PUBLIC LIBRARY

THE BRANCH LIBRAR ES

33333011950652

FAIfiYTAiGS

2.0) 6

A.-..

North Cornwall

Fairies

and

Legends

A8^ TILL

NORTH CORNWALL
FAIRIES

AND LEGENDS
BY

ENYS TREGARTHEN
AUTHOR OF 'THE PISKEY-PURSE
'

WITH INTRODUCTION BY HOWARD FOX,

F.G.S.

Illustrated

LONDON WELLS GARDNER, DARTON &

3,

CO.,
E.G.

LTD.

PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS,

THE

PUBLIC
A~

c
(

c t

<* *"

'

Contents
1

AGE
xi

INTRODUCTION

THE ADVENTURES OF A PISKEY IN SEARCH OF THE LEGEND OF THE PADSTOW DOOMBAR THE LITTLE CAKE-BIRD
-

HIS

LAUGH

51
71

THE IMPOUNDED CROWS THE PISKEYS' REVENGE

99
113
125
171 J

THE OLD SKY WOMAN REEFY, REEFY RUM THE LITTLE HORSES AND HORSEMEN OF PADSTOW HOW JAN BREWER WAS PISKEY-LADEN THE SMALL PEOPLE'S FAIR
-

139
149
159
165 177

THE PISKEYS WHO DID AUNT BETSY'S WORK THE PISKEYS WHO CARRIED THEIR BEDS THE FAIRY WHIRLWIND,.
,

183

NOTF.S

189

VI 1

'I
e
'

cc,
.

..
,

c
.

List
TINTAGEI. CASTLE

of

Illustrations
PAGE
-

Frontispiece

KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE, LOOKING NORTH TINTAGEL CASTLE

BY

9
.

15

ROUGH TOR'S GRANITE-PILED HEIGHT THE BRIGHT LITTLE LANTERN WENT

-

21

NIGHT-RIDERS, NIGHT-RIDERS, PLEASE STOP !' 'WHICH IS STILL CALLED KING ARTHUR'S SEAT' LIFEBOAT GOING OVER THE BAR OF DOOM

'

37

45
-

TRISTRAM BIRD COULD SEE OVER THE MAIDEN'S HEAD INTO THE POOL
-

TREBETHERICK BAY CHAPEL STIL-E 'IT is THE MERMAID'S WRAITH,' CRIED AN OLD GRANFER
-

... ...
.
!' -

53

55 62 65

MAN

67 73 75

TREGOSS MOOR
'

ON THE WAY TO TAMSIN's COTTAGE I HEAR THEM LAUGHING. LISTEN, GRANNIE THE ROCHE ROCKS HE STEPPED ON TO PHILLIDA'S NOSE AS LIGHT AS THE FEATHERS OF THE OLD SKY WOMAN ALL THE CROWS IN THE PARISH CAME AS THEY WERE BIDDEN' PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR THE CROWS' VERSION
'

83
85

91

101

'

OF THE TALE?' THE PISKEYS GOT IN AND ATE UP THE BOWL OF JUNKET, AND PASSED OUT THE BISCUITS -

105

Il8

ix

List
'

of Illustrations
PAGE
'

THE OLD SKY WOMAN SWEEPING OUT THE SKY GOOSE'S HOUSE SHE TOOK TO HER HEELS AND RAN FOR HER LIFE SAW THEM STANDING ON THE TILE-RIDGE THEY GALLOPED MUCH FASTER THAN HE COULD RUN RUINS OF CONSTANTINE CHURCH THEY BEGAN TO DANCE ROUND HIM NANNIE WENT ON THE MOORS AGAIN, AND TINKER FOLLOWED
HER
-

128
135
14!

145

153
157

1/2

Introduction

THE

tales contained

in

this

little

volume of
by

North

Cornwall

fairy

stories,

Enys

Tregarthen, are either founded on folk-lore

or they are folk-lore pure and simple. The scene of the first story is laid amid the ancient

walls and gateways of 'Grim Dundagel thron'd along the sea,' and other places not quite so well known

beyond the Cornish land, but have a fascination of their own, which, nevertheless, especially Dozmare Pool, where Tregeagle's unhappy
live
spirit

by those who

worked

at his hopeless task of

'

pool with a crozan or limpet-shell

in
it.'

emptying the that had a hole

ence,

This large inland lake, one mile in circumferis of unusual interest, not only because of the Tregeagle legend that centres round Dozmare, but from a tradition, which many believe, that it was to
desolate moor, with its great tarn, that Sir Bedivere, King Arthur's faithful knight, brought the wounded King after the last great battle at Slaughter
this

Bridge, on the banks of the Camel. A wilder and more untamed spot could hardly be found even in Cornwall than Dozmare Pool and the
xi

Introduction
barren moors surrounding it. As one stands by its dark waters, looking away towards the bare granite-

crowned

hills and listening to the wind sighing among the reeds and rushes and the coarse grass, one can realize to the full the weird legends connected with
it,

and one can

see in imagination the

huge

figure of

Tregeagle bending over the pool, dipping out the water with his poor little limpet-shell.

The Tregeagle legends are still believed in. When people go out to Dozmare Pool, they do not mention Tregeagle's name for fear that the Giant will suddenly
appear and chase them over the moors On the golden spaces of St. Minver sand-hills the legends about this unearthly personage are not so easily realized, except on a dark winter's night, when the wind rages fiercely over the dunes and one hears
!

a fearful sound, which the natives say is Tregeagle roaring because the sand-ropes that he made to bind
his trusses of

only known

sand are all broken. St. Minver is not connection with the legend of but it is one of the many parishes beloved Tregeagle, by the Small People or Fairy Folk with whom Enys Tregarthen's little book has mostly to do. Piskeys danced in their rings on many a cliff and common and moor in that delightful parish, and on other wild moors, commons and cliffs in many another parish in North and East Cornwall. Fairy horsemen, locally known as night-riders, used to steal horses from farmers' stables and ride them over the moors and commons till daybreak, when
for its
xii

Introduction
they
left

them

to perish, or to find their

way back

to their stalls.

Numberless stories of the little Ancient People used to be told, which the cottagers often repeated to each other on winter evenings as they sat round the peat fires, and some of these Enys Tregarthen has retold. The author writes concerning them
:

Many of the legends were told me by very old people long since dead. The legend of the Doombar was told me when I was quite a small child by a very
'

old person born late in the eighteenth century. one of Giant Tregeagle came, I think, from the
source, but

The
same

know

it is too far back to remember. I only was one of the stories of my childhood, as were also the Mole legend and some of the Piskeytales, handed down from a dim past by our Cornish

it

forebears.
'

The legends about

assert

and some

the Little People are very old, to-day that the tales about the

Piskeys are tales of a

Pigmy race who inhabited

Cornwall in the Neolithic Period, and that they are answerable for most of the legends of our Cornish
fairies.

If this

be

so,

the older stories are legends of

the
'

little

Stone Men.

The

very fragmentary

Some of them are legends are numerous. but they are none the less in;

teresting, for they not only give

an insight into the

world of the

show how
believed in

Ancient People, but they also strongly the Cornish peasantry once them, as perhaps they still do. For,
little
xiii

Introduction
strange as it may seem in these matter-of-fact days, there are people still living who not only hold that there are Piskeys, but say they have actually seen

One old woman in particular told me not " many months ago that she had seen little bits of " men in red jackets on the moors where she once lived. She used to be told about the Piskeys when
them
!

she was a child, and the old people of her day used
to tell

crept in through the keyhole of moorland cottages when the children were asleep to order their dreams.'
little bits

how "the

of

men

"

that

stories are given to the world in the hope many besides children, for they are will find them interesting, and all specially written,

These

whom

lovers of folk-lore will be grateful to know that the iron horse and other modern inventions have not yet

succeeded in driving away the Small People, nor in banishing the weird legends from our loved land of haunting charm.'
'

H. F.

xiv

The Adventures of

a Piskey in

Search of his Laugh

'

...

soft

Cradle of old

tales.'

W.

B. YEATS.

The Adventures

of

Piskey in

Search of his Laugh

moon was shining softly down on the grey
ruins

HE

of

King
on

Arthur's

Castle
sea,

by

the Tintagel

and

hundreds

of

little

Piskeys dancing

Piskey-ring on the mainland, known as Castle Gardens.

in a great

In

the

centre

of

the

ring stood a Little Fiddler,

fiddling

away with

all his

might, keeping time with his head and one tiny foot.

The faster he played and flung out the merry tune on the quiet moonlit night, the faster the Piskeys danced. As they danced they almost burst their sides with laughter, and their laughter and the music of the Little Fiddler was distinctly heard by an old man and his wife, who then lived in the
cottage near the castle.
i

North Cornwall Fairies

One
little

peg, merriest.

was the
size,

Piskey, somewhat taller than a clothesbest dancer there, and his laugh was the

He was
who
feet.

own

could

dancing with a Piskey about his hardly keep step with his

twinkling As the

Piskeys careered

round and round the

Piskey-ring, the tiny chap who was the best dancer, and had the merriest laugh, suddenly stopped laughing,

and

his little

dancing

feet

gave under him, and

down he went with

panion with him.
up, the Piskeys

a crash, dragging his little comBefore they could pick themselves

who were coming on behind, not the two sprawling on the ring, fell on them, seeing and in another moment Little Fiddler Piskey saw
moving heap of green-coated little bodies and a brown tangle of tiny hands and feet. So amazed was he at such an unusual sight that he stopped fiddling, and let his fiddle slip out of his hand unnoticed on the grass. When the Little Men had picked themselves up, except the one who had caused the mishap, they began to pitch into him for tumbling and causing them to tumble, when something in his tiny face made them stop. What made you go down on your stumjacket like
a
'

that
'

when you were dancing

so beautifully

?'

asked a

Piskey not unkindly. I don't know,' he answered, looking up at his little brother Piskey with a strange expression in his
face,

which was pinched and drawn, and pale as one

4

Piskey in Search of his Laugh

of their
in his

own

dark

little

Piskey-stools eyes there

and instead of a laugh was misery and woe.

'
:

The
the

strange expression in his eyes quite frightened What is the matter Piskeys, and one said
?

with you a fit.'

'

You

are looking worse than a cat

'

in

said the poor little Piskey. very queer. It was a queerness that
I ?'

Am
my

am

feeling
fall

made me

on

little

men and women

'

stumjacket. creatures

Am
?'

ill

like

those great
entice into

we sometimes

the bogs with Piskey-lights

have never heard of a Piskey getting ill or sick,' said a little brown Piskey, 'have we?'
turning to speak to the Little Fiddler, who had come over to his companions, bringing his fiddle with him.
'

We

most certainly
is

haven't,'

answered the Little

if

Fiddler.
'

Then what
?'

the matter with me,

little

I'm not

sick

asked the

Piskey

who was

looking so
tell

queer.
'

Perhaps Granfer Piskey will be able to

I

you,
little

for
'

can't,' said the

is
'

Tiny Fiddler.
?'

Where

Granfer Piskey

asked the poor

sufferer.

am
left

afraid

am

getting worse, for

all

the dance has

'

my
is

legs.'

Granfer Piskey
Piskey.
is,'

over on

the Island,' cried a

little
'

So he

said all the other Piskeys, sending their

direction,
5

glance

in that

where, on the edge of a

North Cornwall Fairies

beetling
cliff facing Castle Gardens, stood a tiny old with a white beard flowing down to his bare man, little feet. He was dressed, as were all the other

Piskeys, in a bright green coat and a red stock-

ing cap.

He
dug

in the

disappeared into a Piskey-hole the Piskeys had cliff, which led down into an underground

passage between the Island and the mainland, and very soon he reappeared from another hole in Castle

from where the little Piskeys were anxiously awaiting him. Why are you not fiddling, dancing and laughing ?' asked the little Whitebeard, winking his eyes on the silent little Piskey crowd, standing near their little
Gardens, a few
'

feet

You are looking so queer. time standing here doing nothing. wasting precious Before a great while the moon will have set over
brother Piskey

who was

'

Trevose, and the time for merry-making and highjinks will be .over,' he added, as not a Piskey
spoke.
are not fiddling, dancing and laughing because of something that has befallen our little brother,'
'

We

Tiny Fiddler at last, pointing to the poor who had raised himself to a sitting position and was seated on the Piskey-ring.
said the
little

Piskey

He is a rum-looking little customer, sure 'nough,' said the old Whitebeard, glancing in the direction of What the place where the Little Fiddler pointed.
'
'

is

the matter with him

'

?'

That

is

what we want
6

to know,'

answered the

Piskey
Little Fiddler.

in
'

Search of his

Laugh

Come and have a closer look at Granfer Piskey ;' and Granfer Piskey came. him, What is the matter with him ?' asked one of the Piskeys when the Whitebeard had stared down a
'

minute or more on the little atom of misery sitting humped up on the edge of the great green ring like a You are so old and wise, toad on a hot shovel.
'

you
can.

will

He

be able to thinks he

tell
is

us what ails him,

if

anybody

sick like the big people

a fine dance round the fields and

times,'

we lead commons somebefore

as Granfer Piskey stood

stock-still

the
'

little afflicted

Piskey, winking and blinking and

solemnly shaking his head.

He
The

is

not sick like those people of

spoke,' said the

'

Whitebeard

at last.

'

whom you He has-

somewhere
'

make-outs,' shrilled a little voice with a laugh in the background.

No, he hasn't the make-outs, you impudent little rascal said Granfer Piskey, without lifting his gaze from the poor little fellow on the edge of the ring. That's a complaint from which you apparently
!'
'

suffer.'

What has he ?' asked the Tiny Fiddler, impatiently scraping his fiddle-stick over his fiddle, as
'

emphasize his words. what he has, but what he hasn't,' said the I old Whitebeard, in the same slow, solemn voice. was going to say that our poor little brother has lost
if

to
'

It isn't

'

his laugh.' Lost his laugh!' cried little Fiddler Piskey

'

and

all

North Cornwall Fairies

the other
sternation
little

Piskeys and their tiny faces of conshowed what a terrible thing had befallen
;

their poor little brother. ' Yes. he has had the sad misfortune to lose his

laugh,' said the little old Whitebeard, winking and blinking harder than ever as he stood before the un-

happy
worse

little
still,

Piskey

who had

lost his

'

laugh

and,

he is quite done for till he finds it again.' 'Where has my laugh gone to, Granfer Piskey?' asked the miserable little Piskey who had met with
that dreadful misfortune.
'I

know more than the Little Man in the but if I answered the tiny old Whitebeard moon,' for it.' were you I would go and look 'Where must I go and look for my laugh ?' asked
don't
'
;

the poor
'

little

Piskey.
;

have not the smallest idea but I should go and search for it till I found it.' Will you come with me and search for my laugh ?' asked the little Piskey, with a look of anxiety in his
I
'

wee dark
'

am

eyes, as Granfer Piskey was moving away. It is my duty to stop with afraid I can't.
silly

your brothers to see that they don't grow

lose their laugh.
for

and

Besides,

it

is

not quite the thing

an old Whitebeard like me to go travelling about the country with a youngster like you, in search of a
laugh.'
'

Will you go with

little
I

me

to look for

my laugh ?'

asked

the
'

on the Tiny Fiddler. would go with you gladly, if I were not Fiddler
Piskey, fixing his gaze

Piskey in Search of his Laugh

Piskey,' he answered, touching his fiddle lightly But if I were to go gallivanting up with his bow. and down the country in search of your laugh, there would be nobody to play the dancing tune when our
'

brothers dance in the moonshine.'

King Arthur's
'

Castle, looking

North.

Won't one of you go with me and help me

to

laugh ?' begged the miserable little fellow, glancing from one Piskey to another as they crowded round him.
find
'

my

We

would
'

if

we

hadn't so

much dancing
in

to do,

they

said.

We

have to dance
9

every Piskey-ring

North Cornwall Fairies

from Tintagel Head to Crackington Hawn up St. Gennys, before the moon grows as small as a wren's
claw.'
'

Must

go by myself to search
little

for

my

laugh

?'

said the poor

'

Piskey

in a

Yes, you must go by 'You should laugh,' answered all the little Piskeys. not have been so foolish as to lose it ;' and the selfish
little

heart-breaking voice. yourself to look for your

Brown Men
little

and

all

the other Piskeys

Granfer Piskey, Fiddler Piskey, turned their backs on their

unfortunate

brother,

and ran away across the

;

gardens and over the cliffs towards Bossiney, halfway between which was another big Piskey-ring

and by-and-by the poor

his laugh

little

heard

in the distance, as

Piskey he sat

who had
all

lost

alone in

the great grassy place, their merry laughter and the music of Fiddler Piskey's tiny fiddle. He was a very sad little Piskey as he listened to
the merriment of his
little

brother Piskeys, and the

moon,

sailing along the dark velvety blue of the midnight sky above the ruins of King Arthur's Castle

and Gardens, never looked down on such a woebegone little Piskey before. He had always been happy and gay till now, and having no laugh was such a strange experience that it was no wonder he felt as miserable and wisht* as he did. As he sat there all alone on the ring his own little dancing feet had helped to make, two tiny hands were suddenly thrust up out of a small earth-heap
* Sad.

IO

Piskey in Search of his Laugh

half a foot from where he was sitting. So dainty were the hands, that he thought they belonged to one

of the

little

Good

People, a distant relation of his

and thinking that somehow one had got buried under the earth, he got up from the ring to help her out, and, without waiting to say Allow me,' or anything so polite, he caught hold of the wee hands, and
'

pulling with
his surprise
'

all

his strength, he

very dark and

soft out of the earth-heap,

it

and disgust that

!

dragged something and saw to was the round plump

body of a mole Whatever did you drag me out of the want-hill whoever you are ?' cried for, you horrid creature the mole, who was not as soft as she looked. It took me hours to throw up that beautiful hill, and now it has fallen down into my tunnel, and my work will all have to be done over again, thanks to you.' I am so I saw two sorry,' said the Piskey. dinky little hands sticking up, and thought a relation of mine had got buried and when I did my best to get her out I found it was only a want, as the
!

'

'

'

country people call you moles.' A want indeed !' exclaimed the mole.
'

'

Who

are

you, pray, to speak so disdainfully

If

want,

I was not always the poor thing Once upon a time I was a very great lady, and because I was foolish and proud and very vain of my beauty I was turned into a mole. My little hands are the only things left of rne to show who I once was.'
'

am only a I am now.

am

very sorry for you,' said the Piskey, with

North Cornwall Fairies

strong note of sympathy in his voice, so entirely new him that he scarcely knew it was himself speaking for Piskeys, although they are merry and gay, are often selfish in the extreme. I am more sorry for
to
; '

you than
lady.
silent.
'

can

say,'

he went on.

'

It

cannot be nice
a beautiful

to be only a want,
I

when once you were

little

am

a Piskey,' as the
?'

dark mole was

last.

Piskey, are you

little

she cried, speaking at

'

remember you

Piskey people quite well,

and

have cause to remember. Once, when I was a grand lady and wore fine clothes, you Piskeys led me into
a bog and spoilt

my silken gown. I did not bless and I do not bless you now. You are still you then, up to your tricks, I find to my cost, for you have done your best to pull down my house about my ears.' I did not mean to do anything so unkind,' said
'

the
'

'

little

Piskey.

am

not merry enough

now

to

play games on anyone.'

is that ?' asked the mole. have lost my laugh, and my heart is as heavy as lead,' he answered sorrowfully. That is very Lost your laugh !' cried the mole.
'

How

'

'

strange.'
'

Yes,

it

is

and

am

quite done

for,

so Granfer

my little brothers, till I find it again.' don't you go and look for your laugh instead of throwing down want-hills ?' said the mole
Piskey told
1

Why

'

severely.
did.'

It

would be more
12

to

your credit

if

you

Piskey
'

in
it

Search of

his

Laugh
'
;

suppose
laugh.

unfortunately,
for
'

but, would,' replied the Piskey don't know where to go and look
'

Have you seen it ?' I can't see No, I haven't,' snapped the mole I have lost my eyesight through without eyes.

my

working underground for so many long centuries.' Do you know anybody who has seen my laugh ?' asked the little Piskey, and who would kindly tell me where to go and find it ?' I am afraid I don't,' answered the mole, except the Little Man in the Lantern. He is the most likely person I know to have seen your laugh. He is always flipping about the country in the night-time in his little Lantern, and sees most things that wander by night. He is a kind-hearted little fellow, and if he has seen your laugh, he'll be sure to help you to find it. You know, of course, where the little Lantern Man is to be found ?' I have seen his Lantern in the marshes sometimes.' answered the Piskey. I saw it rush by a few weeks I and ago, when my brothers were lying snug and warm in a great Piskey-bed at Rough Tor Marsh. But as I do not happen to know the Lantern Man, will you please come with me to Rough Tor Marsh and ask him if he has seen my laugh ?' What next will you ask me to do ?' cried the mole. No, I cannot go with you. I am far too to go tramping round the country with a little busy Brown Piskey like you, in search of a laugh. I have a tunnel to make across Castle Gardens for my dear
' ' '

'

'

'

'

'

13

North Cornwall Fairies

little

baby wants to run about

to find

in,

and

must do

it

before the sun shines over the Tors.

want

you really your laugh, you must go and ask the Lantern Man yourself. The sooner you go the or you may lose the chance of asking him if better, he has seen it.'
I dare say you are right,' said the little Piskey, with a heavy sigh. But I don't like the idea of travelling all the way from here to Rough Tor Marsh. My feet are heavy like my heart, now I have
'

If

'

my laugh yet I suppose I must go, for I am a wisht poor thing without it, and you would say so, too, Mrs. Mole, if your eyesight wasn't so bad.' Mrs. Mole, indeed !' snapped the velvet-coated
lost
; '

little

such an
fallen

creature, raising her tiny hands in anger at I beg to tell insult. you that I am not Mrs.
'

Mole, but the

Lady Want, and

high estate,
I

that, although
still

have

a lady of high degree, as rny tiny hands bear witness ;' and she held them out for him to see.

from

my

am

'I'm not up
Piskey
in a

in

fine distinctions,'
'

said the

little

humble

voice,

and

beg your ladyship's

'

pardon.'

