North Cornwall Fairies and LegendsTregarthen, Enys
Science
North Cornwall Fairies and Legends
Tregarthen, Enys
Folklore -- England -- Cornwall (County); Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
'St. Neot was as good as his word, and it was noised about in the
parish that he was building a great square enclosure of moorstone and
mould about half a mile from the church; and when it was 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 their minds disturbed by
fear of those black little robbers eating their corn.
'There was a fearful to-do among the poor hungry crows when they
learned what St. Neot had done; and although they knew they were
within their right to steal when they were hungry--and they were
always hungry, poor things!--they were sorry they ate up the corn
the farmers had sown, and every crow looked forward to the coming
Rest Day with fear and trembling.
'Well, Sunday came, as Sundays will,' continued the crow, 'and before
the sun had risen little 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 bell 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.
'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 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, they could hardly be
counted! Even poor little Baby Crows, just able to fly, were there!
'The Crow Pound was chock-full of crows, and all the place was as
black as St. Neot's gown. And as for the noise they made, it was
enough to turn the Holy Man's brain; but it didn't.
'The little Saint did not expect to see so many crows, it was certain,
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 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 pound for the 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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