Fairy riding (Scottish Gaelic: marcachd shìth/a' mharcachd-shìth/na marcachd-shìth) was a term used for a kind of paralysis found in livestock in Scotland. It occurred in the spine of sheep, cows and horses, and was attributed to fairies riding on them.
It was also in some places where perspiration, due to weakness which comes out in cattle.
It can be compared to elf-shot, where it was thought that animals had been shot by fairies.
Famous quotes containing the words fairy and/or riding:
“... and the next summer she died in childbirth.
That’s all. Of course, there may be some sort of sequel but it is not known to me. In such cases instead of getting bogged down in guesswork, I repeat the words of the merry king in my favorite fairy tale: Which arrow flies for ever? The arrow that has hit its mark.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Holland is a dream, Monsieur, a dream of gold and smoke—smokier by day, more gilded by night. And night and day that dream is peopled with Lohengrins like these, dreamily riding their black bicycles with high handle-bars, funereal swans constantly drifting throughout the whole country, around the seas, along the canals.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)