[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

—
THE WARLOCK LAIRD OF FAIL.
Laird.
He had been educated abroad, and was altogether eccentric
both in his habits and appearance. As described in Mr Train's ballad,
he wore a long beard, and was frequently heai-d to utter unknown
words. He resided, in the midst of the deserted cells of the
monks, in the old manor-house, or superior's
residence, usually called
the Castle, then in a state of dilapidation. The belief in his supernatural
powers was by no means astonishing at a period when witchcraft
gained such general credit. The surprise is that he escaped the
torture and the stake. Though believed to possess an evil eye, and
to have the faculty of charming milk from cows, butter from the
churn, cheese from the dairy tub ; and to be able not only to foretell
future events, but to control human actions—spreading disease and
death among men and cattle by the simple exercise of his will— yet
the disposition of the Laird does not appear to have been wantonly
malicious. Judging from the stories told of him, he seems to have
had a strong relish of the humorous, and to have exei"ted his magical
influence chiefly for the amusement of his acquaintances. One day,
a man leading an ass, laden with crockery ware, happened to pass the
Castle. The Laird, who had a friend with him, offered for a wager
to make the man break his little stock in pieces.
The bet was taken,
and immediately the earthenware dealer, stopping and unloading the
ass, smashed the whole into fragments. When asked why he acted
so foolishly, he declared he saw the head of a large black dog growling
out of each of the dishes ready to devour him. The spot where
this is said to have occurred is still called " Pig's Bush." On another
occasion, the Laird looked out at the upper south vpindow of the
Castle. There was in sight twenty going ploughs. He undertook
upon a large wager to make them all stand still. Momentarily eighteen
of them—^ploughs, ploughmen, horses, and gadmen—stood motionless.
Two, however, continued at work. One of them was
ploughing the Tarbolton Croft. It was found out aftei-wards that
these two ploughs carried each a piece of rowan tree—^mountain ash
—proverbial for its anti-warlock properties
Rowan-tree and red thread
Keep the devils frae their speed."
In what year the death of the Warlock Laird took place is unknown
;
but circumstances lead us to believe that it must have been
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