The _girn_, my informant said, was never out its face, and
it _yammered_ on night and day. One day an old highland woman having
seen the child, and inspected it carefully, affirmed that it was a fairy
child. She went the length of offering to put the matter to the test,
and this is how she tested it. She put the poker in the fire, and hung a
pot over the fire wherein were put certain ingredients, an incantation
being said as each new ingredient was stirred into the pot. The child
was quiet during these operations, and watched like a grown person all
that was being done, even rising upon its elbow to look. When the
operations were completed, the old woman took the poker out of the fire,
and carrying it red hot over to the cradle, was about to burn the sign
of the cross on the baby's brow, when the child sprung suddenly up,
knocked the old woman down and disappeared up the _lum_ (chimney,)
filling the house with smoke, and leaving behind it a strong smell of
brimstone. When the smoke cleared away, the true baby was found in the
cradle sleeping as if it never had been taken away.
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