North Cornwall Fairies and LegendsTregarthen, Enys
Science
North Cornwall Fairies and Legends
Tregarthen, Enys
Folklore -- England -- Cornwall (County); Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
'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 I first noticed it. It does not make a sound,
but its grimaces are worth flying a hundred miles only to see.'
'It must have been my laugh you saw,' cried the Piskey--'my dear
little lost laugh that I have travelled so far to find. Where is it
now, Good King Arthur?'
'It was here not long since,' answered the bird, who did not deny
that he was Arthur the King. 'Why, there it is quite close to you,'
pointing with his long-pointed 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 mad,' as the chough said.
The Piskey looked behind him, and when he saw the little bit of
laughing, grinning absurdity on the grass, he jumped for joy and
shrieked: 'It is my own little laugh that I lost!'
Holding out both his arms, he cried, 'Oh, dear little laugh, come back
to me! Oh, dear little laugh, come back to me!' And the droll little
thing, which was a grin with a laugh and a laugh with a grin, came over
to the Piskey, and began to climb up his legs, grinning and doubling
itself up with laughter as it climbed, till it reached his chin,
when it narrowed itself into a tiny grin and vanished into the Piskey.
The next moment the Piskey was shouting at the top of his voice, 'I
have got my laugh! I have got 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
first glance at the little whirling figure told him that his little
brother had found his laugh; and putting his fiddle in position,
he began fiddling away as hard as he could.
As he fiddled, the other Piskeys, including Granfer Piskey, reached
the ring, and the next minute they were all dancing and laughing as
they had never laughed and danced before; but the one who laughed
the heartiest was the little Piskey who had lost and found his laugh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account