Lavellan

An animal that is peculiar to the north of Scotland, where it is said to be able to harm cattle from a distance of forty yards. According to Pennant, it was the water shrew mouse, and the country people had a notion that it was noxious to cattle; they preserved the skin, and, as a cure for their sick animals, gave them the water in which the skin had been dipped.

References

Sources

  • Campbell, J.G. (1900). Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Glascow: James MacLehose and Sons, p. 220.
  • Pennant, Thomas. (1776). A tour in Scotland; 1769. London: Benjamin White, p. 194.