Elf-Arrows and Thunderstones: The Folklore of Flint

British Isles

Many of us are familiar with the term "elf-shot" used to refer to disease caused by fairies, usually in livestock, but often in humans as well. The term comes from the belief that fairies could shoot an object, visible or invisible, into a creature, causing it to sicken (Kirk 1692: 59). While a replica body, or changeling, was left to sicken and die, the victim was carried away to Faery. This was also called "elf-stroke", from which we got the word 'stroke', meaning a paralytic seizure (Froud and Lee 1978), although the term "elf-stroke" or "fairy stroke" should actually refer only to a kind of paralysis caused by "a blow, or pass of the fairy hand" (Spence 1948: 172). One of the objects commonly thought to have been used by the fair folk for this purpose was an arrowhead, thus arrowheads were also known by the term "elf-shot", "fairy-shot," "elf-arrow," or "elf-dart," 'elf' being the Anglo-Saxon species of fairy. In the Highlands of Scotland they are called saighead sidhe. The Scottish witch Isobel Gowdie cliamed, in her confession, to have seen the devil directing elf-boys to make the arrows, which were then given to witches to throw at people and livestock (Briggs1976: 118). Another theory on the origin of elf arrows is that "the elves recieved them from old fairies, who wore them as breast-pins, and that these old fairies had in return recieved them from mermaids" (Spence 1948: 173). It was believed that the fairies "could not throw it themselves, but compelled some mortal . . . who was being carried about in their company to throw it for them" (Campbell 1900: 27). Hunters were a favored target, because they killed deer "on the milk of which [the fairies] live" (27).

Elf-arrows were apparently "of a Stone like to soft yellow flint shaped like a Barbed arrow head, but flung as a dart, with great force" (Kirk 1692: 58) and were also described as "a triangular piece of flint, bearing the appearance of an arrow head (Campbell 1900: 26-7). A nineteenth century book on Scottish superstition describes elf-bolts and their effect as follows:
"Those bolts are of various sizes, of a hard yellowish substance, resembling somewhat the flint, for which they are no bad substitutes. The bolt is very frequently of the shape of a heart, its edges being indented like a saw, and very sharp at the point. This deadly weapon the wicked fairy will throw at man or beast with such precision as seldom to miss his aim, and whenever it hits, the stroke is fatal. Such is the great force with which it is flung, that on its striking the object, it instantaneously perforates it to the heart, and a sudden death is the consequence. In the blinking of an eye, a man or an ox is struck down cold dead, and, strange to say, the wound is not discernible to an ordinary person . . . ." (Stewart 1823: 134-5).
Lewis Spence provides a description not only of the arrows, but also of the other equipment associated with them: "The Scottish fairies were equipped with bows fashioned from the rib of a man buried where three lairds' lands met, and were tipped with gold. Quivers were made with the sloughed skin of the adder, and the arrows they held had for shafts the stems of the bog-reed, and were pointed with white field flint and dipped inthe dew of hemlock" (Spence 1948: 172).

Flint arrowheads were also thought to provide protection from the fairies, both for humans and for livestock. The passage quoted above continues with the following note: ". . . whenever this fatal instrument is discovered, it should be carefully preserved, as it defends its possessor from the fatal consequences of the 'Fay,' so long as he retains it about him" (Stewart 1823: 135); if the tip of the arrow was blunt, it indicated that "it had done harm" (Campbell 1900: 27). These popular charms must never touch the ground, or they would lose their efficacy (Spence 1948: 173). Good fortune would leave with a lost elf arrow, and the person who lost it could by claimed by the fairies at death (173). An elf-bolt should also be buried with its owner upon their death (173). A near miss by a fairy arrow in 1910 is described in the following story:
"The flint arrow-heads so prized by antiquarians are called in the Highlands Saighead sith, fairy arrows. They are said to have been thrown by the fairies at the sons and daughters of men. The writer possesses one which was thrown at his own maid-servant one night when she went to the peatstack for peats. She was aware of something whizzing through the silent air, passing through her hair, grazing her ear and falling at her feet. Stooping in the bright moonlight the girl picked up a fairy arrow!" (Evans-Wentz 1911: 88).

As well as providing protection from fairies, elf-arrows could cure illness and was usually used for sickness thought to have been caused by fairies. In Scotland, a fairy arrow could be used for "rubbing to wounds", presumably to cure them (Campbell 1900: 27). In Ireland, if a cow had been elf-shot, which might occur when the fairies shot at it to drive it away from their territory (Spence 1948: 174), a fairy doctor (someone who specialized in diseases and other problems caused by the fairies) would give the animal a drink of water which had a stone arrowhead in it. The arrowheads were called "fairy darts" (gae sidhe in Irish), and were believed to have been used by the fairies (Logan 1981: 124).

Larger stone tools, such as axes and the familiar "hand-axe" also have folklore asscociated with them. Axes and handaxes were thought to be the physical result of thunder, falling to the ground during storms, and were called "thunderstones" or "thunderbolts" (Grinsell 1976: 71). Since heavy rain does tend to uncover artifacts from site-rich and often-ploughed British soil, the idea that these things appeared during storms is perhaps not so far-fetched. These artifacts have been found built into the walls of buildings dating from the Iron Age, up to post-medieval times (71). This probably relates to the asociation of axes and hand-axes with thunder; it was proably believed that building them into the walls would protect the building from being struck by lightning (71-72). In Cornwall, they were boiled in water, after which, the water was thought to be able to cure various diseases (72). Similarly, in Ireland, flint stones were soaked in water to make a medicine (Leach 1972: 394).

