Page:English Fairy Tales.djvu/288

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
262
Notes and References

to the dwellings of the "good folk," which recent excavations have revealed. By the kindness of Mr. MacRitchie, I am enabled to give the reader illustrations of one of the most interesting of these, the Maes-How of Orkney. This is a green mound some 100 feet in length and 35 in breadth at its broadest part. Tradition had long located a goblin in its


CENTRAL CHAMBER, MAES-HOW


centre, but it was not till 1861 that it was discovered to be pierced by a long passage, 53 feet in length, and only 2 feet 4 inches high, for half of its length. This led into a central chamber, 15 feet square and open to the sky. The diagrams on the opposite page will give all further details.

Now it is remarkable how accurately all this corresponds