Note 12 — Chapter I · THE FAIRIES.1
Reading edition
Other charms used on the occasion were the taking of the woman to be delivered several times across the byre-drain (inne), the opening of every lock in the house, and ceremonies by means of
“A grey hank of flax and a cockscomb, Two things against the commandments.”
These practices seem to have been known only to the very superstitious, and to have been local. The first belonged to Ross-shire, the second to the north-west mainland of Argyllshire, and the last to Tiree.