Faerie Hills

There are many hills that are inhabited by faeries and they can be dangerous places to  set foot upon. But there are a few intrepid souls who venture on to them either in hope of being transported to faerieland  or would be musicians who hope to be endowed with the gift of faerie magic if they spend the night sleeping on the mound.

There is a hill called Pipers Grave at Ednam in the Scottish borders, it is only half a mile from the village where a piper from a local band lived. One night he crept inside the hill so that he could learn  some of the faeries tunes. He was never seen again but sometimes he can be heard playing from deep inside the faerie hill.

But even if he had been released time is different in faerieland and as soon as he stepped foot back in the mortal world the piper would have probably crumbled away to nothing. Which is what happened to two fiddlers who had been hired by the Faerie Queen to play for her guests one night. When they were released and stumbled back onto the hillside after playing all night they crumbled to dust for they had been playing for 200 years.

The hill of Ile in the west highlands is another faerie dwelling where the Faerie Queen lives. Here she hands out from a golden goblet wisdom to all the women of the world.

'Still on the hill when the wisdom was handed out' is the local saying for anybody less than bright! 

 Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles