Elf-shot

Without visible mark or sign she was elf-shot; and the proof of this appeared from her going off her milk, dwining away, and dying before her calves could be counted on the hooves of one foot.

The malicious elves did not confine their attacks to human beings; references to elf-shot cattle are numerous.

Frequently this practitioner would keep a stock of elf-shot from which one would be produced by sleight of hand from the ailing animal's flank as evidence that it had indeed been elf-shot.

There, ev'ry herd, by sad experience, knows How, wing'd with Fate, their elf-shot arrows fly, When the sick ewe her summer food foregoes, Or, stretch'd on earth, the heart-smit heifers lie.

Ley whatever elf-shot darts, whatever flying venoms, be concentrated among those already ill.

Following Singer, Bonser relates the word gescot (shot) to the elf-shot arrows believed to cause illness in both animals and humans.

In Scotland the flint arrow heads are denominated ‘elf shots,’ from a belief among the people that they are of rib human formation, but the shot with which the elves or fairies assail cattle, and there are many superstitions in connection with them.

Frequently this practitioner would keep a stock of elf-shot from which one would be produced by sleight of hand from the ailing animal's flank as evidence that it had indeed been elf-shot.

Likewise, Mesolithic and Neolithic arrowheads were popularly known as “elf shot” or “elf missiles” and believed to harbor magical properties and thus sometimes made into jewelry and worn as protective charms.