The

Want

'

Piskey's sad little voice so appeased the Lady that she fully forgave his ignorance, and told

him he was quite nice-mannered for a Piskey, and hoped the little Lantern Man had seen his laugh, and would be able to tell him where to find it and
;

then her
hill,

little

ladyship disappeared into the moleall

!

her tiny lady hands and

14

Piskey

in

Search

of his
little

Laugh

When

she had gone, the

Piskey turned his

face towards the east,

where the Tors rose up dark and shadowy against the moonlit sky. Then he looked back at the great keep, and turned his glance on the Castle Gardens, where, in the long ago, courtly knights and great ladies walked among the

Tintagel Castle.

flowers that blossomed there under the

shadow

of

the loopholed walls, and listened, as they walked, to the music of the Tintagel sea and the great waves that sometimes broke against the dark cliffs of the

headland on which the grim old castle stood, where Good King Arthur was born.

The

little

Piskey was saying good-bye to that 15

North Cornwall Fairies

delightful spot, with its soft turf

and the beautiful

Piskey-ring on which he had danced times without number for the poor, lonely little fellow did not
;

he should ever come back again. Then he broke off a bit of a knapweed stem for a staff to help
if

know

him on
the

moon had

his journey to Rough Tor Marsh,* and before laid down a lane of silver fire on the

rippling waters between Tintagel Head and Trevose, the little Piskey had set out on his travels in search

of his laugh.

Piskeys always travel by night, and after many nights of wandering, the little Piskey who had lost
his laugh came to the bog country, where he had last seen the little Lantern.

Very

tired

and footsore was that poor

little

after his long journey, for, having lost his laugh, had no dance in his feet to help him along, and
felt

Piskey he

he

so

done up as he
he called

sat

by the great bog, or Piskey-

bed, as

it,

that he did not

much

care

whether he found his laugh or not. But when he had rested awhile he felt better, and looked over
the great marshy place with eager eyes, to see if the To his little Lantern Man was anywhere about.
delight he was for far away in the distance he saw the white gleam of his Lantern.
;

He
when

kept his eyes upon the light, and by-and-by, the Lantern came rocking over the bog in his
It

direction, he stood to call.

*

up on the edge of the water ready disappeared ever so many times among

bog near Rough Tor, 16

Piskey
appeared
for
it

in

Search of his Laugh

it

the bog-myrtles and willows, but every time

re-

was

closer.

When

it

came near enough

him
:

to see the little

Lantern

Man

inside,

he

shouted
'

I want Little Man in the Lantern, please stop But whether the Lantern ask you something.' to Man heard or not, he did not stop, and he and his
:

Lantern flipped by the disappointed little Piskey as quickly as a widdy- mouse* on the wing, and was lost to sight in the reeds and rushes on the other
side of the great marsh.

After a while the

little

Lantern

Man came

back to

the place where the Piskey was still standing, and the light from the Lantern was brighter and softer than a hedge full of glow-worm lights shining all at
once.

As the Lantern was passing the

called out louder than before,
; '

little

Little

Man

Piskey, he in the

Lantern, please stop I want to ask you something.' But the little Lantern Man did not stop, and he and his Lantern rushed by as quickly as before, and the poor little Piskey followed the rocking Lantern with

wonderful little Lantern coming his way again, it came, and so fast did it come, and so afraid was he of its passing him without making himself heard, that he shouted with all his might, I Please, little Lantern Man, stop
'

his eyes over the great marsh. Just as he was in despair of the

want

to ask

you something.'
*

And to

his joy the little

2

A bat.
17

North Cornwall

Fairies

Lantern Man stopped. The door of the little Lantern opened wide, and a tiny, shining face looked
out.
'

Did anybody

call

?'

asked the

little

Lantern

Man

in a voice so

kind that the Piskey's

little

heart leaped
'

for joy.

Yes, I called,' said the little Piskey. twice before, but you did not stop.'
'

'

called

never heard you call

'

till

now,' said the

little

Lantern Man.

Who

are you,

and what do you

want
'

?'

an unfortunate little Piskey who has lost answered the Piskey, and I have tramped all the way from Tintagel Head to Rough Tor Marsh to ask if you have seen it.' Lost your laugh, you poor little chap !' ejaculated the little Lantern Man in the same kind voice. How
I

am

his laugh,'

'

'

'

came you to lose it ?' The little Piskey told him how he had

lost his

laugh, and what Granfer Piskey had said, and how the mole who called herself the Lady Want had told him to come to him. I would gladly help you to find your laugh if I knew where it was,' said the Lantern Man when the but, unfortunately, I have Piskey had told him all
'

'

never seen
'

it.' ?'

Haven't you

am disappointed. the country in your had seen my laugh.'

I cried the poor little Piskey. As you are always travelling about

'

little

Lantern,

felt

sure you

18

Piskey
'

in

Search of his Laugh

little

only travel in marshy ground,' said the

still
'

Lantern Man, tiny Lantern

;

standing doorway and your laugh may not have passed

to
?'

in

the

of his

along
'

my
seen

way.'

Do you happen

know anybody
asked
the

else

who

has
'

my

laugh

little

Piskey

anxiously.

Nobody except Giant Tregeagle, of whom I dare say you have heard that unhappy fellow who for some terrible wrong-doing has to dip Dozmare*
Pool dry with a limpet-shell.' Yes, I have heard about that great Giant from Granfer Piskey,' answered the little Piskey. He
'
'

was a wicked seigneur who once had a fine house at Dozmare Pool and a great park on Bodmin Moors, and he is often flying about the country with
the
'

little Lantern Man. from east to west, and from west to He will be sure to have south, and back again.
'

Wicked One at his heels.' The very same,' cried the

travels

He

seen your laugh.'

'

am

afraid

my

laugh

is

giant to have noticed, even

little
'

if it

too small for a great big passed him,' said the

He

Piskey. isn't so big but

the
'

little

Lantern Man.

what he can see a laugh,' said You had better go and

'

ask him.'
I

don't
in

know where he
*

is,'

said the

little

Piskey,

who was

a most dejected frame of mind.

Pronounced Dozmary.
i

North Cornwall Fairies

'

He
I

is

at

Dozmare Pool

or

was not long

since,

doing
'

his best to dip the big pool dry.' am rather tired after "tramping
'

here from

Tintagel,' said the little fellow, and going all the way to Dozmare Pool.
in

don't feel like

my

legs since

my

little

Lantern
it

Man
was

I have no spring laugh left me,' he added, as the I never smiled rather sadly.
'

knew what

to be tired

and wisht before

lost

my
'

laugh.'
I
'

don't suppose you did, you poor little chap !' cried the little Lantern Man, and you must do all
I am going to Dozmare find your laugh. Pool, or the Magic Lake, as it was called in the long ago and if you don't mind travelling in my Lantern,

you can to
;

I'll
'

give you a

lift

as far as that.'

Will you ? exclaimed the little Piskey, his tiny brown face brightening as the Lantern Man smiled. You are very kind, and I will go with you gladly.' That's right !' cried the little Lantern Man and he held out his hand, which shone like his face, and
'
' ;

helped the little brown Piskey into his Lantern. When the Piskey was safe inside the Lantern, he

thought it was the very brightest place he was ever in even brighter than a fairy's palace,' he said. There is no seat in my Lantern except the floor,' said the little Lantern Man, as the Piskey looked
'
'

if you on it when my always sleep night work of giving light to the poor things that live in the marshes is done.'

about him.
care to

'

The

floor
I

is

not uncomfortable,

sit

down.

20

Piskey
'

in

Search of his Laugh

would rather stand, thank

'

Piskey.
'

you,' returned the can look-out of your windows better.'

like,

as you would be you

Do

only

it is

my

duty to

safer

on the

floor.

My

tell you that Lantern and

By Rough

Tor's granite-piled heigJit the bright

little

Lantern went.

often

by night knock up against us and turn us upside down.' The little Lantern Man shut the door of his Lantern as he was speaking, and in another minute they were rushing over Rough Tor Marsh at a
21

travel so fast that the creatures that fly

North Cornwall Fairies

and the little Piskey had to hold on to the frame of one of the tiny windows to keep himself on his feet. By Rough Tor's granite-piled heights the
fearful speed,

bright

little

Lantern went.

On by

Bronwilli (Brown

Willy) it sped, and by many a solitary hill, almost as wild and untamed as old Rough Tor itself. Over
lonely moors, bogs, rivers, and streams, it flew, and rocked and whirled as it went. As it sped on it bumped

against

of strange creatures, and once a * turned the little Lantern night-hawk upside down, and the Piskey found himself standing on his head
all

manner

with his tiny lean legs sticking up in the air and he looked so funny that the little Lantern Man laughed till the tears ran down his shining face, and if the
;

Piskey had had his laugh he would have laughed too On and on the Lantern rushed, zigzagging up and

down, down and up, and as it went strange moths and queer things that go about only by night fluttered their wings against its bright windows and door. Once a widdy- mouse, with a face like a cat, looked and once a in, and then vanished into the darkness Lantern in his talons, short-eared owl gripped the but it sped on all the same. About an hour after midnight the Lantern reached Dozmare Pool, which lies on the top of a great lonely moor surrounded by desolate hills. The moon was only a few days old, and had set long before the sun had gone down but it was by no means dark by the big pool, for there was starshine from
; ;

Nightjar.

22

Piskey
innumerable
the wonderful

in
stars,
little

Search of his Laugh

and
also the light that
fell

from

Lantern.

stopped his Lantern on a boulder by the pool, where was stretched a huge dark form, almost as big as a headland. It was Giant Tregeagle, lying face down on the margin
little

The

Lantern

Man

of the pool, dipping water with a limpet-shell had a hole in it.

which

The

little

Lantern

Man opened

the door of his

Lantern, and telling the little Piskey that now was his chance to ask the Giant about his laugh, he
helped him out.
his ear till he hears you,' he whispered, out of his door, and don't despair if he does hanging not hear you just at first.'
' '

Shout into

The Piskey stepped up quite close to the great Giant, and he looked so tiny beside him that the little Lantern Man laughed, and said he was like a God's
little

he said,

Why,' would make a dozen little chaps like you and me. Now I must be off and give Good luck to light to the poor things that want light. in finding your laugh and the little you, my friend, Lantern Man closed the door of his Lantern, which
'

cow* by the

side of a plough-horse.

'

his ear alone

;'

sped away over the big pool, shedding light as

it

went.

The Piskey watched the Lantern till it was hidden among the reeds and rushes, and then he turned his face to the Giant's ear, and when he had climbed up
into
it,

he shouted

The

ladybird.

23

North Cornwall Fairies

Giant Tregeagle, Giant Tregeagle, I am a poor Piskey who has lost his laugh. Please stop dipping water for a minute, and tell me if you have
'

little

seen

it.'

But the Giant took no notice of the little Piskey, and went on dipping out water with a limpet-shell that had a hole in it. Again and again the tiny brown Piskey shouted into the Giant's ear, but the big Giant took no more notice of his little piping voice than if a fly had buzzed close to his ear, and went on dipping. Once more the Piskey shouted with all the voice
he had, thrusting his red-capped head into the hollow of the Giant's ear as he shouted
:

Giant Tregeagle, Giant Tregeagle, I am a poor little Piskey who has lost his laugh. Please stop for a minute, and tell me if you have dipping water
'

seen
for a

it.'

This time the Giant heard, and without pausing

moment
:

his hopeless task of

emptying the pool

dry, he said
'

What

tiny squeak did

hear

?'

frightened to answer, for Giant Tregeagle's voice was almost as loud as the roar of breakers breaking in the cavern under King Arthur's Castle, and the tiny fellow crouched down
in the curl of the Giant's ear.

The Piskey was

too

What tiny squeak did I hear ?' again asked the Giant and the little Piskey, taking his courage in both his hands, answered back as loud as he could
' ;
:

24

Piskey
'

in

Search of his Laugh

Piskey who spoke to you a little the great misfortune to lose his
?'

It

was a

little

Piskey
laugh.'
'

who has had

little

Piskey has lost his laugh, has he

'

roared

to a
'

Giant Tregeagle. Why, that's nothing compared Giant who has lost his soul
!'

cried the little Piskey, who, having got the Giant's ear, could now make his tiny voice distinctly heard.
lost

Have you

your soul

?'

'

Yes,

and

his

Pool,
shiver

I have lost my soul,' moaned the great fellow, moan shivered over the surface of Dozmare and made all the sallows that grew beside it

over them

and shake as if a blasting wind had passed and the reeds and rushes growing in
;

the water sighed so sadly that the ever so wisht, and sighed too.
'

little

Piskey

felt

Giant
'

did you come to lose your soul, Mister asked the little Piskey after a while. That's a question,' answered the Giant, beginning
?'

How

again his hopeless task of emptying the pool. Have you never looked for your soul ?' queried the tiny fellow who, having lost his laugh, felt very
'

sorry for the

'

unhappy Giant who had

lost so precious

a thing as his soul.

it

was no good to look for my soul when I gave I away in exchange for wealth,' cried the Giant can never get it back again unless I empty this big
It
'
;

pool of every drop of water that

'

is in it.'
?'

And
little

can't

you do

that,

and you a giant

asked

the

Piskey

in surprise.

25

North Cornwall Fairies

'

am

afraid
it
;

a hole in
'

and

can't with a limpet-shell that has am not allowed to use any other.'
'

Will you let me help you to empty the pool ?' asked the tiny Piskey. I am only a little bit of a chap compared with you, I know a God's little

cow by
'

the side of a plough-horse, the

Man

in the
;

Lantern said,' as the Giant laughed sardonically and my dinky hand is nothing for size, but it hasn't
it.'
'

a hole in

help me if you like,' said the Giant with another sardonic laugh. It will be perhaps another case of a mouse freeing the lion !'
'

You can

knows ?' cried the Piskey, who took the Giant's remark quite seriously and climbing out of the huge ear, he slid down over the boulder to the
'

Who

pool, and making a dipper of his tiny hand, began to dip out water as fast as he could, and never

stopped dipping once

till

movement behind him

made him

pause, and, looking up, he saw the great Giant on his feet towering above him like a tor, big with an awful look of rage on his face.
'

can never, never, empty Dozmare Pool with limpet-shell that has a hole in it,' howled the
I
'

Giant no, not if I dip till the Day of Doom ;' and he flung the shell into the big pool. As he flung it a great blast of rage broke from him and lashed the dark water of the big pool in fury. He howled and howled, and his howls were heard in every part of the lonely waste surrounding the pool, and went roaring round and round the far-stretching moors, and were
26

Piskey

in

Search

of his

Laugh

echoed by the desolate hills. By-and-by the Giant turned his back on the pool and strode away in the direction of the sea, howling and roaring as he went. The little Piskey was so terrified by the Giant's roaring that he crept into a water-rat's hole, and never ventured out for a night and a day. The second night after the Giant had gone he came out of the hole to see if he had returned, but he

had not. He was disappointed in spite of the fright he had received, for the Giant had never told him whether he had seen his laugh, and he did not know where to go in search of it, or whom to ask if it had
been seen. As he thought about this, he became very miserable almost as miserable as the unhappy Giant who had sold his soul, and he wished with all his heart that the kind little Man in the Lantern would come his way again. As he was wishing this he looked
over the big pool, which was very dark and unlit by
single star,

when something very soft and bright smote

the black water on the opposite side of the pool. Thinking it was the dear little Man in his Lantern

come

in answer to his wish, he fixed his gaze upon the brightness, and in a minute or two a little Barge shot out from the reeds and came swiftly towards

him, and he saw (for the Piskeys can see in the dark like a cat) that the Barge was being rowed across the

The soft light that big pool by a little old man. smote the water came from the prow of the little
craft

and

lit

up the face of the Bargeman, which

27

North Cornwall
was
seared and brown.

Fairies
and was very

half turned towards the Piskey,

the Barge came near the spot where the was standing, the Tiny Bargeman said Piskey Who are you, looking as if you had the world on your back ? and what are you doing here this time of
:

When

'

night,
'

when

all

good

folk

ought to be

in

bed

?'

a poor unfortunate Piskey who has lost his answered the tiny little Piskey, and his voice laugh,'
I

am

was very
'It
is

sad.

the

little
is,'

a dreadful thing to lose your laugh,' said old Bargeman.

'It

responded the

little

Piskey.

'The

little

Man in the Lantern thought so too, and he brought me all the way from Rough Tor Marsh to Dozmare
Pool
'

in

his
it.'

Lantern to ask Giant Tregeagle

if

he

had seen

you ask Giant Tregeagle that important question after the little Lantern Man had brought you so far ?' asked the little Bargeman. I did, but he was so troubled about something he had lost his soul it was that he forgot to say whether he had seen my laugh.' That is a pity, for the Giant is now on St. Minver sand-hills making trusses of sand and sand-ropes to bind them with, and when the sand-ropes break in his hand which they are sure to do when he tries to lift them he will fly away to Loe Bar * to work
didn't
'
'

And

at

another impossible

task.'

* Near Helston.

28

Piskey
'

in

Search of his

Laugh
little

How do you know that ?' asked the The Tiny Bargemen looked at the
in his

Piskey.

green-coated,

red-capped little Piskey with a strange expression dark eyes for a second or two, and then he
said
'
:

have lived so long in the world that I know most things. People who knew me in a far-away time called me Merlin the Magician, and said I had all the secrets of the world in the back of rny head.' Then you will be able to tell me where my laugh
I
'

has gone to ?' struck in the little Piskey eagerly. I was speaking more of the past than of the Since the time present,' said the Tiny Bargeman.
'
'

of

called

spoke, I have lived here by this lake, now I lived sealed up in a stone, Pool. of the Lake shut me till a into which the Lady

which

Dozmare

hundred years or so ago.' How very unkind of the Lady

'

to put

you into a
'

stone
'

!'

said the
it

little

Piskey indignantly.
tale

What-

ever did she do

for

?'

Thereby hangs a

which

is

not good for a

small Piskey like you to hear,' returned the Tiny Bargeman, with another strange look in his dark, When Nimue, the Lady mysterious little eyes.
'

like a toad in of the Lake, shut me up in the stone a hole she said she thought she had done for me,

and that I should soon die. But Merlin, the man who worked magic, was not so easily got rid of.'
'

And

didn't }'ou die

?'

'

You must have

lost

asked the Piskey innocently. your wits, as well as your

29

North Cornwall Fairies

laugh, to ask such a stupid question,' said the Tiny I did not die, or I should not be Bargeman.
'

sitting in this

Barge now.

But

grew down

to the

tiny old fellow you now see me through working my magical powers way out of that dreadful stone.

My

have also dwindled, I fear for they are as nothing to what they once were. Therefore I am no longer
;

Merlin the Magician, but only Merlin the Bargeman

of
'

Dozmare

Pool.'

And

can't

you

the
'

Piskey thing without my laugh.' I'm sure you are,' said the Tiny Bargeman, and I wasn't I'll do what I can to help you to find it.
'

little

me where my laugh is ?' asked I am a miserable, poor wistfully.

tell
'

shut up in a stone
as,

all

those centuries for nothing,

perhaps, you have not lost your laugh for nothing. I'll tell you at once that your laugh has never been near this desolate spot, but it is possible that Giant Tregeagle may have seen it on his wild flight down to St. Minver sand-hills, or maybe he has seen it on the golden dunes. I advise you to go there and

ask him.'

little

can I get to the sand-hills ?' asked the poor It would take me such a long time Piskey. to get there with no dance in my feet and there
' ;

'

How

is

no
'

little

Lantern
not

Man

here to give

me

lift

in his Lantern.'

You need

to get to the sand-hills.

in

trouble your head how you are I'll take you near there

my

Barge.'

30

Piskey in Search of his Laugh

In your Barge ?' echoed the little Piskey, looking over his shoulder to the long stretch of country between him and the sea, and then at the great pool set like a cup on the top of the moors, with no
visible outlet.
'

'

You

great outer sea,'

are wondering how I can take you to the For said the Tiny Bargeman.
'

your satisfaction I will tell you that there is an underground waterway that leads down to Trebetherick Bay, close to St.

