Habitrot and Scantlie Mab

There are many stories from the north of England and the south of Scotland,

The border country,

About habitrot.

And habitrot was the fairy guardian of spinning wheels and of spinners.

And this is a story that features habitrot and is from Selkirkshire.

There was once a woman who lived in a little cottage in Selkirkshire and she had one daughter,

Beautiful daughter.

The daughter preferred to wander out in the fields and in the hills and in the woods.

And she did learn in the art of spinning.

Now,

Even today in the border country,

The weaving of fine cloth is an important industry.

And back then,

If a young woman wanted to do well in life,

She had to learn to spin.

It was very,

Very important.

But this young lady,

She had no interest and she could not master the skill of spinning.

And this used to frustrate her mother,

And worry her mother.

Until one day,

She grew tired of it and she laid down an optimator.

And she said,

You have three days,

Three days to burn these seven piles of flax into seven wheels of fine spun yarn.

The young girl knew there was something different about this particular ultimatum.

She knew her mother meant business and she was worried.

So she set about the task.

She tried her best.

She tried really hard.

But in the afternoon of the second day,

Having tried her hardest and her lips all sore from licking her fingers to draw out the flax,

She just gave up.

She gave up and she ran out of the house crying.

She ran across the fields,

Down into the woods.

She ran down by the little wooded glade with all the wild flowers and a little burn,

A little stream that ran through it.

It's one of her favourite places.

She sat there weeping because she knew she would never complete this task.

Mother furious.

And,

Um,

To her surprise,

She became aware of a figure sitting beside her.

She turned round and there was an old lady sitting there.

And there was nothing particularly unusual about this old lady's appearance,

Other than the fact her lips were red and sore and drew to lay down.

The young girl was polite and she turned round and she said,

Good afternoon,

Grandmother,

Because that was a polite way to address an old lady those days.

And she gave a curtsy.

Now this pleased the old lady.

She smiled and she said,

Good afternoon,

Young lady.

Now the girl was too polite to comment on the old lady's lip.

She was curious.

And the old lady said,

I see that you're looking at my lip.

Don't be embarrassed.

That's come of all the spinning I do and all the licking of my thumb and the licking of my finger to draw out the yarn.

The girl became quite upset at this point.

She said,

I should be spinning too,

But I just cannot master it.

My mother is going to be so angry with me because I have only till tomorrow to spin seven reels of yarn from the seven piles of flax that I have.

And I just cannot do that.

I've only managed just a very small amount.

Ah,

Said the old lady.

She said,

Bring it to me.

I will spin it for you.

The young girl was absolutely delighted,

Absolutely delighted.

She skipped across the barn.

She ran across the fields and back to the house and she grabbed all the piles of flax and she ran back down and skipped across the barn.

She waded across to the point where the old woman was sitting.

And it was only then that she noticed that the old lady was sitting beside a self-bought stone.

Now when I say self-bought stone,

I'm talking of the stones that you sometimes see,

The little streams and rivers.

They have been there for so long that the rivers and the streams have bowed the hole through.

And they're also said to be windows into the fairy kingdom.

And if you're lucky enough to find one,

And if you're lucky enough for it to be on the right day,

At the right time of the year,

Then you can see through into the fairy kingdom.

Anyway,

She gave the flax over to the old lady and then she turned to thank the old lady.

She was gone.

Now,

The young woman,

She wondered about looking for the old lady for a little while and then she became very tired.

She sat herself down beside the tree and she fell asleep.

It was only when Cosline,

The evening star,

Came out that she awoke from sleep.

And as soon as she awoke,

The old lady was there beside her and she had seven wheels,

The finest yarn she had ever seen.

The young girl was absolutely delighted and she thanked the old lady and she knew her lady.

She said,

One thing,

When you take this back to your mother,

Don't tell her.

She spun the yarn.

And the girl promised.

She went to skip it back across the barn and through the fields and back home.

It was quite late by this time when she walked into the house and her mother had already gone to bed.

But it was a wonderful smell in the house.

And the young girl put the yarn on the table.

She turned towards the fireplace because her mother had been cooking sausages,

Preparing sausages during the day and she had hung them in the chimney to dry and to smoke.

