Elf Arrows (or Elf Bolts)
The superstitious name given to small triangular flints,
known as Belemnites, found in many countries, but notably in
Scotland. It was believed that these stones were arrows shot by
the elves, which usually prove fatal to cattlethe cure being to
touch the cow with the arrow with which it had been hit and
give it water in which the arrow had been dipped to drink.
In his book The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and
Fairies (1691), Robert Kirk describes the fairy arrow as being
tipped with yellow flint and states that it inflicts a mortal wound
without breaking the skin. He also says that he examined such
wounds. It is even on record that an Irish bishop was thus shot
at by an evil spirit, and it was said that the arrows were manufactured
by the devil with the help of attendant imps who roughhewed
them while the archfiend finished the work.
Cases are on record of elf arrows allegedly made and used
by the witches of Scotland within historic times. In 1662 Isobel
Gowdie confessed that she had seen such elf arrows made. Similar
superstitions regarding these remnants of the Stone Age
prevail in Italy, Africa, and Turkey.
Sources
Kirk, Robert. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and
Fairies. 1691. Reprint, London D. Nutt, 1893.