Minver

sand-hills.

will take

you there in my Barge.' 'Why are you so kind?' asked the

little

Piskey,
'

My looking gratefully at the little old Bargeman. brothers were not nearly so kind.' I saw you helping the wicked Giant to dip this great mere dry, and I thought so kind a deed
'

deserved another,' answered the

' ;

Little

Bargeman

and I told myself as I watched you that lightly I would do you a kindness, if you needed a kindness. Will you let me take you to Trebetherick Bay ?' Gladly,' answered the little Piskey. Get into my Barge, then,' cried the little old Bargeman and the Piskey scrambled in and sat in
' ' ;

the stern of the Barge facing the Bargeman. I like rowing about this pool,' remarked the Tiny
'

to

Bargeman, as he put his little craft about and began It has so many memories. row from the shore. It was here by this mere that the Lady of .the Lake
'

(not the one who shut me up in a stone) forged the wonderful Excalibur, the two-handled sword with

31

North Cornwall Fairies

hilt, which she gave to Arthur the King, who, you know, afterwards ruled all the land. It was here that Sir Bedivere one of the Knights of the far-famed Round Table flung the sword by order of the wounded King, and was caught by the Lake But you are Lady's uplifted arm. It was here

the jewelled

not listening,' he cried, breaking off his sentence as he noticed that the little Piskey was not paying any attention to what he was saying. I'm afraid I wasn't,' he said, very much ashamed.
'

'

I
'

am

You

very dull and stupid since I lost my laugh.' can't be more stupid than I was when I was

shut up in the stone,' said the tiny old and I can well excuse your stupidity.'
'

Bargeman

He

said nothing more, for just then the

Barge

reached the shore from which it had put off, and, without getting out, he reached over and touched a He had no sooner touched big stone with an oar.
the stone than
it

deep tunnel, into

thing alive.
'

which the

sprang back, and revealed a dark, little Barge shot like a

This underground waterway was known to the who lived by the pool, and who took away the wounded King in their little ship to the Vale of Avilion,' remarked the Bargeman when the stone shut up itself behind them. Did they ?' asked the little Piskey, trying to look
fair ladies
'

interested.

and they also knew of another waterway, which will never be revealed to 32
'

Yes,'

he answered

'

Piskey

in

Search of his Laugh

anybody except by the Good King,' he added half to himself, looking straight before him into the darkness of the narrow passage as he steered. The tiny Barge, which was a very ancient-looking
little

craft,

sped on.
the

But

with a gilded dragon forming its prow, for its size, it might well have been

ship to which Merlin, the little old had just referred. The waterway was Bargeman, and deep, and the water ran so swiftly that very long
little

same

the Barge did not

also very dark,

now

and the only

It require to be rowed. light that shone

was was
till

the light from the little boat. The little old Bargeman did not speak again a roaring fell on their ears.
'

It

is

the

noise of water
said,

Doombar,' he
frightened.
'

as

the

breaking on Padstow little Piskey looked

thought it was Giant gasped the little Piskey.

I
'

Tregeagle

howling,'

He hasn't tried to lift his sand-ropes yet, and he won't begin his howl of rage till he finds how brittle And a very they are,' said the Little Bargeman. for he will be far good thing for you,' he added too angry to tell you whether he has seen your laugh when the ropes of sand break in his great hand.
'
'

now to the great outer sea/ he thunder of waves broke more loudly on their ears, and they saw the light of many stars through a narrow opening and the next minute the little Barge came out into Trebetherick Bay.
!

There

we

are close

cried, as the

33

North Cornwall
the

Fairies

'You only have to go up across the hillocks,' said little old Bargeman, helping the little Piskey out
'

of the barge, and if you follow your nose you will soon get to where the Giant is busy making sandropes.'
'

Thank you
;

Piskey

for bringing me,' said the little but he never knew whether he was heard

or not, for the Tiny Bargeman and his ancient Barge vanished as he spoke.

The Piskey made

his feet could take
till

haste to follow his nose, and he

fast as

scrambled up a sand-bank, and hastened as

him over the sandy common,

was

he came to the place where Giant Tregeagle sitting making sand-ropes to bind his trusses of sand which lay all around him. He was sitting by a hillock, his great head showing just above it,

when the Piskey came near. The little Piskey climbed nearly to the top of hillock, and when he got close to the Giant's
he shouted
'
:

the
ear

his

who told you he had lost making sand-ropes for a stop minute and tell me if you have seen it.' But the big Giant took no notice of the tiny voice, and went on making his ropes of sand. The little Piskey then got into his ear and poked his red-capped head into the hollow of it, and again
I

am

the

little

Piskey

laugh.

Please

shouted
'

am

the

little

Piskey

who

told you he

had

lost

his laugh,

and34

Piskey in
'

Search of his Laugh

little

who tried to help me the great Giant, in a my soul,' interrupted voice almost as loud as the waves breaking on the

Ah

the dinky

fellow

to find

Padstow Doombar.
answered the Piskey, and a dinky Little Bargeman brought me from Dozmare Pool to Trebetherick that you might answer my question.'
' '

Yes,'

'I

know who you mean

Merlin, the

little

old

Master of Magic,' cried the Giant in evident astonishment, pausing in his work of making a rope of sand
to stare at the little Piskey. tiny brown fellow like you
'

Fancy
!

his bringing a

from Dozmare Pool to

Pigs will
fly

Trebetherick
'

Bay

in his
!'

Magic Barge

and sing after this He saw me helping you to dip the pool dry, and said that one kind deed deserved another,' said the So he brought Piskey as meek as a harvest-mouse. me all the way down to St. Minver to know if you had seen my laugh. Have you seen it, Mister Giant ?' No, I have not seen it,' answered the Giant. Nothing so cheerful as a Piskey's laugh would come near such a mountain of misery as I am and if by an evil chance it did come, it would flee far from my
'
'

'

dark shadow.'
'

Do you know anyone

?'

else

who

has seen

my

laugh
'

asked the
;

Not one answered the Giant, looking at the sand-ropes he had just finished, lying at his feet. I must now
have,'
'

Piskey piteously. unless your cousins, the Night-riders,

little

begin to bind

my

trusses of sand.'

35

32

North Cornwall Fairies

lift them as he spoke, and as he them up they fell to pieces in his hand. As they crumbled away his face was awful to see, and he began to howl and roar, and his cries of rage rang out over the sand-hills and over Trebetherick Bay, and were heard above the noise of waves breaking on the Padstow Doombar. Those roars of rage and anger so frightened the

He

stooped to

tried to take

people living in the villages in the neighbourhood

of the

common
little

that they shook in their beds,

and

as for the

he had
hillock

Piskey, he was so terrified by what heard and seen that he tumbled over the

up which he had climbed to get into the

Giant's ear.

When
was

he had picked himself up, Giant Tregeagle flying away like an evil bird towards the south.

The dawn broke soon after the Giant had gone, and as Piskeys always hide by day, he hid himself under a clump of tamarisk, and stayed there till the dark and the stars came again. When he came out he remembered what the Giant had said that perhaps his cousins, the Night-riders, had seen his laugh.
The moon being
kind
little

Lantern

several days older than when the Man had taken him to Dozmare

Pool, it was now shining brightly over the common, and he knew if the Night-riders were in the neighbourhood of the sand-hills they would soon be riding

over the

common.

As he was gazing about with wistful eyes a young colt came galloping along with scores of little Night36

'

A'ight-riders, Night-riders, please stop

TH5
PUBLIC L
A8TOR, TILDEN

Piskey

in

Search of his

Laugh

riders astride his back,

and as many more hanging

on to his mane and

tail.

The Night-riders, who were little people no bigger than Piskeys, and quite as mischievous, had taken the colt from a farmer's stable close to the common,
and were enjoying
riders could.

their stolen ride as only Night-

As they and the colt drew near, the little Piskey stood out in the moonshine and shouted Night-riders, Night-riders, please stop I want to
:

'

ask you something.' But the little Night-riders

were enjoying their too much to listen or stop, and they flew by gallop like the wind.

The colt was fresh, and galloped like mad, and soon went round the common and back again and as he was galloping by, the Piskey once more shouted to the little Night-riders to stop, but they took no heed, and once more flew by like the
;

wind.

Ever so many times the colt galloped round the sandy common, leaping over the hillocks in his mad little Piskey gallop, and each time he passed, the stood out in the moonshine and called out, but the
Night-riders took not the slightest notice, nor pulled up the colt to see what he wanted.

At

last,

when

the Piskey had given up

all

hope

of the Night-riders stopping, the colt, who was quite worn out with galloping so hard round and round

the broken

common, put

his foot into a rabbit-hole

39

North Cornwall

Fairies
his

and came down with a crash, with riders on top of him.

many

little

One

little

Night-rider,

who happened

to be astride

the colt's

He

left ear, was pitched off at the Piskey's feet. looked as bright as a robin in his little red

riding-coat,

brown

leggings,

and

his bright green

cap

with a wren's feather stuck in

its front.

When he had picked himself up, he thrust his tiny brown hands into his breeches pocket, stared hard at the little Piskey, and cried
:

'

'

What wisht little beggar are you I am a poor little chap who has
'

?'

lost his laugh,'

shouted every time you answered the Piskey. galloped the colt past here to ask if you had seen it,
I

but you never stopped.' Of course we did not stop galloping because a How Piskey called,' said the little Night-rider.
'

'

came you
'

to be such a

gawk

as to lose your laugh

'

?'

have no
it

know
lost
'

I idea,' the Piskey returned. only went away all of a sudden, and I have been
it

searching for

ever since.

Have you seen my

have,'

little

laugh
little

?'

No; but Granfer Night-rider may

'

answered

the
'

Night-rider. seeing things that are

Is

He

has wonderful eyes for

lost.'

Granfer Night-rider here ?' asked the Piskey, sending his glance in the direction of the colt, which was almost smothered with Night-riders, some
standing on his side as he
stirrups
lay,

others

still

in the

they had made

in his tail

and mane.

40

Piskey
'

in

Search of his Laugh

He was on top of the colt's tail a minute ago,' answered the little Night-rider, following the Piskey's There he is,' pointing to a tiny old fellow glance. with a bushy grey beard coming towards them, carrying a tamarisk switch in his hand, with which he lashed the air as he came. He wore a red riding-coat, green breeches, red cap and feather like
'

the other
'

Night-riders. little rascal are you ?' asked the old Greybeard, staring hard at the Piskey. A Piskey who has lost his laugh,' answered the

little

What woebegone

'

little

Night-rider for him, 'and he had the impertinence to want us to stop galloping to tell him
if

we had seen it.' You were very

' '

foolish to lose

your laugh,' said

Granfer Night-rider, standing

little

in front of the

unhappy

How did you manage to lose it ?' Piskey. And the poor little fellow, without lifting his eyes
'

from the sandy ground, told him. You are in Queer Lane, my son,' said Granfer Night-rider, when he had told him how he had lost
his laugh,
'

and

would not give a grain of corn

for

you.'

Wouldn't you ?' wailed the poor little Piskey. No, I wouldn't, nor half a grain either.' Quite a crowd of scarlet-coated little Night-riders had gathered near the Piskey by this time, and had listened to all that was said, and one little Nightrider asked if a Piskey had ever had the misfortune
'

'

to lose his laugh before.

North Cornwall Fairies

Yes, once in the long ago,' answered the old Greybeard, fixing his eye on the little Piskey, who
'

and what was worse trembled beneath his gaze, he never found it again. And so very unhappy still, was that little fellow without his laugh, and so miserable did he make everybody with his bewailings, that at last the Piskey tribe to which he belonged sent out a command that whoever found him wandering about the country was to take him in charge as a Piskey vagrant, put him into a Piskey-bag, and hang him upside down like a widdy-mouse in the
first

'

cavern they came to. He was found, put into a Piskey-bag, and hung up in a cavern. There he is still, and there he will hang till there are no more

Small People
'

!'

the order yet been given for Ihis little Piskey vagrant to be taken up and treated in like manner?'

Has

asked another

little

Night-rider.

Piskey did not wait to hear the answer, but took to his heels and ran as fast as he could to the north, and the little Night-riders who
little

The poor

were

still

was out

of sight,

standing on the colt watched him till he and Granfer Night-rider and all

the other little Night-riders yelled after him to stop, but he did not stop. The Piskey ran and ran, and he never stopped running till he came to Castle Gardens, whence he

had

started.

When
ridden
all

he got there he was as exhausted as a colt night by naughty Night-riders, and he sank
42

Piskey

in

Search

of his

Laugh

down all of a heap by the side of a mole-hill, where two tiny hands were again sticking up. Is your ladyship under the hill ?' asked the little
'

Piskey
'
'

when he could
little
!

speak.
'

Yes,'

answered the mole.

Who

are you

?'

The

'

What

Piskey who lost his laugh.' haven't you found it yet ?'
'

and I No,' he answered sadly, afraid I never shall. If I don't find

'

am
it

dreadfully
I

soon

shall

be taken up for a Piskey vagrant, put in a bag, and hung upside down like a widdy-mouse in some
cavern.'
'

ending to a bright little said the mole. Tell me how you know Piskey,' that that will be your fate if you dcn't find your
'

That

will be a very tragic

laugh.'

And
was

the Piskey told her.

In fact, the

Lady Want

what Granfer Night-rider had said that she begged him to tell her all his adventures from the time he set out to Rough Tor Marsh in
so interested about

search of his laugh

'

till his return to Castle Gardens, which he was quite glad to do. You ought to find your laugh after all your travels and what you have gone through,' said the Lady Want when he had related everything, and I hope you will.' Does your ladyship happen to know anybody else who may have seen my laugh ?' asked the little
'

'

Piskey wistfully.
'

Only

one.'

43

North Cornwall
'And who may
'

Fairies

Piskey.
tell
'

that one be?' queried the little Will your ladyship be kind enough to
Arthur,' the

me?'

The Good King

mole answered
'

in

a low voice.
'

Good King Arthur

is

!'

ejaculated the Piskey.

is

Why,

he
'

dead, and a dead King

no more good than

a Piskey without his laugh.' King Arthur is not dead,' said the mole.
'

Not dead

!'

echoed the

little

Piskey in great

surprise.

he was seen perched only last evening on his own seat, which is still called King Arthur's Seat,
;

'

No

and which, as
sea.'

dare say you know, overhangs the

Piskey, as
'

'Arthur the King not dead!' whispered the little if he could not get over his amazement.
isn't,'

A precious good thing for you he the mole.

' '

snapped

But how isn't he dead ?' asked the little Piskey. Because he was changed by magic into a bird,' he haunts the Dundagel* cliffs answered the mole and the ruins of his old castle in the form of a chough. He was wounded almost unto death in his last great
' ;

it is true,' she added, for the small man looked he wanted this strange happening fully explained, and the marks of the battle he fought and the hurts he received are yet upon him, as the legs and beak of the

battle,
if

as
'

great black bird plainly

*

show
Tintagel.

as plainly as

my own

44

Piskey in Search of his

tiny hands that
still

Laugh

I was once a But he is great lady. you should see a bird with a red beak and legs Hying over King Arthur's Castle as day is beginning to break, you may be quite certain that he is King Arthur. If he has seen your laugh he will be sure to tell you. He is very kind and good, as all the world knows."

alive.

If

'

Which

is still

called

King Arthur's
is

Seat:

'

am

glad the
'

Good King
try

little

Piskey. so that I can ask

tired.'

I'll

and keep awake

not dead,' said the till the dawn

;

him about

my

laugh

but

am

so

The little fellow did his best to keep awake, but he was too worn out with his run from St. Minver
sand-hills to Tintagel Castle to
sit

and watch

for the

45

North Cornwall Fairies

coming of the red-legged bird and long before the sun wheeled up behind the Tors and shone upon the sea he was sound asleep under a great mallow growWhen he awoke ing by one of the grey old walls. a day and a night had come and gone, and the birth of a new day was at hand.
;

first

he crawled out from under the mallow, the thing he saw on the Island facing him was the dark form of a great black chough. He was perched on the wall above the old arched doorway, gazing
gravely in front of him. The Piskey lost not a

When

moment in getting across to the Island, which he did by the Piskey passage known only to the Piskeys and when he had caught the
;

bird's attention
'

he said

am a poor little Piskey who has lost his laugh, and I am come to ask the Good King Arthur if he
I

has seen

it.'

But the bird was too high up for him to make himself heard, and he had to wait patiently till it flew down. After waiting a short time it did, and on a stick stuck in the ground. perched

The Piskey
'

ran over, and, clasping his hands, he

repeated what he had just said.

How came

you to know

was King Arthur

little

?'

asked the chough, ignoring the

tion.
'

fellow's ques-

The mole who

says she

is

the

Lady Want

told

me,' he answered. Ah, I know her

'

the grand lady

who

considered

46

Piskey

in

Search of his

Laugh

the ground on which she walked was not good enough for her dainty feet, and has now, as a punishment, to

walk under the ground

pride.'
'

a lesson to

all

children of

But please, Good King Arthur, answer question about my laugh,' pleaded the little Piskey, in an If I don't find it soon someagony of impatience.

my

'

thing dreadful will happen to me.' Have patience,' said the chough kindly. Nothing is ever won by impatience. I have seen something very
'
'

funny lately running about over the grass. It is like nothing I have ever seen before except in a Piskey's face when he laughs. It is like a laugh gone mad, and it is enough to kill a man with laughing only to watch its antics. It made me laugh till I ached

when
but
'

I first

noticed

it.

It

does not

make

a sound,

its

grimaces are worth flying a

see.'

hundred miles
saw,' cried the

only to
It

must have been rny laugh you

Piskey

'my dear
far

little

lost

laugh
is

that
it

travelled so

to

find.

Where

I have now, Good

King Arthur ?' It was here not long since,' answered the bird, who did not deny that he was Arthur the King.
'

his long-pointed

quite close to you,' pointing with beak to the most comical-looking thing you ever saw, on the grass a foot from where the Piskey was standing. It was a laugh gone

'

Why,

there

it

is

'

mad,' as the chough said. The Piskey looked behind him, and
47

when he saw

North Cornwall
the
little bit

Fairies

grass,

of laughing, grinning absurdity on the he jumped for joy and shrieked: 'It is my
'

own

laugh that I lost !' Holding out both his arms, he cried,
little

Oh, dear
little

little

laugh,

come back

to
!'

droll little laugh, come back to me which was a grin with a laugh and a laugh thing, with a grin, came over to the Piskey, and began

me Oh, And the

!

dear

to climb

up

his legs, grinning and doubling itself with laughter as it climbed, till it reached his

up

chin,

when

it

narrowed

itself into

a tiny grin and

vanished into the Piskey. The next moment the Piskey was shouting at the I have got top of his voice, I have got my laugh
'
!

my laugh and he ran off laughing and dancing to the edge of the cliff and disappeared into the Piskey hole, and in a few minutes more he was on Castle Gardens in the great Piskey -ring, laughing and dancing and dancing and laughing. His laugh was so loud and so free that his brother Piskeys heard him from afar, and came running over the cliffs from Bossiney to see what ever had
!'
-

happened.
Little Fiddler Piskey

was the

first

to reach

the

Gardens, and the

figure told

laugh

him and putting

glance at the little whirling that his little brother had found his
first

his fiddle in position, he

began

fiddling

away

as hard as he could.

fiddled, the other Piskeys, including Granfer reached the ring, and the next minute they Piskey, 48

As he

Piskey
were

in

Search of his Laugh

all dancing and laughing as they had never laughed and danced before but the one who laughed
;

Piskey who had lost and found his laugh. They danced for a good hour, the little fiddler in their midst fiddling his fiddle, all the while keeping time with his head and foot, heedless that the daythe heartiest was the
little

was driving the darkness away to the country to which it belongs and King Arthur the Bird flew up on the wall and watched, and the mole who called
light
;

Lady Want let her dainty hands be seen on the mole-hill, till the fiddling, dancing, and laughing were finished, and the Piskeys went off to the
herself the

Piskey-beds to sleep.

49

The Legend of the Padstow Doombar

42

The Legend of the Padstow Doombar

Lifeboat going over the bar of doom.

IN
hills.

a far-away time Tristram Bird of Padstow bought a gun at a little shop in the quaint old

market which

in

those days opened to the

quay, the winding river, and the St. Minver sand-

When he had bought his gun he began forthwith to shoot birds and other poor little creatures.
the
After a while he grew more ambitious, and told fair young maids of Padstow that he wanted to
;

shoot a seal or something more worthy of his gun and so one bright morning he made his way down to

Hawker's Cove, near the mouth of the harbour.

53

North Cornwall Fairies

Tristram got there he looked about him to what he could shoot, and the first thing he saw was a young maid sitting all alone on a rock, combing her hair with a sea-green comb. He was so overcome at such an unexpected sight that he quite forgot what had brought him to the cove, and could do nothing but stare. The rock on which the maiden sat was covered with seaweed, and surrounded by a big pool, called in that distant time the Mermaid's Glass. She was apparently unconscious that a goodlooking young man was gazing at her with his bold dark eyes, and as she combed her long and beautiful hair she leaned over the pool and looked at herself in the Mermaid's Glass, and the face reflected in it was startling in its beauty and
see

When

charm. Tristram Bird was very tall six feet three in his stockings and being such a tall young man, he could see over the maiden's head into the pool, and the
face in
its setting of golden hair reflected in its clear depths entirely bewitched him, and so did her graceful form, which was partly veiled in a golden raiment of her own beautiful hair.

