Peel had scarcely any windows save near the battlemented roof; but the walls were pierced with many shot-holes, and it was surrounded by a high and thick wall, with a strong portal. In the vicinity was a mound, on which stood a moss-monolith or stone-pillar, perhaps the last remnant of a Druidical circle, or perhaps the memorial of some doughty warrior who fell in battle ages before.