The young girl realised that she had been sitting in the woods sleeping in the woods there for much of the day and she hadn't had anything to eat.

She was very hungry.

So she took one of the sausages down from the chimney and she fired it over the fire.

She ate it.

But then she took another.

She fired that and she ate it.

In the end,

She took all seven sausages and ate them before she went to bed herself.

Now in the morning,

Her mother was first awake.

She was a very early riser.

She woke up and she went into the kitchen.

She had seven pools of yarn,

The finest yarn she had ever seen.

She was absolutely amazed.

She spun this beautiful,

Beautiful yarn.

And then she noticed that the seven sausages were gone.

She was just overwhelmed by what happened.

She went rushing out the cottage and she was shouting at the top of her voice,

Seven,

Seven,

Seven reals of yarn my daughter has spun.

Seven,

Seven,

Seven sausages she's eaten.

And all before daybreak.

Now,

She was creating quite a commotion.

And some young laird was passing by,

The laird of all the land in that area.

And he heard her.

And he came to us and she says,

But what's the matter,

Madam?

And she said,

Seven,

Seven reals of yarn my daughter has spun.

And seven,

Seven,

Seven sausages she's eaten.

And all before daylight.

And if you don't believe me,

Come inside and have a look.

So the laird did go inside.

And he saw the yarn on the table.

And he never,

Ever,

Even in his high station,

He never met anybody who could spin your hand over that ballad.

And he asked if he could see the spinner.

So the lady proudly went and called for her daughter.

And the daughter came out and she stood there blushing.

Blushing in part because it was a laird.

But also blushing because she knew she hadn't spun the yarn.

But the laird was very impressed.

He was impressed by her spinning.

He was also impressed by her beauty.

And he asked for her hand in marriage.

And the mother.

And the girl agreed.

The laird went away to prepare for the wedding.

And the girl left the cottage.

The men were running down across the fields,

To the woods,

And to the barn.

And she ran through the barn,

Skipped across the wood,

To the other side.

She started to shout and cry,

Habitrot,

Habitrot.

And in an instant,

Habitrot,

Spinner fairy,

Was there outside.

And the girl began to tell the story of what happened.

She became quite distressed and she said,

What am I to do?

What am I to do?

I can't spin.

The laird would find out that I'd been lying.

And what would become of me then?

Habitrot said to the girl,

Don't you fret,

Don't you fret.

On the day of your wedding,

After the ceremony,

You bring your husband here.

Bring the laird to the cell-fold stone.

I saw the suit of problem.

I.

.

.

That's what she did.

They were married.

And on the day of the wedding,

The girl brought the laird across the field,

Into the woods,

And down to the barn.

They had to huddle through the barn,

Both of them,

Till they came to the cell-fold stone.

And they listened.

And they heard talking,

The other side of the stone.

And it was Habitrot's voice.

And she was saying,

Come on,

Scatley,

Ab,

Keep on with your spinning,

Keep on with your spinning.

And they looked through the cell-fold stone,

And they saw Habitrot.

Long swollen red lip.

And she was surrounded by a whole group of spinnermen,

All with the same long,

Red,

Sore lip,

And flattened out thumbs and fingers from spinning,

And splayed toes from holding the yard,

And they were all spinning away,

And spinning away,

And spinning away,

And throwing away the yard.

The Habitrot knew that they were looking through the cell-fold stone.

And she went,

And she opened the secret door under a tree,

And she said,

Come in.

She took the young girl and the laird down into the cavern where they were spinning.

And there was Habitrot,

The Scatley Marm,

And the other spinnermen.

And the laird said,

As polite as the young girl,

And she asked straight out why their mouths appeared as they did,

And why their thumbs and fingers appeared as they did,

And why their toes were splayed.

And Habitrot,

She looked at the girl,

And she said to Lillian,

Well this is what happens when you're a spinner.

This is what happens to you all.

And she demonstrated,

She showed how she had to look and look and look,

And go out the yard.

And that's it.

Claire was convinced,

And she said,

My wife shall never spin again.

And she never did.

She used to walk in the fields with her husband the laird,

And she used to ride beside him on the horses up in the hills,

And all the flax that was grown on his land was sent to Habitrot and the spinner fairies,

And kept them busy for many a year.