The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various CountriesKeightley, Thomas
General
The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
Keightley, Thomas
Fairies; Fairy tales; Folk literature; Folklore
"Another wonderful thing," says Ralph of Coggeshall,[318] "happened in
Suffolk, at St. Mary's of the Wolf-pits. A boy and his sister were
found by the inhabitants of that place near the mouth of a pit which
is there, who had the form of all their limbs like to those of other
men, but they differed in the colour of their skin from all the people
of our habitable world; for the whole surface of their skin was tinged
of a green colour. No one could understand their speech. When they
were brought as curiosities to the house of a certain knight, Sir
Richard de Calne, at Wikes, they wept bitterly. Bread and other
victuals were set before them, but they would touch none of them,
though they were tormented by great hunger, as the girl afterwards
acknowledged. At length, when some beans just cut, with their stalks,
were brought into the house, they made signs, with great avidity, that
they should be given to them. When they were brought, they opened the
stalks instead of the pods, thinking the beans were in the hollow of
them; but not finding them there, they began to weep anew. When those
who were present saw this, they opened the pods, and showed them the
naked beans. They fed on these with great delight, and for a long time
tasted no other food. The boy, however, was always languid and
depressed, and he died within a short time. The girl enjoyed continual
good health; and becoming accustomed to various kinds of food, lost
completely that green colour, and gradually recovered the sanguine
habit of her entire body. She was afterwards regenerated by the laver
of holy baptism, and lived for many years in the service of that
knight (as I have frequently heard from him and his family), and was
rather loose and wanton in her conduct. Being frequently asked about
the people of her country, she asserted that the inhabitants, and all
they had in that country, were of a green colour; and that they saw no
sun, but enjoyed a degree of light like what is after sunset. Being
asked how she came into this country with the aforesaid boy, she
replied, that as they were following their flocks, they came to a
certain cavern, on entering which they heard a delightful sound of
bells; ravished by whose sweetness, they went for a long time
wandering on through the cavern, until they came to its mouth. When
they came out of it, they were struck senseless by the excessive light
of the sun, and the unusual temperature of the air; and they thus lay
for a long time. Being terrified by the noise of those who came on
them, they wished to fly, but they could not find the entrance of the
cavern before they were caught."
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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