_'Small People'._--'Many say they have seen the _small people_ here by the hundreds. In Ireland they call the _small people_ the fairies. My mother believes there were such things, and so did the old folks in these parts. My grandmother used to put down a good furze fire for _them_ on stormy nights, because, as she said, "_They_ are a sort of people wandering about the world with no home or habitation, and ought to be given a little comfort." The most fear of _them_ was that they might come at night and change a baby for one that was no good. My mother said that Joan Nicholas believed the fairies had changed her baby, because it was very small and cross-tempered. Up on the hill you'll see a round ring with grass greener than anywhere else, and that is where the _small people_ used to dance.' _Danger of Seeing the 'Little People'._--'I heard that a woman set out water to wash her baby in, and that before she had used the water the _small people_ came and washed their babies in it. She didn't know about this, and so in washing her baby got some of the water in her eyes, and then all at once she could see crowds of _little people_ about her. One of them came to her and asked if she was able to see their crowd, and when she said "Yes," the _little people_ wanted to take her eyes out, and she had to clear away from them as fast as she could.' TESTIMONY FROM A CORNISH MINER William Shepherd, a retired miner of Pendeen, near St. Just, where he has passed all his life, offers us from his own experiences under the earth the evidence which follows:-- _Mine Piskies._--'There are mine-piskies which are not the "knockers". I've heard old men in the mines say that they have seen them, and they call them the _small people_. It appears that they don't like company, for they are always seen singly. The "knockers" are spirits, too, as one might say. They are said to bring bad luck, while the _small people_ may bring good luck.' TESTIMONY FROM KING ARTHUR'S COUNTRY Leaving the Land's End district and South Cornwall, we now pass northward to King Arthur's country. Our chief researches there are to be made outside the beaten track of tourists as far as possible, in the country between Camelford and Tintagel. At Delabole, the centre of this district, we find our first witness, Henry Spragg, a retired slate-quarryman, seventy years old. Mr. Spragg has had excellent opportunities of hearing any folk-lore that might have been living during his lifetime; and what he offers first is about King Arthur:-- _King Arthur._--'We always thought of King Arthur as a great warrior. And many a time I've heard old people say that he used to appear in this country in the form of a nath.'[74] This was all that could be told of King Arthur; and the conversation finally was directed toward piskies, with the following results:--