The legends of all countries concur in describing milk as the principal article of fairy diet. The Northamptonshire elves were noted for an inordinate love of it,and did not scruple to obtain it by invading the privity of the dairy; nay, some impute to them the offence,which is also alleged of the hedgehog, and declare that they suck the cows as they sleep. This is not the only case in which they evince the laxity of their notions respecting the human laws of meum and teum. Like the Scottish good neighbours, and the Devonshire pixies, they have little to recommend them on the score of honesty. On the approach of midnight they leave their ‘moonlight meadow rings’ to feast upon the scanty leavings of the cottage buttery; taking care, however, to lull the watchful eye of the housewife, by substituting some unreal material for the edibles thus abstracted. Sternberg, 133