Ghaist o' Fernden, The

DESCRIPTION: A farmer's wife needs a midwife but the men won't fetch one for fear of meeting "the ghaist o' Fern-den." The ghost himself fetches the midwife and, leaving her at the farmer's door, reveals his identity and promises to take her home at midnight.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1853 (Jervise, _The History and Traditions of the Land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns_, according to Greig/Duncan2)
KEYWORDS: childbirth ghost
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig/Duncan2 342, "The Ghaist o' Fernden" (2 texts)
Lyle/McAlpine/McLucas-SongRepertoireOfAmeliaAndJaneHarris, pp. 162-164, "The Ghaist o' Fern Den" (1 text)
Roud #5872
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Brownie of Fernden
NOTES [21 words]: The sense of "ghost" here seems to be spirit but not of a particular person. One text in Greig/Duncan2 refers to a "brownie." - BS
Last updated in version 4.2
File: GrD2342

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