Elizabeth Andrews notes in Ulster Folklore that the fairies are sometimes represented as kindly, but often as mischievous. Near Dungiven, in Co. Derry, she was told of a friendly fairy who, dressed as an old woman, came one evening to a cottage where a poor man and his wife lived. The visitor told the wife that if the stone at the foot of the table were lifted she would find something that would last her all her days. As soon as the visitor had gone, the wife called to her husband to bring a crowbar, and when they raised the stone they found a crock of gold.
The old man who told the story had himself found a crock covered with a slate in a bog and hoped it was full of gold. It held only bog butter, which he used to grease cart wheels.
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