North Cornwall Fairies and LegendsTregarthen, Enys
Science
North Cornwall Fairies and Legends
Tregarthen, Enys
Folklore -- England -- Cornwall (County); Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
'I am used to Piskeys, but not to children,' returned the old
woman. 'If you really want to do something 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 was going out
at the door, 'and if you happen to find one with four leaves you may
perhaps get Piskey-eyed, and if you also find a Wee's Nest [27] you
will have the good fortune to see all the Little People in Cornwall!'
'A Wee's Nest is a thing that is never found,' said Nannie; 'but
I'll look for a four-leaved clover till I find it. P'raps you found
a four-leaved clover, and that is how you can see the Piskeys,'
looking round at her aunt with a smile.
The old woman was not given to answering questions, and 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, the
great tom-cat, with whom she had already made friends, followed her.
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
a tripping to and fro of tiny feet, and little bursts of laughter
came from the big spence at the upper end of the kitchen; but she saw
nothing living, except Tinker, cleaning his face in front of the fire,
and then she heard a patter of small feet going towards the outer
kitchen door, and there was silence.
'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.
After breakfast, the child, in order to put her aunt in 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!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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