Collectaiiea. 85
The appearance taken by the Caonteach varies considerably. It is generally described as "small," "a little woman," "a very small woman in short gown and petticoat with a high crowned white cap," and also, like other fairies, " in a green petticoat with a high crowned mutch." Another reciter described it as " like a real little child " ; the woman who saw it, going up to it and putting her hand on its head, asked "what makes you weep.^" and found the child's head " awfully soft." It is described, how. ever, as something even more diminutive ; it is " a little white thing." One of the Gurries had it in his hand, and it was white and soft as wool. This is a frequent description of it. Another said it resembles a small tuft of wool, and is soft to feel, having neither flesh, blood, or bones. It was hard to understand how it could be so differently described, as it is said to have been an ordinary woman, and taken up into his machine by a man driving. When we are told, however, that it is the soul of the person who is to die, we understand why it should be light and white, and as a further deduction appear as what is white and light, namely, a tuft of wool.
In the burying-ground in Glen Macaoidh in the Rhinns of Islay there is the appearance as of the impression of a human foot, and less clearly of a human hand, on a stone said to be haunted by a Gaonteach, who, however, only comes at certain times of the year for a few weeks, especially in harvest.
That the " keener " should walk round the house accords with all precedent, as, for instance, in the deasal, the right-handed lucky turns made at funerals, weddings, boat launchings, and Hogmanay visitations. The "keener," however, is not lucky, and this may account for its being specially mentioned as "passing the back door of a house," " passing behind the house," " the back window," "moving slowly about houses" and stack yards, and even "seen on the dunghill." Evidently this points to an inferred connection between the word caoin (kind, soft, lowly), and the name Gaointeach. The resemblance to a woman and to a soft material of some sort is peculiarly clear in the statement of an
ciiratrix (guardian). It seems possible that a fanciful connection with the English " mourn," to lament, may be a cause of the connection of the MacVorrans and the Caonteach.