As he stood gazing at the bewitching face looking up from the Mermaid's Glass, its owner suddenly glanced over her shoulder, and saw Tristram staring
at her.
'

Good-morning

to you, fair

maid,'

he said,

still

keeping his bold dark eyes fixed upon her, telling

54

Tristram Bird could

see

over the maiden's head into the pooL

,RY

A8TOR, LENOX TIU>EN FOUNDATIONS.

The Legend

of Padstow

Doombar

himself as he gazed that her face was even more bewitching than was its reflection.

Good-morning, sir,' said she. Doing your toilet out in the open,' he said. Yes,' quoth she, wondering who the handsome youth could be and how he came to be there. Your hair is worth combing,' he said.
'
'

'

'

'

Is
It

it ?'
is,

said she.
dear,'

'

my

he said.

'

'Tis the colour of oats

waiting for the sickle.' Is it ?' quoth she.

'

Yes and no prettier face ever looked into the Mermaid's Glass.' How do you know ?' asked she.
;

'

'

My heart told me so,' he said, coming a step or two nearer the pool, and so did my eyes when I saw its reflection looking up from the water. It bewitched me, sweet.' Did it ?' laughed she, with a tilt of her round
' ' '

young
'

chin.

Yes,' he said, with an answering laugh,

drawing

another step nearer the pool. It does not take a man of your breed long to fall in love,' said the beautiful maid, with a toss of her golden head and a curl of her sweet red lips.
'

'Who told you that?' asked the love-sick young man, going red as a poppy. Faces carry tales as well as little birds,' quoth
'

she.
'

If

my

face

is

a tale-bearer,

it

will tell

you that

57

North Cornwall Fairies

love you
tell,'
'

more than heart can say and tongue can he said, drawing yet nearer the pool. Will it ?' said she, combing her golden hair with her sea-green comb. Indeed it will, and must,' he said for I love with all my soul, and I want you to give me a you
'
' ;

lock of your golden hair to wear over my heart.' I do not give locks of my hair to landlubbers!'
'

cried she, with another toss of her proud and a scornful curl of her bright red lips.
'

young head

landlubber forsooth

!'

he said, with an angry

'

flash in his bold black eyes.

Who

are you to speak

?

so scornfully of a man of the land think you were a maid of the sea.'
'

One would

I am,' quoth she, twining the tress of her hair she had combed round her shell-pink arm.

No seamaid is half as beautiful as you,' said Tristram Bird, incredulous of what the maid said.
'
'

But, maid of the sea or maid of the land,

'

love

you, sweet, and I want to have you to wife.' Want must be your master, sir, 'said she, with an

angry
'

flash in her sea-blue eyes.

is

You master, sweet maid,' he said. are my love, and you have mastered me.' Have I ?' said she, with a little toss of her golden head.
Love

my

'

'

and now that I have told you you want you to marry me, you will my love, me a lock of your golden hair, won't you, give
*

Yes,' he said

'

are

and

sweet

?'

The Legend
'

of

Padstow Doombar

cannot,' said she.

Give me one little golden wire of your hair, if you won't give me a lock,' he pleaded, coming close
'

to the edge of the pool. of it,' he said, and wear

' '

'

I
it

will

make

a golden ring

in the eye of the world.'

Will you
I

?'

said she.
dear,'

'

will,
I

my

he

said.

But

will not give

you a hair of

my

head even

to

make a ring with,' said she. Then give me one for a

'
'

If

it

you will, my and lead me whithersoever you

' '

leading-string,' he said. charmer, you shall take the end of

will.'

Even Even

to the whipping-post ?' said she. to the whipping-post,' he said.

fair bride,

'

So you
will

will be

my

won't
I'll

'ee,

sweet
as

If

you

consent to love me,

make you

happy

as the

day
'

is

long.'
?'

Will you

cried she, with a warning look in her

little

sea-blue eyes
'
'

and a strange

laugh.

Yes,' he said, thinking her answer meant consent. And I've got a dear little house at Higher St.

Saviour's, overlooking the river

and Padstow

Town

low
'

in the valley.'

Have you
I

?'

said she.
'

'

have,' he said.

And

the

little

house

is full

of

handsome things mother wove for me on her loom against the time I should be wed to a pretty maid like you, an oaken
a chestful of linen which
dresser with every shelf
full

my own

of cloam,*

and a cosy

* China.

59

North Cornwall
settle

Fairies

where we can

sit

hand
all

love.

You

will

marry me

in hand talking of our soon, won't you, sweet ?

it,

The

my
'

little house, and charmer.'

that's in

is

waiting for

tress

it ?' cried the beautiful maid, taking up another of her golden hair, and slowly combing its silken length with her sea-green comb. But let

Is

'

you

you once and for ever, I would not marry you were decked in diamonds and your house a golden house, and everything in it made of jewels and set in gold.' Wouldn't you ?' cried Tristram Bird, in great amazement.
tell
if
'
'

me

I
'

wouldn't,' said she.

You

are a strange

young maid
like me,'

to refuse an up'

who has a standing house of his own, to say nothing of what is inside it. Why, dozens of fair young maidens up to Padstow
he said,

young man

would have me to-morrow

'

if I

was only

to ax them.'

maid, turning her proud young head, and looking out towards
Pentire, gorgeous in its spring colouring. ' But I can't ask any of them to marry

Then ax

them,' cried the beautiful

me when
'

love you,' cried the infatuated youth.

You have

bewitched me, sweet, and no other man shall have If I can't have you living, I'll have you dead. you. I came down to Hawker's Cove to shoot something
to startle the natives of

Padstow Town, and they

if I

will be startled, shure 'nough,

little

shoot a beautiful
to them.'

vixen like you and take 60

home

The Legend
'

of Padstow

Doombar

you will, but marry you I will not,' said the beautiful maiden, with a scornful laugh. But I give you fair warning that if you shoot me, as you say you will, you will rue the day you I will curse you and this did your wicked deed. beautiful haven, which has ever been a refuge for ships from the time that ships sailed upon the seas ;' and her sea- blue eyes looked up and down the estuary from the headlands that guarded its mouth
if
'

Shoot

me

to the farthest point of the blue, winding river. I will shoot you in spite of the curse if you won't
'

consent to be mine,' cried the bewitched young man. I will never consent,' said she. Then I will shoot you now,' he said, and Tristram
'

'

Bird

lifted his

gun and

fired,

and the

ball entered

the poor young maiden's soft pink side. She put her hand to her side to cover the gaping wound the shot had made, and as she did so she
pulled herself out of the water, and where the feet should have been was the glittering tail of a fish
!

I have shot a poor young Mermaid,' Tristram and woe is me !' and he shivered like one cried,
' '

when somebody
'

is passing over his grave. Yes, you have shot a poor Mermaid,' said the maid of the sea, and I am dying, and with my dying
'

breath

curse this safe harbour, which was large to hold all the fighting ships of the Spanish enough Armada and your own, and it shall be cursed with a
I

bar of sand which shall be a bar of doom to many a stately ship and many a noble life, and it shall
61

North Cornwall Fairies

stretch from the Mermaid's Glass to Trebetherick

Bay on the opposite shore, and prevent this haven of deep water from ever again becoming a floating harbour save at full tide. The Mermaid's wraith
haunt the bar of doom her dying curse shall bring until your wicked deed has been fully avenged ;' and looking round the great bay of shining waters,
will

Trebetherick Bay.

laughing and rippling in the eye of the sun, she raised her arms and cursed the harbour of Padstow

with a bitter curse, and Tristram shuddered as he listened, and as she cursed she uttered a wailing cry and fell back dead into the pool, and the water where she sank was dyed with her blood.
'

Bird, gazing into the blood-stained pool,

have committed a wicked deed,' said Tristram and verily

'

62

The Legend

of Padstow

Doombar

I shall be punished for my sin ;' and he turned away with the fear of coming doom in his heart.

As he went up the cove and along the top of the cliffs the distressful, wailing cry of the Mermaid seemed to follow him, and the sky gloomed all around as he went, and the sea moaned a dreadful moan as it came up the bay.

When he reached Tregirls, overlooking the Cove, he stood by the gate for a minute and gazed out over the beautiful harbour. The sea, which only half an hour ago was as blue as the eyes of the seamaid he
had
shot,

and

full

of smiles

and laughter, was now

black as ash-buds, save where a golden streak lay across the water from Hawker's Cove to Trebetherick

Bay.

'The Mermaid's curse

is

already working,'

moaned

Tristram Bird, and he fled through the lane leading to Padstow as if a death-hound was after him. When he reached Place House he met a little

crowd of Padstow maids going out flower-gathering. 'Whither away so fast, Tristram Bird?' asked a little maid. You aren't driving a teem of snails
'

this

time,
?'

'tis

plain

to

see.

Where

hast
'

thou

been
'

Need you ask ?' said a pert young girl. He has been away shooting something to startle the maids of Padstow with What strange new creature did
!

you shoot, Tristram Bird ?' A wonderful creature with eyes like blue fire,' returned the unhappy youth, looking away over
'

63

North Cornwall
St.

Fairies

Minver dunes towards the Tors 'a sweet, soft creature with beautiful hair, every wire of which was a sunbeam of gold, and her face \vas the loveliest
I

ever beheld.
'

It

clean bewitched me.'

maid like that, and yet you shot her ?' cried all the young maids of Padstow Town. Yes, I shot her, to my undoing and the undoing of our fair haven,' groaned Tristram Bird and he told them all about it where he had seen the beautiful Mermaid, of his bewitchment from the moment he saw her face of haunting charm looking up at him from the Mermaid's Glass, and of the curse she uttered ere she fell back dead into the
beautiful
' ;

pool. All the smiles

went out of the bright Padstow maids, as he told his tale.

'

faces of the

a pity, Tristram Bird, you should have been so foolish as to shoot a Mermaid !' they said
;

What

and they did not go and pick flowers as they had intended, but went back to their homes instead, and Tristram Bird went on to Higher St. Saviour's, where he lived in a little house overlooking Padstow

Town nestling like a bird in its nest. A fearful gale blew on the night of the day Tristram
Bird shot the Mermaid, and all the next day, too, and the next night and through the awful howling of the gale was heard the bellowing of the windtormented sea. Such a terrible storm had never been known at Padstow Town within the memory of man, so the
;

64

The Legend
old Granfer
long.

of Padstow

Doombar

men

said,

and never a gale lasted so

When

the wind went

down

the natives of Padstow

ventured out to see what the gale had wrought, and sad was the havoc it had made and some went out
;

where a small chapel stood overthe haven, and what should meet their looking horrified gaze but a terrible bar of sand which the
to

Chapel

Stile,

-;V-

Chapel

Stile.

Mermaid's curse had brought there and it stretched from Hawker's Cove to the opposite shore, and what was worse, the great sand-bar was covered with wrecks of ships and bodies of drowned men.
; '

It is

the bar of

doom brought

curse of the maid of the sea

there by the fearful whom I shot with my

the

brand-new gun,' cried Tristram Bird, who was one of first to reach the stile when the wind had gone
65
5

North Cornwall Fairies

down and he told them all, as he had told the Padstow maids, of what the Mermaid had said before and after he had shot her. And because of the wicked I did,' he said, deed I have brought a curse on my
;
'

'

native town, and

Padstow

will never be blessed with

till

a safe and beautiful harbour

the poor Mermaid's

death be avenged.'

There was a dreadful silence after Tristram Bird had spoken, and the men and women of Padstow Town gazed at each other, troubled and sad, knowing that what the youth, who had been bewitched by the Mermaid's face, had said was true, for there below them was the great bar of sand dividing the outer harbour from the inner, and on it lay the masts and spars of broken ships and the lifeless bodies of the drowned. The wind was quiet, but the sea was still breaking and roaring on the back of the Doombar, and as the waves thundered and broke, a wailing cry sounded forth, like the wail
that Tristram heard

when
it

the

Mermaid disappeared
like

under the water;

sounded

the

distressful

cry of a woman bewailing her dead, and all who heard shivered and shook, and both old and young

looked down on the Doombar with dread in their eyes, but they saw nothing but the dead bodies of the sailors and their broken ships.
'

It

is

the

Mermaid's
'

wraith,'

cried

an

old

Granfer man, leaning against the grey walls of the

and she is wailing the wail of the drowned; and, mark my words, everyone,' letting his
ancient chapel,

66

'// is the

Mermaid's wraith] cried an old Granfer man.

A8TOR, TIL^SN FOUNDATIONS.

!

L,

The Legend

of Padstow

Doombar
'

eyes wander from one face to another, each time a ship is caught on this dreadful bar and lives are lost
as lost they will be bewail the drowned.'

pass as the old man said, and whenever vessels are wrecked on that fateful bar of
it

And

*****
came
to

the Mermaid's wraith will

sand lying across the mouth of Padstow Harbour and men are drowned, it is told that the Mermaid's distressful cry is still heard bewailing the poor dead
sailors.

69

The

Little

Cake-bird

The

Little

Cake-bird

Tregoss Moor.

the Tregoss Moors, where in the long-ago King Arthur and his Noble Knights went a-hunting, was a quaint old thatched cottage built of moorstone, and in it lived an old woman called Tamsin Tredinnick and her little granddaughter Phillida it stood between Castle-an-Dinas a great camp-crowned hill and the far-famed

ON

Roche Rocks.
It

possessed only one

room, which, fortunately,

73

North Cornwall Fairies

was
had to contain most of old possessions, including a low wooden an old oak dresser, a hutch for the grail bedstead, - a coarse flour of which she made bread for herself and little Phillida and her spinning-wheel. At the side of the cottage was a small linhey, or outhouse, the door of which the old woman always
fairly large,

for

it

Tamsin's

kept

open

in

inclement

weather

that
shelter

the

wild

creatures of the

moors might take

from the

cold and from the storms that swept over the great

exposed moorland spaces.

Tamsin was very poor, and could only earn enough to pay the rent of her cottage and to keep herself and little grandchild, who was an orphan, in grail-bread and coarse clothes. This she did by spinning wool, which she sold to a wool-merchant at St. Columb, a small market-town some miles away. She was advanced in years, and getting more unfit to spin every year, she told herself; and the less wool she spun the less money she had to spend on food and clothes for herself and Phillida. But, poor as she was, she was honest and good, and so was her little orphaned grandchild. They seldom and when things were at their worst, complained, and there was no grail left to make bread, or money to buy any, they told each other they had what bettermost people had not wide moors to look out upon, and pure moorland air, fragrant with moorflowers, to breathe into their lungs, little birds to sing to them most of the >ear, and dear little Piskeys

74

The
were very wisht.*

Little

Cake-bird
in the

to laugh outside their

window

dusk when they

a child of Nature, and she loved the moors, gorgeous with broom and gorse in the spring-time and fading bracken in the autumn
big, lonely

Tamsin was

months, with

all

her simple heart, and so did

little

On
Phillida.

the

way

to

Tamsin's Cottage.

They

loved

all

the moor-flowers

even the

duller blossoms of the mint

made

that those great, lonely spaces so wonderful and so full of charm. There was not a flower that broke into beautiful life on the moors but had a place in
* Sad.

and

nettle tribes

75

North Cornwall
their hearts.

Fairies

They were their near and dear relations, and as for the birds and other creatures they said, that lived on the moorland, they were to them, as to St. Francis, their brothers and sisters, and even the Piskeys the Cornish fairies had a warm place in
their affections.

Not a great way from Tamsin's cottage was a large Piskey Circle where the Tregoss Piskeys danced when the nights were fine and the moon was up, and often when they danced the old grandmother and her little grandmaid would come out on the step of their door and watch them.

They could

see the Piskey Circle quite distinctly

from the doorstep, and the Piskey-lights which the Piskeys held in their hands when they danced. But
they never saw the Piskeys, for the Dinky Men, as Phillida called them, were very shy, and did not often let themselves be seen by human eyes. The
old

woman and
when

the child never ventured near their

the Small People were having their high flings, partly from a feeling of delicacy, and partly The Dinky Men for fear of driving them away.
Circle

were as touchy as nesting-birds, Tamsin declared, and said that if either she or Phillida spied upon them when they were having their frolics they would, perhaps, forsake Tregoss Moor, which would have
been a great misfortune. It was lucky, she said, to have the Small People living near a house. So she and her grandchild were content to watch them
dancing from a respectable distance. 76

The

Little

Cake-bird

The place where the Piskeys made their Circle was very smooth and soft with grass, and the Circle lay upon the close, thick turf like a red-gold ring. Behind the Circle was a small granite boulder, and above the boulder a big furze-bush, which burnt like a fire when the furze was in bloom, and there little yellow-hammers sang their little songs year in and
year out.

The Tregoss Moor Piskeys were quite nice for Piskeys, and took a great interest in Phillida and 'her old grandmother. They never tried to Piskeylead them into the bogs and stream-works, of which
there were

many on
them

lights to slock*

the moors, nor set up Piskeyinto the Piskey Circle, which,

we must
they

had the chance.

confess, they did to their betters when they They were ever so sorry when

knew the grail-hutch was getting empty, which somehow they always did, and that Grannie Tredinnick, as they called her, because Phillida did, had no money to buy grail to fill it and they hastened to
;

the cottage and peeped through the window and keyhole to see if they were looking wisht, and if they were they would begin to laugh in order to cheer

them up and make them

they were.

forget

how hungry and

sad

A Piskey's laugh is a gay little laugh, and as unfettered as the song of a lark, and anybody hearing
it

is

bound

to feel

happy and gay, no matter how

Perhaps that
is

wisht he happens to be before.

* Coax.

the

77

North Cornwall Fairies

reason the old saying laughing like a Piskey often quoted in the Cornish land.
' '

is

so

Old Tamsin and

little

when
door.

the Dinky

Men

Phillida always felt better came and laughed outside their

like a

charm on the old came and laughed she laughed too, because she could not help it, and she would forget her aches and her pains, and would go to the spinning-wheel and try to spin. She generally found she could, and soon spun enough wool to
Their laugh acted

woman, and

often after the Piskeys

buy

grail to

fill

the grail-hutch.

Tamsin suffered from rheumatism, and when the weather was very wet and raw on the moors her hands and feet were crippled with pain she could not spin at all, and not even the Piskeys' gay little laughs could charm the pain out of them.
;

One autumn and the beginning of the following winter were unusually wet, and the old woman's rheumatism was very bad, and, what was worse still, Where the Dinky Men went away from the moors.
they had gone she did not know, and fervently hoped that she and Phillida had not offended them in any

way.
of the spinning-wheel was silent as the the grail-hutch was empty, and they had had grave, When things were to feed on berries like the birds.
at their

The hum

worst the clouds

left off

raining, the weather

brightened, the sun shone oat, and the little brown Finding out how Piskeys came back to the moors.

matters were in the

little

moorland cottage, they

78

The
came

Little

Cake-bird

outside the door and laughed their gay little laugh once more. They laughed so much and so funnily that Grannie Tredinnick, weak as she was,
;

and when couldn't help laughing to save her life saw her rise up from her chair and go over to they the spinning-wheel and make the wheel whirl, they
were delighted and laughed again. The weather not only changed for the better, but warm soft days came, and the yellow-hammers and the black and white stone-chats must have thought summer had come again, and they sang their bright little songs, and the larks went up singing into the blue of the winter sky. Tamsin felt better than she had been for months, and became so well and cheerful, what with the brighter weather, the music of the

and the free laughter of the Dinky Men, that she was able to spin from morning shine till evening dark, and very soon she had spun all the wool she
birds,

had.

She sent it in a farmer's cart to St. Columb, and the farmer's man who took it for her brought back a great big bag of flour and some more wool to But when that was all paid for, and the rent spin. money put aside, all her earnings were gone, which made the good old woman very sad, for she wanted

make a little Christmas cake for Phillida. Christmas was on its way, and Phillida, like most children, looked forward to it why, she could have told, except that it was the Great hardly
to
;

Festival of the Nativity, and that Grannie always told her of the nice Christmasses she had had when

79

North Cornwall Fairies

she was a croom * of a cheeld, and that her mother always made her a Christmas cake, with a little bird

on top, to remind her of the Great White Birds which sang when the Babe was born. When Christmas drew near Phillida could think and talk of nothing else but the beautiful Christmasses Grannie had had when she was a little maid, and of the Christmas cake with the little bird on top her mother had made for her. A few days before Christmas, as she and her grandmother were sitting

down
'

Christmas Eve

to their dinner of grail-bread, she said will soon be here now, Grannie.
:

Do you

cake with a
will

think you can make me a little Christmas little cake-bird on top like those you had ?
Grannie,'
'

Ever such a dinky cake and ever such a dinky bird

do,

she added, as the old

woman

shook her head, just to see what a Christmas cake tastes like and the little cake-bird looks like.' I would gladly make 'ee a cake and a little bird,'
'

said

Tamsin,

'

if

only

was

rich

but

am

afraid

even a dinky one. You can't buy sugar and spice and other things to make a cake without money, and I ent a got no money, not even
can't afford to

make

'ee

a farthing.'
'

Haven't you
full

?'

cried
'

little

Phillida, her sweet child

;

eyes I did so hope you

'

of tears.

so disappointed, Grannie could afford just a dinky cake.'

I

am

had hoped so, too, cheeld,' said the kind old Never mind, I'll ask the Piskeys to come woman.
I
'

Tiny

child.

80

The
in

Little
little

Cake-bird
dream-cake an' a
little

and order you a

'

dream-bird.'

dream-bird
'

little dream-cake, Grannie, and a little asked the child. The Piskeys used to come in through the keyhole
is

What

?'

to pass over the bridges of children's noses, when I was a little maid like you, to order their dreams. It

would be ever so nice if they passed over the bridge of your nose and ordered you a little dream-cake and a little dream-bird.'
'

But you

can't eat cakes

'

in

your dreams,' said

little

Phillida,

and you

can't hold little dream-birds

your hands.' That's all you Can't you ?' cried Grannie. know about it. I will ask the Dinky Men to come through our keyhole to order your dreams the very next time they are outside our cottage.'
in
'

'

I hear They are outside now,' said Phillida. And the old them laughing. Listen, Grannie!' woman listened, and she knew that the child was

'

'

right,
'

window,

Piskeys were outside their heard their laughter. The Dinky Men be there right enough,' said Tamsin, an' they are tickled about something, by the way they are laughing.' P'raps they heard what you said about asking them to come in and order me a little dream-cake and a little dream-bird,' suggested the little maid. 'I shouldn't wonder,' laughed Grannie; 'an' I'm

and

that

the

for she too

'

'

sure they'll be willing.

I'll

ask

them now
6

;'

and

81

North Cornwall Fairies

getting up from her wooden arm-chair, she went to the door and called softly Little Piskeys, are you there?'
'
:

But the Piskeys made no response to the woman's question save by a gay little laugh.
'

old
'

you be there, an' can hear me,' said Tamsin, I want 'ee to be so good as to come through my keyhole on the evening of Christmas Eve an' pass over
If

the bridge of Phillida's nose, an' order her a little dream-cake with a little dream-bird on top. I shall

be so obliged to 'ee if you will, for I am too poor to make the cheeld a real cake an' a little cake-bird.'

When

the old

woman had

said all this, such a

burst of laughter broke on the winter air outside the cottage that Phillida rushed to the door and looked
out.

She could not see the Dinky Men, but their laughter was more than enough to tell her that they were there, and Grannie said she was sure they had heard what she asked, and would do it gladly. As they stood on their doorstep they heard the sound of tiny tripping feet going away from the cottage in the direction of the Piskey Circle and as they followed the sound they noticed how bright the Circle was on the soft green turf. It was a perfect day one of those very rare days we are privileged to have once or twice in December month and the moors were full of charm. The many pools on it were full of light, the boulder near the Piskey Circle was diamond bright in the sun;

82

'/ hear them laughing.

Listen, Grannie!'

RK
Life

A8TOR,

TIL

The
shine,

Little
it

Cake-bird
'
'

and above

the furze was already breaking

into golden blossom. The purple had pulsed out of the heath and the pink from the ling, but each little sprig was a marvel of brown, and showed up

the silver lichen

that

splashed the brown.

The

The

RocJic Rocks.

bracken was

brilliant in

warm

tones of orange and

gold, the brambles were every shade of crimson

red,

and and the haze on the moors was like the bloom of the hurts,* which still supplied food for the birds
* Whortleberries.

85

North Cornwall Fairies

on the
hills.

In the direction of Roche, where the

six

great Roche Rocks stand in lonely solitude, hundred and eighty feet above the level of the

sea,

with the ruins of the little chapel dedicated to holy St. Michael on their summit, a lark went up singing into the blue, for larks, as most observers of nature

know, are seldom out of song. The yello\v-hammers were as bright as the brightly-coloured bracken, and sang their cheerful little lays from bramble and bush, and the streams rippled over the moors. The old grandmother and her little grandmaid stood on the doorstep taking in the quiet beauty of the moors. They even went out on to the moor, and turned their gaze towards the Roche Rocks to
After if they could see the little sky-bird. listening ten minutes or longer to the lark and other birds, and to the Piskeys laughing, they returned to
see

the cottage.

Fine weather seldom lasts long in winter-time, and when Christmas Eve came it was bitterly cold. A bitter wind blew over the moors from the north, which brought snow in its wake, and Phillida said the Old Woman was up in the sky picking her goose and throwing down the feathers as fast as she could throw them. The child, who was healthy and strong, did not mind the cold, and she liked watching the feathers of the great Sky Goose whirling down on the hills and moors but she was somewhat afraid the Dinky Men would not come over the snow to order her
;

86

The
dreams.

Little

Cake-bird

But her grandmother told her that she was more minded the cold than she did, and would be sure to come in through the keyhole when they were in bed and asleep. If Phillida did not mind the severe weather, Tamsin did. She could hardly ^keep herself warm in spite of a
certain the Small People no

great

else she

Whatever and the child lacked, they always had a good fire to sit by, for the moors supplied them with furze and other firewood. As it grew towards evening the old grandmother
fire

that blazed on the hearthstone.

told her

little grandchild about Christmas, as was her wont whenever Christmas Eve came round, and

why
She

they were told to keep

it

as a hallowed time.

also told her of the Christmas cakes taken hot out of the oven on Christmas Eve, and Christmas

birds on top of them,

like Phillida.

so bright in those far-away years

which had made her Christmas when she was young

interest to the child,

Grannie's tales of the long ago were of absorbing who almost forgot that the
to order her

Dinky Men were coming

night.

dreams that

When the day had gone, and night had come, Tamsin banked up the fire on the hearthstone, and then she and Phillida went to bed. The old woman knew that the Piskeys would not come in through the keyhole until they were in bed and asleep. The child and the old grandmother slept in the same bed, the latter at the head and Phillida at the
87

North Cornwall
foot.

Fairies

was against the wall by the side of the hearthplace, and Tamsin as she lay was in deep shadow, and only her white nightcap
of the bed

The head

but Phillida's charming little face was towards the hearth, and the fireshine fell full upon it. The child had a fair, smooth skin and clear-cut Her features, and her nose had a beautiful bridge hair was thick and wavy, and of a deep red goldand only a little redder than the Piskey Circle

could be seen

her eyes, when they were open, were the soft sweet blue of the Cornish Tors when the skies were
grey.

The
Magic,

made

red peat and furze fire, like a Master of the interior of the poor little moorland

The rough walls that cottage look quite beautiful. to the brown of the thatch, where they caught the fireshine, glowed like the Small People's
went up
lanterns
;

the old dresser, which stood by the wall

it it

facing the hearth, looked as if fairy colours, and the china on

;

were painted

in

glittered like the

boulder near the Piskey Circle and even the grail, hutch, a unique piece of furniture often seen in Cornish cottages, was turned into a thing of beauty.
It was painted orange colour, and its little knobs were black, to which the shine of the fire gave depths and tones and undertones. By the side of the bed where Phillida slept was a fiddle-back chair, and on its seat lay her little blue weekaday frock, that added to the quaint and

88

The
beautiful picture.
in

Little

Cake-bird

was

Only a small part of the cottage and this intensified the brightness of shadow, the room where the firelight held sway. The cottage was looking its brightest, and was as

warm

as a zam* oven, when a gay little laugh came through the keyhole, and a merry little face peeped into the room. In another minute a Dinky Man

came out

of the keyhole

of the door

and sat on the wooden latch and gazed curiously about him.

He was ever so dinky, but as cheerful-looking as a robin, in his bright red cloak and his quaint steeple hat the face under the hat was almost as brown
;

as an apple-pip,
his whiskers

and only a shade or two lighter than and beard, and his queer little eyes were full of laughter and fun. Are the little maid and her grannie asleep ?' called
'

a voice through the keyhole as the Dinky on the latch surveying the room.
'

Man

sat

They are still as mice when Madam Puss is close to their hole. You are safe to come in.' Then in we'll come,' cried the little voice and in
I
' ;

think so/ he answered.

'

the twinkling of an eye a tiny little fellow dressed in green came through the keyhole and pushed off the

Dinky Man sitting on the latch, who fell on his head on old Tamsin's lime-ash floor. Scores of little whiskered Piskeys some in steeple hats and red flowing cloaks, some in green coats and
red caps

came through the

*

keyhole, and
half heated.

when they

An oven when
89

North Cornwall Fairies

had swung themselves down by the durn* of the
door, they looked towards the bed. I'll get up on the bed and see
'

if

the

little
;

maid

is

and he really asleep,' said one of the Piskeys climbed up to the top of the fiddle-back chair close
to the
'

Is

bed and looked down on the child. she asleep ?' asked the other little Piskeys

eagerly.

'As sound asleep as a seven-sleeper,' t answered Dinky Man, and so is Grannie Tredinnick,' Get up sending his glance to the head of the bed. on to the bed as soon as you like, to order the little maid's dreams the sooner the better. We are powerless to do harm after twelve o'clock, being the
the
' '

night of the Birth.'

'

But we have come

to

cried the Piskeys one once.'

and

do good, not to do harm,' and we will begin at all,

'

They scrambled up

the legs and back of the old

fiddle-back chair, and were on the bed in a quickstick, and took their places near the sleeping child.

Some
;

sat all in a

row on the edge of the patchwork

;

some sat, or stood, on the pillow behind the quilt others were low down on child's bright little head
the pillow and one winking, blinking little Piskey perched himself on her arm and sat cross-legged like
;

a tailor.
'

will

be the

first

to order the little maid's dream,'

said one of the Piskeys sitting on the edge of the

*

Frame.

The

speckled, or ermine, moth.

QO

The
quilt,

Little

Cake-bird

and scrambling up, he stepped on to Phillida's nose as light as the feathers which the old Sky Woman

He

stepped on

to

Phillida's nose as light as the feathers of

the old

Sky Woman.

had flung down on the moors, and as he walked over

the bridge he said
'
:

Dream,

little

maid

dream
91

that

you are wide

North Cornwall Fairies

awake, and that you and Grannie Tredinnick are sitting at a table covered with a cloth as white as Piskey-wool,* and that in the middle of the table is a lovely cake made
'

"

Of As

the finest of flour

fairy cow's

And
And And

cream

s\veet as

your dream

Small People's spice,

everything nice,
in

Kneaded and mixed,

And done
In a
little

trix

dream-bower,"

and on the top of the cake is a dinky bird with wings spread out all ready to fly.' Phillida dreamt as she was ordered, and in her dream she saw the cake, and that it was a beautiful cake, and the little cake-bird was a sweet little bird 'What a handsome cake!' she cried out aloud in her sleep and the little cake-bird is a dear little and she bird, and it looks as if it can fly and sing
!

'

;'

laughed so heartily that the Piskeys laughed too, and one of the Dinky Men turned head over heels

on the patchwork quilt out of sheer delight that the child was so pleased with her beautiful dream-cake and the little dream-bird. Dream that Grannie Tredinnick is as pleased with the cake and the cake-bird as you are,' said another little Piskey, stepping on to the bridge of Phillida's nose, and that she thinks it is even
' '

Cotton-grass.

92

The

Little

Cake-bird

better than the cakes which were made for her when she was a croom of a cheeld, and the little cake-bird
is

more

like a real bird

than those that were on top

of her Christmas cakes.'

The child dreamt as the Piskey ordered, and much beside that the Dinky Man never thought of
In her dream she not only heard her ordering. grandmother say what a beautiful cake it was, and
that the
little
:

that she said

cake-bird looked like a real bird, but must cut and eat the cake, but
'

We

In her sleep she saw the spare the little cake-bird.' old woman, dressed in her Sunday gown and cap, lean over the small oak table and cut her such a big slice of the cake that she cried out in amazed delight
:

a great big piece you have given me, Grannie !' and her laugh was as happy and gay as a Piskey's laugh. But I must not eat all this
'

'

What

myself; I must crumble some of it for the little moor-birds, and put a piece out on the doorstep for the Dinky Men. It isn't a dream-cake, Grannie,
but a Christmas cake, and
bird on top!'
it

has a

little

Christmas

Piskeys looked at one another with a peculiar expression in their round little eyes when the child

The

spoke of putting a bit of her Christmas cake on the step of the door for them, and one said, Dear little
'

Pretty child !' and one little beard reaching to his feet, cried, How kind of her to want us poor little Piskeys to have One little Dinky part in the Christmas joy!'
'

maid

!'

and another said

fellow, with a

'

93

North Cornwall Fairies

Man whispered
whiddle*
'

Perhaps
after
all

it is

not true what the old

nor bad enough for hell. The child does not think so, evidently, or she would not

enough

says, for heaven

that

we

are

not

good

be so anxious for us to share her

cake.'

little

Christmas
Phillida's

The Piskey who arm uncrossed his

sat

cross-legged
little

on
rose

legs, up and on to her nose, and as he walked over its stepped

lean

bridge he said ever so tenderly Dream, sweet little Phillida

:

dream that you shared your cake with the dicky-birds, and put a piece of it on the doorstep for the Dinky Men, which they will treasure as long as there are any
'

Dinky Men.'

The child dreamt as she was ordered, and when she had put a bit of the cake on the doorstep for the Piskeys, she saw in her dream a crowd of Dinky
green coats, and caps as red as and tiny fellows in red cloaks and bryony berries, green hats, come and take up the cake with solemn faces and bent heads, and carry it away over the moors towards the Piskey Circle. When they had
in

Men

quaint

little

gone, she stood on the doorstep looking out over the moors, white with the feathers the old Sky

Woman
sweet

had thrown down

then she

lifted

her

face to the sky, and saw that it was free from clouds and full of stars, which, she thought, were chiming the wonderful news of the Nativity.
little

* Tale.

94

The

Little

Cake-bird

She was so happy listening to the music of the Christmas stars that she forgot she had not tasted her cake till a little Piskey sprang on to her nose to turn her dream.
'

Dream

that you are

come over

to the table

and

eating your cake,' he said, slowly passing over the bridge of her nose.
1

How

can

dream that when

am
'

out here on

the doorstep listening to the ringing of the star-bells?' murmured the child in her sleep. I wonder if the

Dinky Men

They Babe
'

like listening to the star-bells' music ? are ringing up there in the dark because the was born and laid in the cratch.'

We
let

shall never get her to

dream our dreams

'

if

we

her stay there on the doorstep,' cried the Piskeys, looking strangely at one another.

We

never had such trouble to

make

a cheeld

dream our

dreams
'

before.'

Dream your poor

old Grannie feels the cold from

the open door,' said a Dinky Man, jumping on to Phillida's nose with all his weight, which caused her to jerk her head in her sleep, and made the Dinky

Man lose his balance, and over he toppled on the heads of his tiny companions sitting at the bottom of the pillow near the child's soft white neck, much
to the

amusement

of the other Piskeys

and

his

own.

They laughed so much, including the wee fellow who was heavy -heeled, that he could not order the dream, and a Piskey, when he could stop
laughing for a minute, jumped up and stepped on to
95

North Cornwall
Phillida's nose,

Fairies
its

and as he passed over

bridge he

said
'

Dream that you shut the door on the cold and the Sky Goose's feathers, and come back to the table.' And Phillida reluctantly dreamt as the Dinky Man
ordered, and in her dream she saw herself sitting at the table facing her grandmother, who was munching a bit old lips.
'

of the cake

and smacking her withered

must a lovely cake, cheeld-vean.* eat every crumb of it, for we shall never have such another.'
This
is

We

Phillida was glad her Grannie liked the cake, and she began to eat the generous slice the old woman had given her, and as she ate it she thought it was

so

delicious

that
'

she must go on eating cake for

I

ever and ever.

'

shan't

want

to eat

grail-bread

after this,' she said, laughing out loud in her sleep. I shall always eat cake made
'

"

Of fairy cow's cream

And

every good thing."'

She was enjoying her dream-cake so very very much in her sleep that the Dinky Men would have liked
but the quick ticking of her to go on eating it Tamsin's clock told them that time was flying, and
;

they had not yet finished ordering her dreams.

'

Dream,

little

Phillida

dream
all

that

you

and

Grannie Tredinnick have eaten

* Child-little.

the cake, and

96

The
there
is

Little
left

Cake-bird
little

nothing

but the

cake-bird,' said one

of the

nose

' ;

Dinky Men passing over the bridge of her and that Grannie says the little cake-bird is
dreamt
all

yours.' Phillida

that,

and

in

her dream
'
:

her

grandmother said, bird on the top of the cake belongs to the cheeld of the house, and Phillida is the only cheeld in
little

in

her

kind old voice

The

my
dear

little
;'

Take the cake-bird, Phillida, my house. and Phillida took it and held it in her little
it

warm

hand.
thus a Piskey stepped lightly

As she was holding

as a ladybird
its
'

on to her nose, and as he passed over

:

bridge he said
alive

Dream, Phillida, dream that your little cake-bird and wants to fly and sing and the child dreamt that the little cake-bird was alive, and was fluttering in her little warm hand, and then it flew out of her hand up to the thatch, and began to sing
is
;'

a wonderful song.
'

What
It is

is

my

little

cake-bird

singing

?'

asked

Phillida in her sleep.

singing it is a fairy-bird,' said a Dinky Man, over the bridge of her nose, and that it is passing going to sing with other little fairy-birds in the
'

'

Dinky People's
'

land.'

don't think

my

little

cake-bird

is

singing
'

it

is

fairy-bird Dinky People's Its song is country,' said the child in her sleep. much too happy and beautiful for that. What is it

and going

to sing in the

97

North Cornwall
Please singing ? Can't you tell me
at
tell
?'
'

Fairies
do want
to

me.
I

know.

she asked as the Piskeys looked

!

one another.

Ah

know now what

is

about.

My
it is

little

cake-bird

singing a
bird,
it

because

little

Christmas
Isn't

song is song and was on top

its
little

of a Christmas cake!

a lovely song?

It

has changed its tune now, and it is singing a golden song about the Babe who was born on Christmas

Day

in the

morning.

am

little

Christian cheeld

and know! Listen, listen!' she cried, clasping her hands and lifting her sweet child-face to the thatch.
'

Isn't

it

wonderful

It

thinks

it

is

little

golden

bird,

and one day will sing with the Great White Angel Birds Grannie told me about.'

Somebody far greater than we little Piskeys is ordering Phillida's dreams,' said the Dinky Men one to another, which are much more beautiful than we
' '

can

order.'

Just then old Tamsin's clock struck the midnight hour, and the Piskeys got off the bed, went across the room, climbed up the durn of the door and out
little

through the keyhole on to the moors, and in a while they were hastening over the snowcovered turf to the Piskey Circle, which was a big round door to the Dinky People's land under the moors.

98

The Impounded Crows

99

72

The Impounded Crows

boy called Jim Nancarrowwas sitting one day eating a pasty on top of the Crow Pound, a large enclosure built on a common by the far-famed St. Neot to impound the pilfering crows of the parish that bears his name. Jim was the son of a thatcher, and he was waiting to accompany his father to a distant hamlet to help

SMALL

him
soft

to thatch a cottage.

He

looked a nice

little

lad

in his clean
felt

white smock and nankeen breeches and hat much the worse for wear shading

young face and clear blue eyes. As he was waiting for his father and eating his pasty, which his mother had given him for his dinner, he saw a crow flying over Goonzion Downs, of which the Crow Pound common was a part. As he watched it he thought of the pilfering crows which, according to the old tale, little St. Neot impounded there from morning till evening on Sundays,
his bright

that his people might go to church undisturbed fear of the great black thievish birds which ate

by up

in their fields. Jim had often heard from the old people of the parish, and story whenever he saw a crow he wondered if it were a

the corn

sown

this

101

North Cornwall Fairies

relation of the

wicked crows their patron Saint had

impounded. The crow that the boy was watching was flying in the direction of the Crow Pound, and when it came near it alighted on the top of the wall quite close to
the lad.
lean to look at, and scanty of and such a sorry-looking bird that Jim feathers, broke off a piece of his pasty and threw to him, which he ate as if he were starving. One would think you were one of the pilfering crows of St. Neot's time,' said Jim, tossing him another piece of his pasty and to his surprise, the bird answered back
'
; : '

The crow was

I
'

am

!'

Are you ?' cried Jim, staring hard at the crow. Well, you look ancient enough to be one of those birds, though I have always understood that our
'

patron Saint lived ever so long ago, when Alfred the Great was a little chap like me. But p'r'aps crows
tell lies
'

If

as well as pilfer.' am not one of the identical crows St.

Neot

was unkind enough

to put into this pound,' croaked the big black bird, eyeing Jim and his pasty with his bright little eye, I am a descendant of theirs in
'

the direct

line.

truly am,' as the lad stared as

'

if

Those poor imhe did not believe the assertion. crows learnt the language of men during pounded the long hours of their imprisonment, listening to all the little Saint and his people said about them out102

The Impounded Crows

side this

pound, and they passed on their dearlybought knowledge to their children through long

generations.'

'Then you
Granfer
in
'

men

are quite "high learnt," as the old say,' cried Jim, gazing up at the bird

open-eyed amazement. I confess I am,' returned the crow with due modesty, especially in the old Cornish tongue, in
'

which

can swear to any extent. I am not going to use bad language now,' as Jim took up a stone to You would not understand it if I throw at him. " " in the needs of the did. I am also high learnt body, and I shall be ever so grateful for a bit more It isn't nice to have an aching void of your pasty.
I
'

inside one's little feather stumjacket.' I suppose it can't be,' said the lad, dropping the stone and breaking off a large piece of his pasty to
'

toss to the bird.

He was

a feeling-hearted

little

fellow,

and the

crow's quaint appeal touched him, and the sorrylooking bird, with his bedraggled tail, had most
of his pasty.
'

have had a good meal

full

for

once

in

my

life,

and

am

fed,'

said the crow,

;

when

the last

of the

pasty was eaten and he perched on a stone, starred with stonecrop, and fluffed out all the feathers he
possessed, and looked with a comical expression at

Jim.
'

am

better fed than

little St.

Neot
still

little

meal

offish,' he continued,

poor eyeing the boy,

after his

103

North Cornwall
'

Fairies
I

and
'

am

feeling so comfortable that

am

inclined

for a chat.'

Are you ?' cried Jim, who thought this great black crow was a wonderful crow, which he certainly was. I don't know what to yarn about.' I I do, then,' answered the bird quickly. suppose you have heard the old whiddle* how the little St. Neot put the poor crows into this pound.' Yes, I have heard about it from the Granfer men and Grannie women here at Churchtown,' said Jim, turning his face towards a little village close to the church which he could just see from where he was But they never made much of a story of it.' sitting. Didn't they ? Then perhaps you would like to
'

'

'

'

'

'

hear the crows' version of the old

crow.
'

tale,'

said

the

It will tell

you that

their morals

were not
out to

so black as the farmers in this parish

made
it,'

the Holy Man.' I don't mind,

'
'

if

you are quick about

said Jim.

am
'

going to a farm with

do some thatching when I cannot be driven after such a heavy meal of and if I may not take my pasty,' croaked the crow
'
;

my father to help him he has finished his dinner.'

time,
'

won't

tell it at all.'

As you
:

like,'

cried

Jim with
tell

fine indifference

but the bird was anxious to

the whiddle, and he

began
'

We

crows always considered

it

within our right

'

to take

what we

could,' said the crow,

* Tale.

and

pilfering,

104

'

Perhaps you would

like to

hear the crows' version of the

tale /'

The Impounded Crows

the farmers hereabouts were pleased to call it, was the only way the crows had of picking up a living, and they watched their opportunity to take what they needed to satisfy their hunger when the farmers were not about. But back in those faraway days when St. Neot dwelt here to try and make people good, times were dreadfully bad, The people were all tillers of especially for crows.
as

the land in those days, and lived by the sweat of their brow, as crows did by pilfering. There was no

way open to them, and the farmers had their on the land and on us poor hungry birds from eyes dawn to dark, except on the Rest Day and the only chance the crows had of filling their stomachs was on Sunday, when the people went to church. The starving crows looked forward to Sunday as
other
; '

only poor starving birds with empty crops could, and the moment one of the elder crows gave the
signal,
off to

which he did
!

in the
fields,

the corn-sown

crow way, they all flew and had a regular feast.

!

My word and didn't they feed They picked out with their sharp beaks every grain of corn they could find.
When the farmers found out the hungry crows had eaten up all the corn they had sown, there was the Black Man to pay, and the poor crows were anathematized from one end of the parish to the
'

other.
'

The farmers resowed

to

their fields, but they took

good care

watch and

see that the

crows did not

107

North Cornwall Fairies

rob them of their
toil
;

and they were always about

the corn-sown land, Sundays as well as week-days, and the crows had to go supperless to bed, and little
St.
'

Neot had

to preach to bare walls.

The

Saint was greatly distressed at his people's

neglect of their religious duties, and he told

them

away from church. The people said they were sorry, but declared it was the

how wicked

it

was

to stay

fault of the pilfering crows.

'"The pilfering crows!" cried the Holy Man. What have the crows to do with your stopping away from the House of God ?"
"

'"Everything," answered the farmers; and they little St. Neot that whenever they sowed breadcorn in their fields the wicked crows came and ate it all up, and that if he could not prevent them from doing this wickedness, they must keep away from church and watch their fields. "We and our children must have bread to eat," they added, which was true enough true for crows as well as men. The Holy Man was very much grieved to hear the cause of their not coming to church, and he
told
'

said he would devise some means to prevent the crows from robbing the fields whilst they were

attending to their worship.

'

St.

Neot was as good as

his

noised about
great

in the parish that

word, and it was he was building a

square enclosure of moorstone and mould and when it about half a mile from the church
;

1 08

The Impounded Crows

finished, he told his wondering people it was a pound for crows, which he meant to impound on Sundays from dawn till dusk, so that the farmers might come to church and worship without having

was

their

minds disturbed by

fear of those black

little

among the poor hungry crows when they learned what St. Neot had done and although they knew they were within their right and they were to steal when they were hungry they were sorry they always hungry, poor things ate up the corn the farmers had sown, and every crow looked forward to the coming Rest Day with
;
!

robbers eating their corn. There was a fearful to-do

'

and trembling. Well, Sunday came, as Sundays will,' continued and before the sun had risen little the crow, St. Neot made known his will to the crows that they were to come to be impounded, and such power had the Saint over beast and bird that the crows had no choice save to obey, and long before St. Neot's
fear
'
'

rang out to call his people to worship in the little church which he had built for them by the aid of his two-deer team and one-hare team, all the crows in the parish came as they were bidden to be impounded in the Crow Pound.
bell

And, my gracious what a lot of them came There were crows of all sorts and conditions, all ages and sizes There were great-great-great Granfer and Grannie Crows there were great-great Granfer and Grannie Crows great Granfer and Grannie
'
!

109

North Cornwall Fairies

Crows by the score Grannie Crows by the hundred Mammie and Daddy Crows by the thousand and as for the children, and great-great-grand-children, Even poor little they could hardly be counted
!

Baby fly, 'The Crow 'Pound was chock-full of crows, and And all the place was as black as St. Neot's gown. as for the noise they made, it was enough to turn
the
'

Crows, just able to

were there!

Holy Man's brain

but

it

didn't.

The
it

little

Saint did not expect to see so

certain,

many

crows,

though he expected a goodly number, by the big enclosure he had made and the old tale says that, when he saw so many birds, he exclaimed with uplifted hands, " My goodness what a lot of crows !" and he looked round at this great
;
!

was

assemblage

all

in

respectable black

in

open-eyed

amazement.

The people who came flocking to church when they heard that the crows were safe in the Crow Pound were almost as astonished as St. Neot to
'

see such a big congregation of birds. ' The church was too far away from the
for the

pound

crows to hear the little Saint preaching, but when the wind blew up from Churchtown they
could hear the singing, and to show you they were not so bad as the farmers made out to the Holy Man, they croaked as loud as ever they could when

Mass was sung, and were as silent as the grave during the time St. Neot was preaching.
'

Every

year, from

sowing time

till

the corn was

no

The Impounded Crows

reaped and safe in the barn, the crows were impounded every Sunday from the early morning till

evening whilst
7J

little St.
3fc

Neot
7^

lived.'
-ifc

?fc

'

Is

that

all ?'

asked Jim,

who
till it

listened

to

the

crow's version of the old tale

'

was

finished.

Yes,' answered the great black bird with a croak, and when he had said that he took to his wings and flew away as fast as he could fly over Goonzion Downs, the way he had come. That wisht-looking crow did not tell the old
'

whiddle

half bad,' said Jim to himself, as he watched the bird fly away. Shouldn't I like to have seen this old pound full of crows It must have been terribly funny when St. Neot looked in " upon them and cried, My goodness what a lot of crows !" It must have been as good as a Christmas There, father is coming. That sharp-eyed play. old crow must have seen him climbing the hill.'
'
! !

in

The

Piskeys'

Revenge

The

Piskeys'

Revenge

Grannie Nankivell, who lived on a moor, and a small grand-daughter who lived with them. Genefer was the name of this little girl. She was
a small

ONCE and Granfer

brown
;

upon a time, so the old story begins, there were an old man and his wife called

child.

Brown

as a Piskey, her grand-

brown as she was, she was exceedHer lips were as red as the reddest of ingly pretty. berries, and the glow on her cheeks matched her
father said
but,
lips.

Her grandfather was

moors.

days had been spent cutting

a turf-cutter, and most of his turf on the Cornish

When this old man was between sixty and seventy he cleared out a whole bog, which happened to be a
Piskey-bed.

The

disturbed, and

Piskeys never like their sleeping-places to be when they found out Granfer Nankivell
it,

and set up him astray when he came home. But they did it in vain as far as he was concerned. The old turf-cutter was very learned in Piskeys' wiles, and never ventured across the moors
they were very angry,
lead
Piskey-lights
to

had done

115

82

North Cornwall Fairies

without wearing one of his garments inside out, and
this

made him Piskey-proof, which means that the Piskeys had no power to harm him or to lead him out of his way.
But the
sly Little

People knew a thing or two as

well as Granfer Nankivell, and when they found out that their Piskey-lights failed, they set their sharp little wits to work to do him harm in some other

way.
After

much watching

turf -cutter

had a weakness

they discovered that the old for sweet things, and

that the greatest treat his wife could give him was sugar biscuits of her own making and a big plate of junket. They also found out that Grannie Nankivell,

whenever she made these

night into her

delicacies, put

them

over-

spence*
their

for safety.

They made up

minds that they would punish

the old turf-cutter for taking

away

their nice soft

green Piskey-bed by doing him out of his junket

and

biscuits,

theirs, the

and they told some distant relations of Fairy Moormen, to keep an eye upon the

spence-window, and whenever they saw Grannie Nankivell bring a bowl of junket and a dish of biscuits into her spence, they must come with all
speed and tell them. We'll watch too,' they said
'
'
;

but in case

we

are

away dancing or setting up Piskey-lights, you must watch for us,' which the Tiny Moormen were quite pleased to do.
*

small storeroom for victuals.

116

The
But the moor

Piskeys'
fairies

Revenge
in

watched

vain for

many

a week, and just as they were beginning to fear that

Grannie Nankivell was never going to make any more biscuits and junket for her husband, she set to and made some, and when they were made she took them into the spence, as she always did. The spence opened out from the kitchen, and was quite a little room in itself, with a tiny window In front of the window was a facing the moors. stone bench, and near it a square oak table. The Tiny Moormen were peeping in at the window

when
table

the old woman put the bowl of junket on the and the dish of sugar biscuits on the bench, and the moment her back was turned they tore off

to the Piskeys with the news. ' A big round basin full of lovely cool junket,'

they cried,

and a dish heaping full of round biscuits, and white with eggs and sugar, with which yellow they are made. I heard the old woman say that she had never made better, and all for Granfer Nankivell,
'
'

'cause

'tis his birthday to-morrow.' Birthday or no birthday, Granfer Nankivell shan't taste one,' cried the little Piskeys. No fy, he shan't He turned us out of our beds, and we'll do him out
'
!

of his biscuits
'

and junket,

see

if

we won't
'

!'

That's right!' said the Fairy Moormen, who were hand and glove with the Piskeys, only please save

some

for us.'

They and

cutter's cottage,

the Piskeys hastened away to the turfand when the turf-cutter and his

117

North Cornwall

Fairies

>-^f*~

The Piskeys got in and ate up the boiul of junket, and passed otit the biscuits.

wife had gone to bed, the Piskeys got into the spence and ate up the big bowl of junket, and passed out the biscuits to the Tiny Moormen.

118

The
When

Piskeys'

Revenge

Grannie Nankivell went to her spence the next day she found the junket-bowl empty and
every biscuit gone. She said she could not imagine who had taken the things, but looked suspiciously at her little grand-

daughter Genefer.
'

The

cat
'

must have got into the spence and done

me

out of

my

cutter.

You

birthday treat,' said the old turfmust shut the spence-window the next

time you put a junket in there.' But the biscuits have gone as well as the junket,' said the old woman, still looking at little Genefer.
'
'

Cats have no liking for sugar biscuits, that ever heard tell of.' The next time Grannie Nankivell took biscuits

and a junket into her spence she shut the window and also the door but when she got up the following morning and went to see if they were safe, lo and behold the junket-bowl was again empty and the biscuits were gone.
;
!

ful biscuits

who has eaten up my beautiand junket,' she said to her husband; and she turned and looked at little Genefer.
'

'Tis a two-legged cat

'

am

not the two-legged cat

nice things you meeting the old

who ate up all the made for Granfer,' cried the child, woman's glance with her honest
;

brown
'

eyes.

'

never said you did,' said Grannie Nankivell but 'tis queer the junket-bowl is empty and every
I

biscuit

gone from the

dish.'

119

North Cornwall Fairies

was a dog which got into the spence and licked up the junket and ate the biscuits,' put in the old turf-cutter. I would lock and bar the
I
'

expect

it

'

spence-door, if I were you, the next time nice things in there.' I will,' she said.
'

put such

The next time Grannie Nankivell made biscuits and a junket she barred the window of the spence and locked the door, and the next morning, before Genefer dressed, she went to see if her junket and but the little round biscuits, biscuits were all right which she had so carefully made and sugared, were every one gone, and the junket -bowl was quite empty, and as dry as a bone.
; '

'Tis our little grandcheeld

'

who

has eaten

it all

!'

cried Grannie Nankivell in great anger to the old No cat or dog could get into a spence turf-cutter. with door locked and window barred.'
'

don't believe

it

was Genefer,'

said the old

man

was not Genefer, who was it, pray ? Biscuits and junkets don't eat up themselves, an)- more than dogs and cats can get through keyholes and barred
'

stoutly. If it

windows.' That's
'

all the Granfer Nankivell same, I am certain sure that our dear little grandcheeld would not go and eat up the things.' Then who did ?' asked the old woman with a

true,'

said

'

'

snap.
'

The

little

Piskeys,

shouldn't

wonder,'

he

120

The
answered.
'

Piskeys'

Revenge

great grannie told me they were greedy-guts, and in her days they used to skim the cream off the milk, and eat all the cheese-cakes

My

little

she used to make, unless she put some for them

outside on the doorstep. Regular little thieves the were in her days. Piskeys P'raps they haven't
learnt to be honest yet. There are plenty about now, and Little Moormen too, by the teheeing and tehoing I have heard lately, waiting, I dare say, to play some of their pranks on me.' But Grannie Nankivell was still unconvinced, and still believed it was Genefer, and not the Piskeys, who ate her biscuits and junket. One evening the old woman put another bowl of junket and a dish of biscuits in the spence, and was

window and lock the and in the middle of the night, when her husband was fast asleep and snoring, she got up and came downstairs to see if she could find out for certain who it was that ate up her good things.
as careful as before to bar the

door;

When
little

see but her grand-daughter Genefer standing by the spence-

she

came down, whom should she

door
'

in her little

am

fine

bedgown. and glad you have come, Grannie,'

woman could say I believe it is the anything. Piskeys who have eaten the junket and things you made for Granfer. I saw a dinky little fellow not much bigger than thumb go in through the keyhole just now. your
whispered the child, before the old
'

They

are having a fine time in there, anyhow,' as

121

North Cornwall Fairies

her grandmother looked at her oddly. If I were I would look through the keyhole and see what you,
'

they are doing.'

And through
and saw,
oak
table,

to her

the keyhole the old woman looked, amazement, scores and scores of

green-coated

men, whiskered like a man, on the standing round the junket-bowl ladling
little

out the rich, thick junket with their tiny little hands, and half a dozen other little chaps were up in the

window-sill passing out her delicious sugar biscuits to the Tiny Moormen, who were even more whiskered

and bearded than

their distant relations, the Piskeys.

By

their

faces,

they were

themselves, and
the turf-cutter
!

at the

all greatly enjoying of Granfer Nankivell, expense

Grannie Nankivell was so astonished that she lost her mouth-speech,* but when she found it her old
voice shrilled through the keyhole
' :

Filling your

little

bellies

biskeys
'

made

for

my

with the junket and old man, be 'ee ?' she cried.
iss
fy,

I'll

wring the necks of every one of you

!'

will

The
threat,

old
for

woman

she had

spoke too soon to carry out her no sooner spoken than the

Piskeys vanished, the Tiny Moormen as well, and where they went she never knew.

But her husband told her the

still
'

little rascals were spence when she could not see them. They have the power to make themselves visible

in the

Power of

utterance.

122

The
he
'

Piskeys'
is

Revenge

or invisible, whichever
said.

most convenient to them,'

out of your biscuits and

They have done you

junket a good

many

times, anyhow,' cried the old

woman.
'

Iss,'
I

did

said Granfer Nankivell, 'they have; and as away with the Piskey-beds, we are quits. I

only hope they will be of the same mind, and won't come any more and eat up those nice things you

me. I am quite longing for a plateful of junket and one of your sweet biscuits.' Whether the Piskeys thought the old turf-cutter

make

for

was
to

sufficiently punished for clearing out their sleeping-places, or whether Grannie Nankivell's threat

wring their necks frightened them away, we cannot tell. At all events, they and the Tiny Moormen kept away from the cottage on the moor, and

whenever the old woman made sugar biscuits and sweet junket, and put them in the spence, no twolegged cat, Moormen or Piskeys, ever ate up those specially-made dainties; and little Genefer's honesty was never again doubted.

123

The Old Sky Woman

'25

The Old Sky Woman

winter brought the cold north wind, an d tne snowflakes began to fall, the little V North Cornwall children were always told that the Old Woman was up in the sky plucking her Goose.
~\

HEN

children were very interested in the Old Sky Woman and her great White Goose, and they said,
as they lifted their soft little faces to the grey of the cloud and watched the feathers of the big Sky Goose

The

come whirling down,

that

she was

a wonderful

woman and
'

her Goose a very big Goose. I want to climb up to the sky to see the Old Woman plucking her Goose,' cried a tiny boy and
;

he asked his mother to show him the great Sky Stairs. But his mother could not, for she did not know

where the Sky Stairs were; so the poor little boy could not go up to see the Old Sky Woman plucking
the beautiful feathers out of her big Where does the Old Woman
'

White Goose.

keep her great asked another child, with eyes and hair as dark as a raven's wing, as he watched the snow-white feathers come dancing down.

White Goose

?'

'

In the beautiful Sky

Meadows behind
127

the clouds,'

his

mother

said.

North Cornwall Fairies

'

What

is

the Old

her great big Goose

queried a
'

little

going to do with she has picked her bare?' maid with sweet, anxious eyes.

Sky

Woman

when

Stuff

it

with onions and sage,' her Granfer said.

'

The Old Sky

'

Woman

sweeping out the Sky Goose's house!

What
little

will she

do then with her great big Goose

?'

the

maid asked.
it

up on the great Sky Goose -jack and roast for her Christmas dinner,' her Granfer said. Poor old Goose cried the little maid. I don't believe the Old Sky Woman would be so

'Hang

'

!'

'

128

The Old Sky Woman

and pluck her great big Goose,' little maid with sunny hair and eyes as blue as the summer sea. 'Winter-time is the Sky Goose's moulting time, and the Old Sky Woman is
unkind as to
kill

said a wise

sweeping out the Sky Goose's house with her great Sky Broom, and the White Goose's feathers are flying

down
till

to keep the dear little flowers nice

and

warm
'

the north wind has gone

is so,

away from the

Cornish Land.'

Perhaps that

dear

little

maid,' her Granfer

said.

129

Reefy, Reefy

Rum

92

Reefy,

Reefy
Nancy

Rum
Parnell

SMALL girl

called

came down

from Wadebridge to Padstow one St. Martin's summer to stay with her Grannie. The Grannie was old and weak in her legs, and

could not take her granddaughter out to see the sights of the little old-world town, with its narrow streets and ancient houses, so the child had to go by
herself.

When

she had seen

all

there

was

to be seen in the

town, she went up to look at the church, of which she had heard from her mother, who was a Padstow

woman, and

the quaint

little

figures

on the buttresses

of the south wall.

It was between the lights when she got there, bu she could see the carved figures quite distinctly, which were a lion with its mouth wide open, a

unicorn with a crown

encircling

its

neck, and

young knight, standing between them, holding a shield and when she had taken them all in she repeated a funny old rhyme which her mother told her she used to say when she was a little maid and lived at Padstow. The rhyme was as follows
;
:
'

Reefy, reefy rum, Without teeth or tongue If you'll have me,

Now

am

a- come/

133

North Cornwall Fairies

The rhyme a taunt and an invitation :n onewas very rude, and so was the little girl who repeated it but the lion, the unicorn, and the little knight did not take any notice of her, and looked straight before them as they had done ever since they were But Nancy was somewhat carved on the wall.
;

rhyme on those quaint little figures, especially on the open-mouthed lion, who had no sign of teeth or tongue; and she ran round the great square -turreted tower, and took
afraid of the effect of the
sat

refuge under the pentice roof of the gateway, and on the bench to see if they would leave their
stations on the wall

and come

after her

but they

did not.

stone knight and the two animals had a strange fascination for the little Wadebridger, and the next evening again found her in the beautiful

The

little

churchyard gazing up at them with her bright childeyes, and as she gazed she repeated the same rude

rhyme

:
'

Reefy, reefy rum, Without teeth or tongue

If you'll

have me,
a-come.'

Now

am

But they took not the smallest notice of her, nor of her rhyme, and the young knight did not lift as much but the child, now the rhyme was as an eyelash said, was even more apprehensive than ever of the
;

effect

it

again took refuge

might have, and ran round the tower and in the old gateway, and waited to
134

S/ic took to

her heels and ran for her

life.

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOi, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

Reefy,
see
if

Reefy

Rum

they would come down from the wall and try but they never came. The last evening of her stay at Padstow, Nancy went once more to the churchyard to have another look at the figures, and to taunt them with having
to catch her
;

no teeth or tongue. It was not quite so late as the first two evenings she had come thither, and the robins were singing
churchyard trees. staring up at the figures, a shaft of from the sun setting between the trees fell across light their faces, and the eyes of the little knight seemed to look down in sad reproach at the rude little maid as she again repeated the rhyme which was even ruder than she knew.
their

evensong

in the

As she stood

Her

voice

was

shrill

and loud, and was heard above

the robins' cheerful song.

She had hardly finished the rhyme when she saw move from his place on the wall, followed the unicorn and the young knight, and come by She did not wait to see them reach sliding down. the bottom, for she took to her heels and ran for her
the lion

but she could hear the figures carved in stone coming after her as she flew round the tower, and her heart was beating faster than the church clock
life
;

wide, and she caught hold of it, and banged it behind her as the lion with his gaping mouth came up to it.

when she reached the gateway. The gate, fortunately for her, was open

She looked over her shoulder

as she turned to run

North Cornwall
down
a row
shield

Fairies

the street, and she saw the three figures all in the young knight in the middle holding his

gazing at her through the round wooden

bars of the gate. The lion looked savage, and but for the brave little knight with his pure young face, who seemed to have a restraining power upon both

animals, he might have broken the bars and come through the gate and made small bones of the child who had invited them three times to come down and

have her

Wadebridger ran back to her Grannie, and told her about the rhyme she had said to the little stone figures on the wall of Padstow Church, and how they had come down and run after her to Her good old Grannie said it would have the gate. served her right if they had broken the gate and got
little

The

lesson to you, my dear,' she cried, never to be rude to man or beast, especially to figures carved
her.

'

'

on church

walls.'
little
till

The

three

the gate step finding she did not return, they went back to their places on the buttresses of the grey old church, and
there they are
still

stone figures stood all in a row on the child was out of sight, and

never

left

them

and, as far as we know, they have since Nancy Parnell, the little Wade;
' '

three times, bridger, repeated Reefy, reefy rum and that was when our great-great-grandmothers

were children.

138

The

Little

Horses
of

and

Horsemen

Padstow

139

The

Little

Horses

and

Horsemen

of Padstow

house which has two tiny little men on horseback on the top of its roof. They have stood there for hundreds of years, and they never leave their places save when they hear the great church
clock strike the hour of midnight, when, it is said, they leave the red tiles, and gallop round the

AT

the bottom of the same old town there

is

market-place and through the streets of the little town. These gallant little horsemen have seen the house

on which they stand almost rebuilt changed from an old-world building with quaint windows and doors
141

North Cornwall

Fairies

into quite a modern one and they have the sorrow of knowing that the only things left that are ancient are the walls, the red tile-ridge, their little horses,

and themselves.

Long generations of Padstow children have seen these quaint little men on horseback, and many a question have they asked concerning them but the
;

only thing they ever learnt was that whenever they hear the church clock strike twelve in the middle of
night they come down from the roof, gallop round the market, and through the streets, as we have just said. But as children are generally in bed at that late hour, none were ever fortunate enough to see them do this wonderful feat, except little Robin Curgenven, the son of a toymaker, and it happened

the

in this

nine years old his father and mother went to a party ; and as it was a party only for grown-up people, they left him
at

way One evening when Robin was about

:

home
Robin

asleep in bed.
slept

sound as a ringer

till

just

before

in twelve, the house, he crept out of bed, opened the front door, which was under the roof, and went out and stood

when he awoke, and

rinding he was alone

on the top of an external stone stairway which led

down to the market-place. The house where he lived was as quaint and old as the one on which the little men rode so gallantly,
and it faced it. As he stood at the head of the steps the church clock began to strike the hour of mid142

The

Little

Horses of Padstow

It had only struck four or five when he night. remembered what he had heard about those wonderful little horsemen and their steeds, and he looked across the market to see if what he had been told about them was really true. He could see the house quite plainly, and the little horses and horsemen, for it was a clear night and full moon. The moment the clock had done striking Robin saw to his great delight the two little men on their two little horses leave the housetop and leap into the street, and go galloping round and round the market-place as his parents assured him they did

when they heard the clock strike twelve. The little horses galloped so funnily, and
riders sat so bolt upright that Robin laughed to

the tiny

on their quaint little steeds, see them, and said they looked exactly like the wooden toy horses and horsemen in his father's shop. And as they went galloping, galloping that

hands and cheered

queer little gallop, he clapped his like a Cornishman.

The tiny little horsemen took no notice of the excited boy on the top of the stairs, and the moment they had finished their gallop round the old market
they came through the narrow opening at the foot of the stairs, and galloped away up the street as fast
as they could. So excited

was little Robin Curgenven when he saw the tiny horsemen gallop away that he flew down the steps and tore after them, quite forgetting
143

North Cornwall Fairies

that his feet were bare, and that he save his little white nightshirt.
;

had nothing on

He ran very fast but fast as he ran, he could not overtake those swift little horses, and by the time he
got to the bottom of Middle Street they were nearly at the top.

they reached the head of that street the tiny horsemen pulled up their horses for a minute outside an ancient-looking house with a porch-room
set

When

on wooden pillars, and then they turned up Workhouse Hill and disappeared.

and the tails of his him on the wind as he ran and he never stopped running till he was half-way up Church Street, when he saw the little horses and their riders galloping down towards him. They had been to the head of the town, and were returning and he got on the footpath and stood near an arched passage, and waited for them

Robin ran

little

than before, flew out behind nightshirt

faster
;

to pass.

He

did not have to wait long, and so fast did they

come you would have thought they were galloping for a wager. They seemed to be enjoying their
gallop through the streets of the sleeping old town amazingly and Robin, as he fixed his bright young
;

eyes upon them, saw, or thought he saw, a broad

grin on their queer
little

faces as they galloped by.

ran

night-garment, beside the quaint little horses and the little horsemen for a short distance, but they galloped

The

barefooted

little lad, in his little

144

77/rK galloped

much

faster than he' could run.

10

The
much
;

Little

Horses of Padstow

than he could run, and soon outdistanced run as hard as ever he could, he could not and, overtake them, but he heard the ringing of the tiny
faster

him

ing

on the hard road as they went gallopthe town. When he reached the bottom of the town and the house where the little men and their horses usually stood, he glanced up, and to his surprise saw them standing on the tile-ridge, looking as if they had
horses' hoofs

down through

never

left it.

Robin gazed at them till he began to feel cold, and then he went back across the market to his own house and half an hour later, when his father and mother came home from the party, they found him fast asleep on one of the steps with his toes tucked up under him. The funny little horses and little horsemen did hear the clock strike twelve, and galloped round the market and through the town same as you told me,' said Robin in a sleepy voice, when his father picked him up and carried him into the house. I saw them with my own eyes, and I ran after them up as far as Church Street. They galloped so funnily and I am glad I saw them.' so fast So am I,' said his father, laughing, thinking his small son had dreamt it as he lay asleep on the step. You are the first little chap who ever saw them come down from the roof and gallop, and I fancy
;
' ' ;

'

'

you

will be the last.'

Little

Robin Curgenven may have been the

147
10
2

first

North Cornwall
to see

Fairies

them gallop

as his father said, but he

may

not

be
are

the last, for the quaint little horses

still

and horsemen

on the roof of the house, and it is told that gallop through Padstow streets, and round what once was the market, when they hear the church
they
still

clock strike twelve

148

How

Jan

Brewer was Piskey

laden

i 49

How

Jan Brewer was laden

Piskey-

^HE moon
ing

shouldered

was near her setting as a tall, broadman called Jan Brewer was walkto Constantine

home

Bay

to his cottage

on the edge of a

cliff.

singing an old song to himself as he went along, and he sang till he drew near the ruins of Constantine Church, standing on a sandy common

He was

As he grew near the remains of this moonshine, he thought he heard someone laughing, but he was not quite sure, for the sea was roaring on the beach below the common, and the waves were making a loud noise as they dashed up the great
near the bay.
ancient church, which were clearly seen in the

headland of Trevose. I was mistaken 'twas nobody laughing,' said Jan to himself, and he walked on again, singing as before and he sang till he came near a gate, which opened
'
;

into a field leading to his cottage, but when he got there he could not see the gate or the gateway.
I was so taken up with singing the old song, that must have missed my way,' he said again to himself. I'll go back to the head of the common and start and when he got to the place afresh,' which he did I
'
; '

North Cornwall
where
it
'

Fairies

his gate ought to to save his life.

I

have been, he could not find

cried.
'

must be clean mazed,'* he

have never

reckoning before, nor missed finding to our gate, even when the night has been my way I can as dark as pitch. It isn't at all dark to-night
got out of

my

see Trevose

yet
I

can't

Head '-looking across the bay 'and But I en't a-going see my own little gate
!

to be

done

I'll

go round and round

the

this

common

till

do find

my

gate.'

And round and round

find his gate

common

he went, but

he could not. Every time he passed the ruins of the church a laugh came up from the pool below the ruins, and once he thought he saw a dancing light on the edge of the pool, where a lot of reeds and rushes were growing. The Little Man in the Lantern is about to-night/ But he said to himself, as he glanced at the pool. before.' I never knew he was given to laughing Once more he went round the common, and when he had passed the ruins he heard giggling and laughand looking down ing, this time quite close to him on the grass, he saw to his astonishment hundreds of Little Men and Little Women with tiny lights in their hands, which they were Sinking t about as they laughed and giggled. The Little Men wore stocking-caps, the colour of ripe briar berries, and grass-green coats, and the
' ' ;

Mad.

Waving.

152

Ruins of Constantine Church.

ASTOR, LENOX

UNDATIQN8.
L_

How

Jan Brewer was Piskey-laden

Little Women had on old grandmother cloaks of the same vivid hue as the Wee Men's coats, and they also wore fascinating little scarlet hoods.

believe the great big chap sees us,' said one of the Little Men, catching sight of Jan's astonished
'

face.

'

He must

be Piskey-eyed, and

we

did not

know
'

it.'

Is

'

Tis a
'

he really?' cried one of the Dinky* Women. But we'll pity,' as the Little Man nodded.
'

have our game over him

all

the same.'

That we
in
tall

will,' cried all the Little

:

Men and

Little

Women
great

one voice

and, forming a ring round the

began to dance round him, laughing, giggling, tehoing, and flashing up their
fellow, they
lights as they danced.

They went round him so fast that poor Jan was

quite

bewildered, and whichever way he looked there were these Little Men and Little Women giggling up into
his bearded face.

And when he

tried to break

through

their ring they

went before him and behind him,

!

making a game over him, he said He was at their mercy and they knew it and when they saw the great fellow's misery, they only laughed and giggled the more. We've got him they cried to each other, and they said it with such gusto and with such a comical expression on their tiny brown faces, that Jan, bewildered as he was, and tired with going round the
;

'

!'

common

so

many

times, could not help laughing,

* Little.

155

North Cornwall Fairies

they looked so very funny, particularly
Little
little

when

the

Women

winked up

at

him from under

their

scarlet hoods.

The Piskeys for they were Piskeys hurried him down the common, dancing round him all the time and when he got there he felt so mizzy-mazey with
;

those tiny whirling figures going round and round him like a whirligig, that he did not know whether he was in a standing on his head or his heels. He was also he expressed bath of perspiration sweating leaking,' it and, putting his hand in his pocket to take out a handkerchief to mop his face, he remembered having
'

been told that,

if ever he got Piskey-laden, he must turn his coat pockets inside out, when he would be free He immediately at once from his Piskey tormentors. acted on this suggestion, and in a minute or less his

Little coat-pockets were hanging out, and all the had vanished, and there, Men and the Little Women

right in front of him, he

He lost saw his own gate no time in opening it, and in a very short time was in his thatched cottage on the cliff.
!

156

They began

to

dance rotind him.

The Small

People's

Fair

159

The Small

People's

Fair

IN

the same parish where Jan Brewer was Piskeyladen on Constantine Common there is a beauti-

ful lane called Tresallyn. It has high mossy hedges, where ferns grow in abundance, and where speedwells love to display their multitude of blue

blossoms.

This lane is said to be a regular Piskeys' haunt, where all the Wee Folk in the neighbourhood meet. People who have passed through this lane in the evening or late at night have heard the Piskeys laughing but nobody, as far as we know, except one young fellow, ever had the good fortune to see them, and he, like Jan Brewer, had the gift of seeing what
;

others could not.

Hender Bennett was the name of this young fellow, and he lived at a farm near Tresallyn Lane. One night, after he had been over to Towan, a village about a mile and a half away, to see a young girl whom he was courting, he was returning home through this beautiful old lane, when he was startled
by a burst of music quite close to him. The music was so sweet and yet so stirring that he wanted to dance to the tune. He looked about to see whence the sound was coming, but he could see nothing unusual.
161
IT

North Cornwall Fairies

It

was a glorious

night,

and the big moon

floated

like a silver ball in the cloudless blue of the

midnight and shone so brightly that he could even see sky, fronds of the ferns standing out quite clearly from the

mossy hedge-banks. As he was looking around, the music grew louder, sweeter, and more stirring, and sending his gaze down the lane to where the trees arched it, he saw a big crowd of Small People holding a fair. He had heard of Little People's fairs from his great-grannie, but had never hoped to see one, and he was as glad as a bird that he happened to be going down Tresallyn Lane when they were holding one.

The Wee Folk were holding their fair near a gate about a dozen yards or so from where he was standAs the moon was just then floating over the ing.
gate, he could see all the Little People quite plainly,

and what they were doing. The Little Men and the

Little

Women

were

all

dressed up to the nines in the way of clothes, and although he could not have described the cut of their
coats or the style of their gowns, he knew that all the Little Women were lovely, that dear little faces
frails in their

peeped out of quaint bonnets, that they carried hands, and that Piskey-purses hung by
their sides in the

same way

that his great-grannie's or

like

big cotton purse bag hung under her gown. There were ever so many little standings
stalls

on the grass

one here and one there,

162

The Small

People's

Fair

currants in his mother's buns, Render told himself. Every standing was laid out with all sorts of tempting things pleasing to Small People, on which they gazed with evident delight. They asked the price of this thing and that of the little standing women

and to see the Little People opening their tiny brown Piskey-purses and taking out their fairy money to pay for their purchases was as good as a play. But what delighted the young fellow most were the Tiny Fiddlers and Pipers and to watch the way the Fiddlers elbowed their fiddle-sticks and fiddled was worth walking twelve miles any night to see, he said, to say nothing of watching the Little Men and the
behind the
stalls
;
;

Little

Women

dancing to the tunes the Fiddlers

It

fiddled

and the Pipers piped.

was merrymaking

with a vengeance, he told himself, and the fiddling,

the piping, and the merrymaking at Fair were nothing to it
!

Summercourt

The

fair itself

was held a few

feet

away from the

standings and the merrymaking, and when Render could turn away his gaze for a few minutes to look at

saw a sight he feared There were scores of fairy horses, and as many bullocks and cows, and flocks of sheep and goats, none of them much bigger than
the Little People's Fair Park, he

he should never see again.

those quaint little animals in toy farmyards but these were all alive, he could tell, by the prancing of The sheep were confined within hurdles. the horses
;
!

There were pigs there as

well, only to

Render's eyes
ii
2

163

North Cornwall Fairies

they looked exactly

which were

in small

like very large sow-pigs,* all of stone enclosures. Moving about

among

the

animals were

Little

Men. who were

dressed like farmers, but whether they were farmers or not he could not tell.
It

was

all

that he stood
Little

so wonderfully interesting to Hender still like one in a dream, till one of the

smart green coat went over to a very Lady, who reminded him of his own sweetheart whom he had not very long kissed goodnight, and asked her if he might treat her to some fairing, and he took hold of her little hand and led her up to the standing. And when he opened his purse to pay for what he bought for his lady-love
in a

Men

pretty Little

Hender had
out
if
I
'
:

could not have done

to give vent to his feelings, and he cried it better no, not even
fairing for couldn't.'

had bought a
!

my own

little

sweet-

heart

No
fair

fy

The words were no sooner spoken when

the Small

vanished, Little People and all, and the People's only thing left to show that a fair had been held were
a dozen sow-pigs in a stone enclosure
* Wood-lice.
!

164

The Piskeys who

Betsy's

did

Aunt

Work

The Piskeys who

Betsy's

did

Aunt

Work

our great -great -grandmothers' days people very seldom went away visiting, and when little Nannie Sando received an invitation from her Aunt Betsy great-aunt really who lived

IN

quite twenty miles from her home on a lonely moor, near Liskard, there was great excitement in Nannie's

home.
Nannie's father did not
like the

thought of her

going away so far from home, and her mother did not like it either, but she said Aunt Betsy was well-

and had a stockingful of gold hidden away somewhere it would not do for them to offend her by refusing to let the child go. So the invitation was accepted, and Nannie was sent off by coach, and met by her aunt in a donkey-cart in Horn Lane, at Liskard, where the coach put up and that same evening she reached the little house on the
to-do,
;

moor.

was quite a nice little house, with two rooms and two down, and a large garden behind, up sheltered by granite boulders fantastically piled one on top of the other. In front of the house were the moors, which, at the time Nannie came to stay with
It

167

North Cornwall

Fairies

her aunt, were gorgeous with the bloom of heather and other flowers. Nice as the house was, and beautiful as the moors were, with their background of Kilmar and other Cornish tors, it was a lonely spot for a child to come and stay at, with only an elderly woman for company. But, then, there was the charm of novelty, and there were delights in the shape of her aunt's donkey and cow, and a big black tom-cat called

Tinker, to say nothing of the far-stretching moors,

which were so beautiful to look at and run wild on. When Nannie was leaving to go and stay with Aunt Betsy, her mother, with a view to possessing some of the old lady's golden hoard some day, told
little daughter to be very attentive to her aunt. Get up when she does,' she said, and help her to do her work, and make yourself very useful ;' and the
'

her

'

child said she would.

Nannie, when she was going to bed on the evening

of her arrival, remembered her mother's injunction, and said to her aunt
:

I want to help get up the houseplace.' you up But the old woman did not call her grand-niece, and let her stay in bed till breakfast-time and when
'

Please call
to clean

me when you

the child

came down she found

all

the work done,

and everything clean and shining. 'You never called me, Aunt Betsy,' said Nannie Mother did so want me to help you.' reproachfully. If your Did she ?' cried the old woman sharply.
'

'

'

1 68

Piskeys
I

who

did

Aunt
ways

Betsy's

Work
for
it.

mother told you

'

to help

me, she had a motive

!'

know your mother's

'

little

She said you were getting up in years,' said Nannie innocently, and that the young should
spare the old as much as they could.' The dear little Brown Piskeys spare my old legs,' said the old woman, looking at the child. They
'
'

come in and do my work before the world gets up.' The Piskeys cried the child. Who are the
'
'

!'

I never heard of them before.' ? You must be a very ignorant little girl not to have heard tell of the Piskeys,' cried Aunt Betsy,

Piskeys
'

lifting

her hands in surprise. They are dear Little who take strange likes and dislikes to human People
'

beings.

If

they happen to like people very much,

they come into their house and do their work for them. They have taken quite a fancy to me, and come into my house every night and clean up the
houseplace, polish the candlesticks
like gold, scour the pots
'

till

they shine

and pans, and wash and

'

clean everthing that wants cleaning.' How very kind of them !' said Nannie.

They

must be dear Little People. I do wish I could see them doing your work, Aunt Betsy. It would be something to tell father and mother when I go home.' I don't expect you will have the good fortune to see the Piskeys,' said the old woman. 'They are little invisible Men and Women, and nobody ever sees them unless they happen to be Piskey-eyed. As you have never heard about these dear Wee
'

169

North Cornwall
Folk
gift.'
'

Fairies

till

now,

it

is

quite certain you have not the

?'