Scandinavia

"Thunderstones" were once worshipped as household gods and were annointed with beer or butter as an offering. These stone gods were thought to provide protection from spells and witchcraft (Leach 1972: 394). The Ostyaks of Finland apparently never passed a sacred tree without shooting an arrow at it as a sign of reverence (75).

Switzerland

Axes and handaxes were also associated with thunder and the protection from lightning in Switzerland. A "thunderstone" would be tied on a string, whirled three times around the owner's head, and thrown at the door of his house when a storm was imminent (Leach 1972: 394). This ritual was supposed to keep lighting from striking the dwelling, perhaps operating on the "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" principle (which may also be the principle behind the various British protection beliefs).

Italy

During Roman times arrowheads, along with a piece of coral, were sewn inside dog collars to keep the dog from going mad (Leach 1972: 394). Jupiter was once worshipped as a flint stone (395). More recently, they were hung around children's necks as a protection from illness and the evil eye (75, 394).

Sweden

As in Britain, arrowheads were carried as protection from elves (Leach 1972: 394).

France

In the French Alps flint artifacts are used to protect sheep, while in the rest of France they are thought to ease childbirth (Leach 1972: 394).

Asia and Indonesia

In Burma arrowheads were used to prevent appendicitis, and in Japan they were supposed to cure boils and ulcers. In Malaysia and Sumatra flints are used for sharpening the kris (a ceremonial dagger with a wavy blade), and are considered to be very lucky. In the Slavic areas they are used on both humans and animals to cure warts, and during Passion Week they can reveal hidden treasure (Leach 1972: 394). Arrows are given as offerings to Abog, god of the hunt, by the Bagobo people of the Philippines. The Indochinese would shoot arrows at the dragon devouring the sun during an eclipse (75).

Africa

South African Bushmen sacrificed arrows to rivers or to the ancestral spirits in rivers (Leach 1972: 75).

The Americas

Most native American peoples have myths or stories about knappable materials. A Pawnee origin myth says that stone tools were given to humans by the Morning Star. When practicing medicine, a Cherokee shaman would invoke flint before scarifying the patient. There were Flint Societies among the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest which were usually concerned with witchcraft and weather, and sometimes with war and medicine (Leach 1972: 395). The Cheyenne have a set of four medecine arrows which were central to their worship. They were associated with an annual ritual, and were used to cleanse any member of the tribe who had killed another member. These arrows may indicate that they once worshipped a thunder god. Cheyenne men would tie arrowheads in their hair to ensure a long life, and for luck against accident or illness a "tiny bundle of medicine tied with a beautiful agate arrowhead, on a twisted deerskin string" would be worn around the neck (Grinnell 1962). Some native peoples also began some rituals by shooting an arrow in each of the six directions. During an eclipse, the Ojibwas would shoot burning arrows at the sun to rekindle it, while theCayapo, Bororo, and Tapuyos of Brazil would shoot arrows at the sun to frighten it into shining again, and the Sencis of Brazil shot fire arrows to drive away the beast that was trying to overcome the sun (75). A myth of the Quiche of Guatemala tells how chert fell fromthe sky and broke into 1600 pieces which each became a god. One of these gods, Tohil, who brought people fire, is represented as a chert (395). The Mexican god Quetzalcoatl carries a thunderbolt in the form of a flint arrowhead in his wind god aspect, and the thunder god Mixcoatl carries a bundle of arrowhead/thunderbolts in his hand (75).

There was also a belief in European-settled North Carolina and Alabama that chert or stone tools placed in the fire will keep the chickens safe from hawks. This belief likely derived from the European belief that elf-arrows could protect livestock (Leach 1972: 394). Chert has also been used in Brazil in divining for gold, treasure, and water (394).

About the Author:

Niko Silvester is a Graduate Student in Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has a BA in Archaeology and maintains an online Faerie Bibliography.

References

Briggs, Katherine. 1976. "Elf-shot." A Dictionary of Fairies. London: Penguin. (published in the U.S. as An Encyclopedia of Fairies) p.118.

Campbell, John Gregorson. 1900. Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons.

Evans-Wentz, A.Y. 1966 (1911). The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. University Books.

Froud, Brian and Alan Lee. 1978. Faeries. Peacock Press/Bantam Books.

Grinnell, George Bird. 1962. The Cheyenne Indians, Their History and Ways of Life. New York: Coopers Square.

Grinsell, Leslie V. 1976. "Flint Arrowheads, Stone Axes, and Other Small Objects." Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britian. London: David & Charles. pp.71-72.

Haas, Sally Pepper. 1972. "Arrow" in Maria Leach (ed.) Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. New York: HarperCollins, rpt. 1984. pp.75-6.

Kirk, Robert. 1976 (1692). The Secret Commonwealth & A Short Treatise of Charms and Spels. Edited, with commentary, by Stewart Sanderson. The Folklore Society. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer; Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.

Leach, Maria (ed.). 1972. "Flint." Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. New York: HarperCollins, rpt. 1984. pp.394-395.

Logan, Patrick. 1981. The Old Gods: The Facts about Irish Fairies. Belfast: Apple Tree Press.

Stewart, W. Grant. 1823. The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company.

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