Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second SeriesBottrell, William
General
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
Bottrell, William
Cornwall (England : County) -- Social life and customs; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
"She 'jailed' away—down the hill, as fast as she could lay foot
to ground, thinking to be home by the kitchen fire in a quarter
of an hour, and went far enough, as she thought, to have reached
Pendeen gate twice over. Then she feared that she might have
got into a wrong bridle-path over the downs, or that Piskey was
playing her a trick, because, turn whichever way she would, the
road appeared to be before her. After going on for a long while,
she saw light and heard music, at no great distance. Thinking
then that she must have kept too much on her left and be near
some house on the road to Church-town, where they were getting
in tune for the dancing on Feasten Monday night, she went over
the downs, straight towards the light, feeling ready for a jig,
and stopped more than once to 'try her steps,' as the lively old
dancing tunes kept sounding in her ears. But, instead of arriving
at a house, as she expected to, in passing round some high rocks,
which hid the light a moment, she came, all at once, on a level
green, surrounded by furze and rocks, and there, a few yards
before her, saw troops of 'small people' holding a fair, or
belike it might be their feasten market.
"Scores of little standings all in a row, were covered with
trinkets, such as knee and shoe buckles of silver and gold,
glistening with Cornish diamonds; pins, with jewelled heads;
brooches, rings, bracelets, and strings of crystal beads, figured[161]
with green and red, or blue and gold; and scores of other pretty
things quite new to An' Pee; who, not to disturb the small folks
till she had seen all that was doing, crept along softly in the rear
of the standings, till she stood opposite a company of dancers;
hundreds of them linked hand in hand, after the old bonfire-dance
fashion, were whirling round so fast that it made her head
light to look at them.
"Small as they were—none more than two feet high, and rather
slender in make—they were all decked out like old-fashioned
gentry—the little men in three-cocked hats and feathers; full,
square-skirted, blue coats, stiff with buckram and gay with lace
and buttons; vest, breeches, and stockings of a lighter hue; and
their dainty little shoes fastened with diamond clasps. Some few,
who were rigged more like soldiers or huntsmen, wore either jet-black
or russet-coloured riding boots.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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