Are you Piskey-eyed, Aunt Betsy

asked Nannie

eagerly.

grand-niece to

Her aunt did not answer, and told her little sit up at table and eat her breakfast. The child was too full of the Little People to eat much breakfast, and the more she- thought about them, the more anxious she became to see those dear Wee Folk, who were so very, very kind to her Aunt
Betsy.

next morning Nannie got up ever so early, with the hope of seeing the Piskeys, but, early as it

The

was, Aunt Betsy was down before her. The work was all done, and the table laid for breakfast, as on the previous day.
did it long before I was remarked her aunt, not noticing the child's face up,' of disappointment, glancing round the big kitchen, with its stone-flagged floor, just washed, and looking as blue as the tors, and up at the dresser, with its china looking as if it had been washed in sunshine, and as for the tall brass candleit was so sparkling sticks on the high mantelpiece, they were dazzling
'

The Piskeys came and

in their brightness.
'

It isn't fair

in

and do
'

all

that the Little People should come your work when I wanted to help,' said

Nannie.
I

am used to
woman.

Piskeys, but not to children,' returned

'

the old

If

you

really

want

to

do something

170

Piskeys

who

did

Aunt

Betsy's

Work

for me, you shall go out on the moors and pick me a nosegay of wild flowers. It will make the kitchen

look nice, and will complete the work of the Piskeys.' Nannie was willing, as she had nothing to do, and

she put on her sun-bonnet to go.

'

The

clover

is

in blossom,' said

her aunt, as the

child

if you happen one with four leaves you may perhaps get Piskey-eyed, and if you also find a Wee's Nest* you will have the good fortune to see all the Little

was going out

at the door,

'

and

to find

People

in

Cornwall
is
I'll

!'

'A Wee's Nest

Nannie; 'but
find
it.

a thing that is never found,' said look for a four-leaved clover till I

that

P'raps you found a four-leaved clover, and see the Piskeys,' looking round at her aunt with a smile.
is

how you can

The
tions,

old woman was not given to answering quesand she only said that four-leaved clovers were

not so easy to find as she imagined. There was an abundance of flowers everywhere on the moors, and Nannie soon gathered a great big

nosegay

but although she looked for a four-leaved

clover, she could not find one.

Her aunt was very pleased with the flowers when she took them to her, and told her to put them into an earthenware pot, which she did and when she had had her dinner, she went on the moors again.
;

Tinker, already

the

great

made

tom-cat, with friends, followed her.

* Mare's nest.

whom

she

had

171

North Cornwall Fairies

Nannie stayed out on the moors till it was almost bedtime, searching for a four-leaved clover, but she searched in vain.

The

next morning, the child, hearing her aunt

dressing, got up and dressed too, and, being young and nimble, she

was dressed and down

first.

When she got to the kitchen, she heard the clatter of

pans and

Nannie

'went

on the moors again, and Tinker followed her.

172

Piskeys

who

did

Aunt

Betsy's

Work
upper

a tripping to and fro of tiny feet, and little bursts of laughter came from the big spence at the but she saw nothing living, Tinker, cleaning his face in front of the fire, except and then she heard a patter of small feet going
;

end of the kitchen

towards
silence.
'

the outer

kitchen

door,

and there was

You have driven away the Piskeys, you young good-for-nothing cried Aunt Betsy, coming into the
!'

kitchen, buttoning the sleeve of her gown as she came. 'The Little People don't like to be spied

on when they are busy working. You should not have got up so early.' The old woman seemed as much put out as the Piskeys, and she flew round the kitchen doing the work the Small People had left undone, and would not allow Nannie to help at all, not even to lay the
cloth for breakfast.

in

After breakfast, the child, in order to put her aunt a better mood, went out on the moors to get

another nosegay of wild flowers, and she gathered one of every sort she could find. As she was picking them, Tinker, the cat, who had followed her again to the moors, put his paw on a clover and mewed and, fearing a bee had stung him, she looked to see, and quite close to his paw was a white four-leaved clover
;
!

be able to see the Piskeys now said Nannie joyfully and she and Tinker returned to the house.
I

'

shall

!'

173

North Cornwall Fairies

Aunt Betsy was out
at the

who had
till

stolen her nest,

back looking for a hen and she did not come in

dinner-time.

Nannie amused herself meanwhile in arranging the flowers, and \vhen she had done that to her own
satisfaction, she passed the four-leaved

clover over

her eyes three times, and looked round the kitchen to see what she could see. She saw nothing unusual,

but she thought she saw a tiny brown laughing face peeping round the kitchen door.

Aunt Betsy came in from watching the hen, the child told her she had found the four-leaved
clover, thanks to Tinker.

When

Her aunt looked at her queerly, and asked her to show the clover which she had found and when she saw that it was a four-leaved one, she only said But you have not yet found the Wee's Nest, and you must not expect to see the dear little Brown
;

'

Piskeys unless you do.' Nannie hoped she would,

all

the same, and this

;

hope made her so excited she could not sleep and when daylight began to creep into the sky she got
to put on more than her she crept downstairs, holding the four-leaved clover in her hand. When she got to

up,

and without waiting

petticoat,

little

the door of the kitchen, leading into it from the passage, she opened it softly and peeped in and to
;

her delight she saw scores and scores of Little People, Some were all as busy as bees in a field of clover.

sweeping the Ragged stones, some were washing the 174

Piskeys

who

did Aunt Betsy's

Work

cloam* and scouring the pots and pans, some were polishing the candlesticks with a soft leather, and others were in the big spence scrubbing the stone benches and doing it all as keenlyt as Aunt Betsy herself, which was most wonderful, she thought, conFor they were not sidering how tiny they were. much bigger than a miller's thumb. I It was the Little Women Piskeys who were the busiest workers. The Little Men were less industrious; and when Tinker came into the kitchen, they stopped their work of cleaning the milk-pans to pull his great One little scamp of bushy tail and his whiskers. a Piskey perhaps unconscious that Nannie was now
Piskey-eyed

manner
her.

put his thumb to his nose, after the of naughty little boys, and made a face at
little

work was; and one

at their

and laughed which perhaps it little red-capped Piskey danced a hornon the table as several of his companions were pipe about to lay the cloth for Aunt Betsy's breakfast. They stood on the edge of the table, waiting for him to finish his dance, and as he did not seem inclined to do this, they caught hold of him by his legs and
Piskeys were a merry
as
if it

The

lot,

were

all

play,

tickled him.

The little Piskey who was being tickled, and those who tickled him, looked so comical that Nannie laughed, which made them stop and look round.
*

China.
J

t ^ell.

A very

small bird.

North Cornwall
'

Fairies
!'

There

is

little

maid watching us from the door

'

She is Piskeysaid one of the Piskeys in a whisper. the same as Aunt Betsy, and she will be spying eyed, upon us now, sure as eggs are eggs. I think we had

and go and do work for some other old woman.' And, to Nannie's distress, they went, and ever after Aunt Betsy had to do her own work, which made her so cross that she sent poor Nannie home to her parents at the first opporand when she died, which was not tunity she had
better forsake this house
;

a great while after, she left her little hoard of gold Nannie's father said 'twas a great to strangers. but that his wife was to blame, for if she had pity, not urged their little maid to help the old lady to do her work with the unworthy motive of having some of her gold, Nannie would never have wanted to see
the Piskeys doing Aunt Betsy's work.

176

The Piskeys who Carried

their

Beds

177

12

The Piskeys who Carried

their

Beds

MANY
Padstow.

years ago the Piskeys used to dance on a grassy place on the top of the cliffs overlooking Newtrain Bay in the parish of

They danced
quite bare,

there so often that the grass

was worn

and until the cliffs on which they danced were undermined and broken down by the rough sea, the marks of their tiny feet were
plainly seen.

An

old

woman who
Cliffs

lived a short
tell

distance from

Newtrain
'

fairies that

They

people interested in she had often seen them dancing there. danced two and two,' she said, and so near
'

used to

the edge of the

cliff,

would dance

over.

you would have thought they But they never did they were
;

far too clever for that.'

Jinnie Chapman was the name of this old woman. She was quite a character in her way, and almost as interesting as the Small People she loved to talk

about.

She was a little quick woman, with twinkling dark eyes, and whenever she went, over to Newtrain to watch the Piskeys, she wore a black cottage-bonnet
over her neat jinnie-guick cap, a blue print apron, 12 2 179

North Cornwall Fairies

and a quaint
of red cones.
little

black turnover with a wide border

'
'

This turnover she called a q shawl, because the cones on its border were the shape of
q's,
It

she said.

was the great pleasure of her dull, uneventful to see the Piskeys dancing, which she was simple enough to believe they did to give her pleasure and
life
;

she embraced every opportunity to get to the train Cliffs to watch them.

New-

Jinnie had watched the Small People so often that she knew every one of them by sight, and how many
there were that danced.

They never took any

in the

notice of the

little

old

woman

cottage-bonnet, the quaint shawl, and blue print apron, watching them dancing near a low stone

hedge green and gold with samphire and they laughed and talked to each other just the same as if she were not present.
;

They never danced, as far as Jinnie knew, except when the moon was high, and they left off dancing when the moon set like a ball of fire over the great headlands. But she did not know where they went after the moon had gone down. One very bright moonlight night in the early autumn, when the Piskey-stools* were thick on Newtrain Cliffs, old Jinnie came again to watch the Piskeys and when she got there, there were not any
;

to be seen.

She could not understand

*

it,

and she
if

went and looked

at the Piskey-stools to see

they

Mushrooms.

180

The Piskeys who Carried

their

Beds

were sitting on any of them having a chat, which they sometimes did when they were tired of dancing but every Piskey-stool on the cliffs was unoccupied. As she was wondering what had become of the Piskeys, she heard shrieks of tiny laughter, like the giggles of kittiwakes, coming up from Newtrain Bay under the cliffs and she hastened down the steep road leading to the bay which was romantic;
;

looking, and almost shut in her old legs would take her.

by

tall cliffs

as fast as

When
four
little

she got to the bottom of the road, she met Piskeys coming up, carrying a large Piskey
;

bag between them and being very anxious to know what they were going to do with the dark-brown
thing, she said
'
:

you kindly tell me what you are going to do with the Piskey-bag?' They were evidently too surprised to answer the

My

little

dears, will

old

woman

at

them
'

before,

and

once, for she had never spoken to they stared up at her opencold

mouthed.
sleep in when the answered a Piskey at last.
'

To

weather comes,'
to snuggle

They are ever so comfortable when the snow is on the ground,'

Piskey.
'

under

said another little

Sleep in them, do you?' cried old Jinnie, greatly To think of it now I expect they are as warm as the blanketing the blanket-weavers
interested.
'
!

weave

in

their

looms

at

Padstow.

But

never

181

North Cornwall Fairies

before you slept in the bags I thought you in them.' kept your money don't, then,' cried the Piske)^s, grinning all over their little elf faces, which were almost as
;

knew
'

We

as the Piskey-bag they were carrying. use the tiny young bags to keep our money in, not
'

brown

We

big ones like

'

this.'

!' cried one of the Piskeys to his companions, giving the one nearest him a poke in his ribs and the four little Brown Men began to ascend

Up we
;

go

the steep road, carrying the Piskey-bag by

tails,

its

four

swinging

it

to

and

fro,

and shrieking with

laughter as they

swung it. Jinnie watched them for

went

down

to

dozens of little each company bearing a Piskey-bag between them. There was a long string of these Little People from the water's edge to where she met them, which was about a dozen yards from the foot of the steep road. The little Brown Men took no notice of her, and swung the bags just as did the first quartette, seemingly unconscious that she

a few minutes, and then the pebbly beach, where she saw Brown Men in companies of four,

was watching them, and laughed and joked among themselves as they swung

them.

Old Jinnie followed them up the beach and road, and she wondered to herself where they were going
to

but she never knew, for when take the bags reached the top of the cliff where they danced, they
;

they vanished, Piskey-bags and 182

all

The

Fairy

Whirlwind

183

The
YOUNG
lived

Fairy

Whirlwind
who was
in

married woman,
her

with

husband

very pretty, a sweet little

by the sea. The cottage was coband had a small flower-garden in its front, walled, which was a picture in the early springtime with periwinkles and gilliflowers, and in the summer-time with roses and hollyhocks. There was another garden belonging to the cottage, but it was only for vegetables, and was on the top of a cliff quite five minutes' walk from the cottage. This young wife and her husband, who was a waggoner, had one little child a few months old. The child was very dear to them both, and they thought she was the sweetest and most beautiful little baby in all the world. The fairies must have been quite of the same opinion, as you will see. One afternoon the young wife was about to make an Irish stew for her husband's supper, when she found she had not enough potatoes in the house to
cottage

make

it.

As she took her sun-bonnet from its peg to go up to the cliff garden to dig some up, her baby, who was lying in its wooden cradle, puckered its fair little face and began to cry.
185

North Cornwall
'

Fairies

believe the darling

knows
'

am

going out,' cried

all

the fond

young mother.

can't leave her here

by her little self; I must take her with me.' And when she had put on her bonnet and a basket for
the potatoes on her arm, she lifted the baby out of the cradle and took her with her to the cliff, fondling
the dear
little

When
in her

thing and talking to it as she went. she had reached the cliff-garden, she stood
cliff

on the edge of the

with her flaxen-haired babe

It was a arms, looking out over the sea. and the water was as quiet as lovely June day, a mill-pond and blue as vipers' bugloss, she told her

baby. Just the sort of weather for out in,' she cried, hugging the child.
after

'

my

pretty to be

Mrs. Davies, as the young woman was called, gazing out over the sea for a few minutes, laid

down on the top of a potato ridge, close to where a succory and a knapweed grew side by side, and interlaced their blue and purple blossoms. When the babe had fixed its eyes upon the flowers and cooed to them in baby fashion, she set to work
her baby
to dig

up the potatoes. She had not been digging very long when she heard a curious noise behind her, like the sound of soft wind in trees, but there were no trees in the cliff-garden, and not wind enough to move even the
potato leaves.

made so strange * A double digging

She dropped the biddix* to see what it was that a sound, and as she dropped it she
tool

one end pointed, the other

flattened.

186

The Fairy Whirlwind

was caught in a whirlwind a Fairy Whirlwind, she said it was which whirled her round and round like a whirligig and as she whirled she was enveloped in a cloud of fine grey pillum, or dust, and she could
;

not see anything beyond her nose. When the whirlwind went away
as suddenly as the edge of the
it

came

and it vanished she found herself close to

cliff ever so far away from her baby. she knew not what for her child, she ran Fearing over to it to see if it was quite safe and to her
;

where her own fair little baby had she saw a dark, wizen little creature, with a lain, face wrinkled all over like an old woman's That is not my little maid,' she shrieked it's a The wicked Little People envied us our changeling little beauty, and have stolen her away, and left one
horror, there,
!

'

'

of their

own ugly

Fairy Whirlwind

brats in her place. They raised a to hide from me what they were
little

doing, the wicked, wicked Mrs. Davies never knew

things

!'

down

stood staring the ugly babe the hopeless misery upon Small People had left there on the potato ridge in
in
;

how long she

place of her own but in the end she took her arms and carried it down to the cottage.

it

up

in

Her husband was at home by this time, wondering what had become of his wife and child, and you might have knocked him down with a straw when she poured out her woe to him, and showed him the ugly dark babe the fairies had exchanged for their

own

beautiful babe.

187

North Cornwall
'

Fairies

What must

do with

when
'

her husband turned

she asked piteously, away from it with grief in

it ?'

his eyes

and sorrow
it

in his heart.

the Small People are tired of our little handsome,' he said, and be good to it if you If we ain't kind to the fairies' cheeld, can. they

Keep

till

'

won't be kind to ours, that's certain.'

So the young woman and her husband,

sake of
their

for the

haired, blue -eyed little the Small People had envied and taken darling away, were very kind to the babe they had left in its
-

own

flaxen

place.

They hoped, as they took care of it, although they never loved it, that the fairies would quickly grow tired of their child and bring her back but
;

they hoped in vain. A year after the Small People had raised a whirlwind, the fairies' cheeld, as Mrs. Davies and her husband called the babe left on the potato ridge in
little

but the place of their own, pined away and died human child with its flaxen curls and eyes of
;

Cornish blue was never seen by mortal eyes after

the fairies had stolen
it.

188

Notes
'THE ADVENTURES 'OF A PISKEY IN SEARCH OF
HIS LAUGH.'

THE

Piskeys are said to have 'a kind of music,' and to dance

to the strains of fairy fiddles.

There are Piskey-rings on many of the Cornish

headlands.

cliffs

and

The country people say the Piskeys make them in the night. The rings, anyhow, spring up suddenly like mushrooms
!

of the mole is still current in North Cornwall, and hands are shown as evidence that it was once a very proud and vain lady, who said that the ground was not fit for her dainty feet to walk on. As a punishment for her overwhelming vanity and pride, she was turned into a mole to walk
its

The legend
tiny

underground.

There

is

more than one quaint conceit about

little

Jack-o'-the-

Lantern or the
his lantern.

Man-o'-the-Lantern.

Some

say he walks

about carrying a lantern, others that he goes over the moors in He is the Piskey Puck.

There are many weird stories told about Giant Tregeagle. have given one of the simplest, but only as far as it has to do It is said that his shadow still flits over with North Cornwall.
I

the moorlands in the neighbourhood of Dozmare Pool, and that the pool itself is the Mother of Storms, being moved by supernatural influences.

189

North Cornwall Fairies

There has always been a
tradition that an

way

Dozmare Pool to that Merlin ever came out of Lake put him, or that he was
led from

underground wateris no tradition the place where the Lady of the the Bargeman of the moorland
the sea, but there

lake.

The

little
I

fairy riders, or 'night-riders,' as

them, are,

believe, peculiar to

we Cornish call North and East Cornwall.

not seem to have been a kind Little People. They never had any consideration for the horses and colts which they took out of farmers' stables near their haunts, but rode them

They do

over the moors and

commons

till

they were ready to drop,

and then

left

them

to perish or to find their

way back

to their

stables as best they could.

They made

stirrups out of the colts'

manes and

tails.

is

that King Arthur never died is still extant, and it said that he haunts the dark Tintagel cliffs and the ruins of the old castle where he was born in the form of a red-legged

The legend

chough.

'LEGEND OF THE PADSTOW DOOMBAR.'

The above legend
wailing cry
is is doubtless a myth, but it is a fact that a sometimes heard on the Doombar after a fearful of life on that fateful bar, like a woman bewailing

gale and loss the dead.

'THE LITTLE CAKE-BIRD.'

Columb the children used to be bed and asleep the dear little Piskeys would pass over their noses and order their dreams. One of the strange conceits about the Piskeys was told to me not long ago by a native of Cornwall. He said he had heard the old Granfers and Grannies say that the Piskeys were the spirits of still-born and unbaptized children, which will perhaps
In the neighbourhood of
St. in

told that

when they were

explain the curious belief that

enough

for

Small People were not good heaven nor bad enough for hell. The gay little

IQO

Notes
higher things.
in

Piskeys seem to have their wistful moments and yearnings for They are said to listen at windows and doors

moorland
It

villages

when

Christian people are saying their

prayers.

dough

in some parts of Cornwall to put a piece of shape of a bird on the top of the children's Christmas Eve buns, to remind the children that the white-

was the custom

in

the

winged Angels sang when the Babe of Bethlehem was born. If I remember rightly, the buns were eaten hot from the oven.

'THE IMPOUNDED CROWS.'

This
St.
is

a well-known legend.
It is

The Crow Pound, where

was
in existence

little

Neot impounded the

pilfering crows,
field.

not a

great while ago.

now a

'THE OLD SKY WOMAN.'

Wherever the snow
Padstow,
little

falls

in

children

cry

North Cornwall, especially at one to the other that the Old

Woman

is

up

in the

sky plucking her goose.

'THE LITTLE HORSES AND HORSEMEN OF PADSTOW.'

The
quaint
little

figures on the housetop in the old

to
all

town of

Padstow are

visible

strangers ask why answer, as nobody

passers-by, and sometimes they were put there a difficult question to

the

knows for certain. Perhaps they were placed on the ridge of the house for the Piskeys to dance on, or
for the fairy riders to ride.

Or maybe they were put there in the days of the Civil Wars, as a token that the house on which the little steeds and the little horsemen were perched was a
refuge for King Charles' c;'\?lie s, There is nc tradition about the small horses and their riders, but the children were always
r

told,

as the tale says, that

wben

t'le^

heard the clock strike

twelve they galloped round the market and town.

North Cornwall

Fairies
1

'THE PISKEYS' REVENGE.

It used to be held, and is still told, that the Piskeys came in through the keyhole and ate up the good things. Children, when they knew that cakes were made and asked to have some, were told that the Piskeys had eaten them all. They had a

special liking for junkets

and sugar

biscuits.

'THE PISKEYS WHO. DID AUNT BETSY'S WORK.'

Some of the Piskeys were kindly disposed, and were credited with doing kindly acts, and it is said that they often came into the cottages in the night-time and cleaned them. When the cottages looked very clean and neat it was said that the Piskeys
had done
it.

'HOW JAN BREWER WAS

PISKEY-LADEN.'

Legends about Piskey-led people are as plentiful as blackThe present one comes from the neighbourhood of berries.
Constantine.

,.

WELLS CAKDMPR,

DAMON AND

CO., LTD.,

LONDON.