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MacRitchie, David, 1861-1925

"Fians, Fairies and Picts"

' He proceeds to state that the
females of this race are capable of procreating with mankind;[8] and
gives an account of one who bore a child to an inhabitant of Iceland,
for whom she claimed the privilege of baptism; depositing the infant for
that purpose at the gate of the churchyard, together with a goblet of
gold as an offering."[9] Scott further cites from Jessen's _De
Lapponibus_ similar matter-of-fact details obtained on this subject from
the Lapps; who, on their own showing, are inferentially the half-bred
descendants of dwarfs.
"That some of the myths of giants and dwarfs are connected with
traditions of real indigenous or hostile tribes is settled beyond
question by the evidence brought forward by Grimm, Nilsson, and
Hanusch," observes Dr. E.B. Tylor.[10] And although that eminent
anthropologist sees a different meaning in many kindred traditions, yet
his observations, and the great mass of references which he gives in
connection with this single detail, are of much interest to euhemerists
pure and simple. The late Sir Daniel Wilson's "Caliban"[11] teems with
the realistic doctrine, and so also does a work of (in my opinion) less
equal merit, "The Pedigree of the Devil,"[12] by Mr.


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