North Cornwall Fairies and LegendsTregarthen, Enys
Science
North Cornwall Fairies and Legends
Tregarthen, Enys
Folklore -- England -- Cornwall (County); Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
'I am afraid my laugh is too small for a great big giant to have
noticed, even if it passed him,' said the little Piskey.
'He isn't so big but what he can see a laugh,' said the little Lantern
Man. 'You had better go and ask him.'
'I don't know where he is,' said the little Piskey, who was in a most
dejected frame of mind.
'He is at Dozmare Pool--or was not long since, doing his best to dip
the big pool dry.'
'I am rather tired after tramping here from Tintagel,' said the
little fellow, 'and I don't feel like going all the way to Dozmare
Pool. I have no spring in my legs since my laugh left me,' he added,
as the little Lantern Man smiled rather sadly. 'I never knew what it
was to be tired and wisht before I lost my laugh.'
'I don't suppose you did, you poor little chap!' cried the little
Lantern Man, 'and you must do all you can to find your laugh. I am
going to Dozmare Pool, or the Magic Lake, as it was called in the
long ago; and if you don't mind travelling in my Lantern, 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 about him. 'The floor is not
uncomfortable, if you care to sit down. I always sleep on it when
my night work of giving light to the poor things that live in the
marshes is done.'
'I would rather stand, thank you.' returned the Piskey. 'I can look
out of your windows better.'
'Do as you like, only it is my duty to tell you that you would be safer
on the floor. My Lantern and I travel so fast that the creatures that
fly by night often knock up against us and turn us upside down.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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